I'd say that $95 isn't a bad price at all. Not a steal, but a decent bargain, IMHO. SPII's are more desirable than the SP's, and many even like them better than the F with it's open-aperture metering (as the F's meter is turned on whenever the lens cap comes off - forget to put the lens cap on, battery dies).
On all three of my Spotmatic bodies, the lenses don't quite go on centred. In fact, I heard that is the actual reason that Pentax finally went to bayonet-mount. Not because "everyone else was doing it", or because changing bayonet-mount lenses is faster (it may be, but not by much, and most pros would have multiple bodies around their neck anyway). The actual reason, is that before the advent of open-aperture metering, that alignment didn't make much difference. But, with open aperture metering, being off by even a degree or two made a difference as to what the body "thought" the aperture was set to. Bayonets were much better in this regard, as the alignment was (and is) spot on (no pun intended). Pentax did manage to get around the problem with the F, but it was much easier dealt with by bayonet mount. That being said, when properly tightened, the mechanical connection between a screwmount lens and the body is better than a bayonet mount lens. regards, frank "Gregory L. Hansen" wrote: > I finally gave in to the legend of the screw mount, I bought a Spotmatic > II on eBay, BIN for $95. I don't know how close to a good deal that was, > but it was the lowest BIN I remembered seeing and wasn't too far away from > the $70 figure I saw in another auction. I figured the certainty in > avoiding a bidding war and the instant gratification were worth it. > > Funny thing is that except for the whole screw mount versus K mount thing, > the Spotmatic II seems like a better camera than the K1000, at least it > has more features. The red dot and the film speed indicator that turns > red are clever, it has a timer, an extra sync port. Flipping up the meter > switch is a little annoying, but that's also a depth of field preview > which the K1000 lacks. The lens doesn't quite center when I screw it on, > so the marking are cocked a little to the side. That's sort of weird. > > But what I don't understand, even after reading the manual, is the FP and > X sync ports. Both of them fire, along with the hot shoe, wherever the > flash dial is set. That suits me fine, but I don't understand what the > dial is for. -- "Honour - that virtue of the unjust!" -Albert Camus
