There are loads of reasons that so many on this list love their Spotties. For one thing, they are historically, a very significant camera. The Spotmatic was the first commercially viable through-the-lens metering 35mm slr. Topcon actually beat them to the market by a couple of months with a ttl slr, but it wasn't commercially successful, possibly because, unlike the Spot, one had to dial in the speed of the lens that was attached - a real inconvenience when changing lenses in the field.
So, it could be said that the Spotmatic was the first "modern" slr. Another reason is that they are so well built and hardy. As you mentioned, 25 years after production stopped, and these things are still going - some of them almost 40 years old. Since there are so many of them out there - at it's peak production in the late 60's, Pentax was spitting out more Spotmatics than Nikon and Canon and Minolta slr's combined - that they can be gotten for a very reasonable price. Finally, the Takumar screwmount lenses are some of the best lenses ever made. It has been posted on this list several times that for Pentax to make the 1.4 50mm lens today, they would have to market it for between $800 and $1600 - almost certainly over $1000. Yet, they can be gotten on eBay for around $30 to $50, mint, and they are tremendous performers (as long as they don't have the yellow curse - another story). I'm sure there are many more reasons that will be mentioned, but I may have hit the highlights! regards, frank Steve Pearson wrote: > I have so many questions about the Spots, but so > little time. Why are they so liked by everyone? Did > someone say that Mamiya & Nikon lenses will work with > this camera? Is that why they are so popular-even > more lenses to find on the used market? > > It appears that they are well built also, as some of > you have had them for a number of years. > -- "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
