Forum > The Fruit Stand (Photography)

Old manual SLR story.

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DickWadzinski:
A few years ago DD1 took a college photography course.  They were required to use 35mm SLRs, either manual or auto exposure.  I dug out of the basement my 1972 Pentax Spotmatic.  After finding a modern replacement for the mercury battery (for the light meter) she was good to go.  The professor thought the camera was cool.  Fast forward to the present and DD2 is taking the same class.  The shutter just failed on that old Spotmatic.  A local camera shop said $100 to fix it.  I thought these old Pentaxes were valuable and this one has sentimental value as well.  But for the hell of it I checked out Ebay.  There were dozens of old Spotmatics listed in various conditions for anywhere from $20 - $100.  I bought one for $29.95, less the lens and free shipping.  It arrived today.  It's cosmetically in better shape than mine.  We screwed on the 50mm Pentax Super Takumar lens from the old one, put in the light meter battery and she now looks and works like new.  DD gave me a big hug.

 :)

Mrtambourineman:

--- Quote from: Doctor Wu on October 10, 2012, 07:40:35 PM ---A few years ago DD1 took a college photography course.  They were required to use 35mm SLRs, either manual or auto exposure.  I dug out of the basement my 1972 Pentax Spotmatic.  After finding a modern replacement for the mercury battery (for the light meter) she was good to go.  The professor thought the camera was cool.  Fast forward to the present and DD2 is taking the same class.  The shutter just failed on that old Spotmatic.  A local camera shop said $100 to fix it.  I thought these old Pentaxes were valuable and this one has sentimental value as well.  But for the hell of it I checked out Ebay.  There were dozens of old Spotmatics listed in various conditions for anywhere from $20 - $100.  I bought one for $29.95, less the lens and free shipping.  It arrived today.  It's cosmetically in better shape than mine.  We screwed on the 50mm Pentax Super Takumar lens from the old one, put in the light meter battery and she now looks and works like new.  DD gave me a big hug.

 :)

--- End quote ---

I find it so sad to see how little value those old cameras have.  I had a Pentak K1000 that I bought in university when my Olympus was stolen.  I recently gave it away to a friend for a bottle of wine because it had no real market value. 

makeda:
Cool!

The hipsters will discover them soon...

omega lambda:

--- Quote from: makeda on October 28, 2012, 07:11:13 PM ---Cool!

The hipsters will discover them soon...

--- End quote ---

Yes!

I predict film will be the next new thing!  :D

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