1976 was quite a year. My primary school (that I was still at then) on the Isle of Wight celebrated it's centenary, we nearly lost our home to summer's drought-induced hedge/woodland fire - and it was also the year when my older Brother Simon bought his first proper camera, a Pentax Spotmatic SP with it's accompanying 55mm f1.8 Super Takumar lens. This purchase would likely have been inspired by his photographic mentor at the time, our neighbour across the lane. He was a retired BBC chorister who also had a fine eye for a photograph. Pentax was his preferred brand, having a kit based around the very popular ME-Super.
Many a roll of (mainly slide) film was put through the camera by Simon until the lure of technological progress got the better of him and he moved on to a Pentax ME. At this point, Dad became the happy recipient of the SP, spurring on his interest in the hobby. Sadly, he passed back in the late 90s and the SP went back to my brother. He kept hold of it for old times sake, but he'd lost interest in lugging an slr around by then, preferring something a little more compact.
Simon was starting to regain a little enthusiasm for the hobby as digital technology came within financial reach in the early noughties when, in 2005, tragedy struck again. His bereaved partner kindly gave the SP to me and I've treasured it ever since. Unfortunately, having mostly forsaken film for digital since around 2003-4 myself until about six years ago, the camera had languished in the cupboard, only coming out once or twice in that time. As you can imagine, lack of use took a slight toll, with some of it's functionality becoming a little compromised.
Well, a little while ago I decided that enough was enough, and in honour of my Dad and Brother, I had it fully serviced. I admit I still don't put a huge amount of film through it, but when I do it's a pleasure to use, operation of the controls now being silky smooth, reflecting the pedigree of both the camera and the wonderful Super-Takumar lens.
Happy holidays.. below is a photo of my Mum and Dad, taking a break while we were out for a stroll enjoying the clear North Devon air, back in 1988. Spotty was in it’s rightful place, ready for action. The lens attached here was a Meyer Lydith 30mm f3.5 (zebra stripes ‘n’ all). For the sake of completeness I hooked up my first scanning camera, the Panasonic GX1, and fitted this very lens to it to scan this old transparency. The slide itself (Agfa CT100) has not fared well with time, suffering a considerable colour shift. Thank goodness for Photoshop..
All being well, when my time comes (and if he still enjoys using film), my Son will continue to give Spotty a good home.
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Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story, Ralph. The photographs look absolutely lovely. Do you still often shoot with the Film Camera?
Love this! Great story and Images. I knabbed an exact black Spotmatic like this a few years back for $25 due to an advanced lever problem I fixed in minutes. It has brought me more joy than a $25 camera ever should!