a perfect body

A generous friend gave me this pristine Pentax Spotmatic SP.  It is very nice to have a reliable camera to which I can attach my assortment of Takumar lenses.  The SP model appeared on the market in 1964 and it signaled the arrival of a new vision of photo technology for a new era.  Pentax would refine the Spotmatic's features over the next decade, but this early model had all the essentials: pentaprism eye-level viewfinder, auto aperture stop-down, instant return mirror, through-the-lens light meter, a large number of accessories, and a big lineup of extraordinary lenses.

Here are some shots from the first roll through the camera.  I've been shooting a Spotmatic for over forty-five years.  Makes me wonder why I bothered with anything else.

This is not the best photo I've done of San Felipe de Neri, but it is interesting for me because it is the first I've done with my 24mm Super Takumar.  I like the the depth and sharpness.  There was very little light for the shot.  I think I set the speed to 1 sec. and the aperture to about f5.6, though I couldn't really see what I was doing.  I braced the camera on the back of a pew and hoped for the best.  I'll go back to try this again.

Chaco Skies

We drove to Chaco Canyon and spent the afternoon walking through the three Anasazi Great Houses that are close together near the end of the loop road: Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl and Pueblo del Arroyo.

All the pictures were made with my Pentax Spotmatic and the 24mm Super-Takumar lens.  The Fuji 200 film was processed with the Unicolor C-41 kit.