I think it suffers from concentrating too much on an arbitrary number, I'd limit it to 38 or 39 depending on my mood

The battery that came with the camera is a Kodak KX400 inside a blue spacer and made in West Germany, so I guess this is a mercury battery (I can't see any voltage markings)?

After checking against my L408B in brighter light it looks like the meter is reading reasonably accurately.

The MX is a great camera, I bought mine about 20 years ago (used but almost mint) and for a while was my favourite. The Super-A wasn't as easy to use in manual.

I recently got a tatty K1000 off Ebay, I'm happier using it because I won't care if I break it.

Wow, you wouldn't miss that very easily, looks like something out of Thunderbirds!

The SP1000 has arrived and seems to be working OK, the meter may be reading a tad low and there's a slight delay re-opening the aperture when I release the meter/stopdown switch. Obviously I won't know until I run some film through it, but it looks promising so far.

Thanks for the input.

John.

Thanks Guys,

Having done a bit of looking, I've gone for an SP1000 which should be on it's way. The reasoning for those interested:

1) I found one that apparently works and looks in good condition (have to wait and see!).
2) There's a gadget from the small battery company that allows using a silver cell with voltage reduction (which doesn't fit the F).
3) Apparently the F meter is switched on whenever an SMC Takumar is attached. Stop down metering seems less aggro (heck if I want hi-tech I'll get the K1000 out!).
4) I keep reading that a K1000 is basically a SP1000 with a bayonet mount, as such the two go well together.

All I need now is a contemporary meter for the S1a (it feels wrong to be using a Sekonic L408B).

John.

I was last in the Trafford Centre shop a couple of weeks ago, all they had on display was one DA15mm (in it's box with no price) and one DA17-70mm (out of a box and priced!), no Q, no bodies, nothing else. When I asked about other lenses I was told to try Ebay.

Jessops were great when they had a few shops and sold really useful non-genuine accessories (like my K mount monocular convertor or third party MEII winder clone with intervalometer). The shop fronts now seem to be full of canvas effect prints to promote their printing services rather than equipment.

Hi All,

Having used my recently acquired S1a for a while, I'd like to add a metered body to the mix. Nothing exotic, just a sensible camera for occasional shooting.

The obvious choice is a Spotmatic, but which one? I know they were designed to use mercury batteries and there are some solutions to this, but I've also seen that some models take different batteries (which are the most sensible today?).

I've read that the ES/ESII electronics can be a bit delicate which is why I'm primarily considering a Spotmatic.

I'm also looking for a period-like replacement leather strap for the S1a (the current one looks likely to break at any point), any ideas?

Thanks,

John.

Thanks John. No wonder I was confused when I found a comment relating to Auto/Super-Taks going clockwise/anti-clockwise without detailing whether it was from the front or back.

I feel shorter focal lengths benefit primes more than longer, short focal length zooms are usually quite bulky, longer lengths are not much more so than a prime. As you go longer, the ability to 'pull-back' a bit can be really useful, especially where you're shooting things that move closer to/further away from the camera quite a bit (football rather than cricket for example).

As many have said, primes make you think a bit harder/differently. My favourite being the M 40/2.8 pancake on film for it's tiny dimensions and being an excellent focal length (although I still often carried a 50/1.7 as well).

The other advantage is that primes are really basic, zooms today can be very good but the technology of primes peaked in the '50s, it wasn't until the '80s when zooms became 'decent'.

Technically a lens is only a zoom if the focus doesn't shift during 'zooming', and most are really varifocal lenses.

I think it's three f stops (1 for the 1.4x, 2 for the 2x). If (my hazy recollection) of AA/AB amplifier theory is relevant, you should put the least image loss closer to the subject (I think)?