They started this in the early 1960s. The H1a had no self timer and was
calibrated up to 1/500. It did have an uncalibrated detent on the
shutter speed dial rumored to be around 1/1000. I never tried it on
mine. The H3v of that same vintage had the self timer and calibrated
shutter up to 1/1000. AFIK that was the only difference in the bodies.
The retail price on the H1a when I bought mine in 1965 was $150 - all I
could afford...on a payment plan of $10/month.
-p
On 9/16/2012 7:11 PM, [email protected] wrote:
The SP500 (which I have one of) actually does have a shutter speed of 1/1000.
There is an unmarked space on the shutter speed dial where the 1/1000 speed
would have been on the SP. Not only a space on the dial, but a detente if you
move the dial to that blank space. And if you press the shutter release it will
fire!
The story I heard is that the marketing department wanted a "discount"
Spotmatic, so came up with the idea for the SP500. Problem is that it would have cost way
to much to design and build a new shutter mechanism with no 1/1000th speed.
The solution was to use the same shutter mechanism as the Spotmatic but not
paint 1/1000 on the dial. And not calibrate the 1/1000 speed.
The result is that for most SP500s the "phantom 1/1000" speed is off by about
1/4 stop - hardly noticeable with most films, which tend to have a much wider exposure
latitude than digital.
Back when I used my SP500 I used that phantom 1/1000 all the time and it worked
just fine!
Since the SP500 lacked a few other features (self timer and hot shoe, which by
that time was - I believe - on the Spotmatic) it was still cheaper to make.
I have no idea what this has to do with the current discussion; just a bit of
Pentax trivia is all...
Cheers,
frank
"What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." --
Christopher Hitchens
--- Original Message ---
From: Stan Halpin <[email protected]>
Sent: September 16, 2012 9/16/12
To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Best FF Pentax Rumour Story EVER!!!!!!
On Sep 16, 2012, at 5:07 PM, Toralf Lund wrote:
What you're suggesting for Pentax would be a recipe for oblivion. It's
a rare product that can sell and compete by boasting about what it
DOESN'T have/do.
It would be dumb to market it that way, of course, but there is after all a certain
appeal in being able to classify a product as simple and/or easy to use (as a result of
not having many functions), and there are examples in the camera business on how a focus
on different qualities than a long list of features or "cutting-edge"
technology can be successful at least in a relative sense. Just look at the interest
generated by the recent Fujifilm cameras. Or the Leica Ms for that manner. We're of
course talking about a quite different market, there, but it seems to me that to a
certain extent, they sell because of the features they don't have. Like auto-focus, for
instance. The marketing doesn't actually boast about not offering it, though.
OK, I can do w/o just about all picture modes, in
camera RAW processing and in-camera HDR. But some people just love
that.
I'd love to see someone should trying to make a camera without that
functionality, though. Maybe it wouldn't be sensible as the only option, but if
you based such a model on a different one with all those features, the
development cost should also be close to 0. As such, it might not be such a bad
idea from a business perspective, even if the marked might be limited.
IIRC, back in the Spotmatic days, Pentax had two camera models identical in virtually all
specs. Except one had a max shutter speed of 1/1000, the other had a limit screw which
restricted the shutter speed max to 1/500. Don't want fast shutter? Pay less. I think
this would also work today. Don't want video on your DSLR? Pentax should give you a
discount of $200 compared to a "full-featured" model, then charge you a $225
firmware upgrade fee if you change your mind later.
stan
--
Being old doesn't seem so old now that I'm old.
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