My Pentax

Spotmeter

Pentax Spotmeter

A couple of years ago I bought a Pentax Spotmeter V from a colleague and became interested about the history of Pentax Spotmeters. So I started looking for earlier versions of the Spotmeter and found there were two different types of meters, the Spotmeter 3º/21º and the Spotmeter 1º/21º.
Unfortunately there isn’t much information available about the old 3º/21º spotmeters, some good sources I found are James Ollinger’s, Michel Carrère-Gée's and Dave Schneller’s site.

Click on an image for more details.

Pentax Spot Exposure Meter 3º21º

• CdS cell
• Waist-level, Frontring chrome & black
• Black dials
• Introduced 1961 ?
• Meter range 2-18 EV

Tested in “Popular Science”, September 1964.

Honeywell Spot Exposure Meter 3º/21º

• CdS cell
• Waist-level, Frontring chrome & black
• Black dials
• Introduced 1961 ?
• Meter range 2-18 EV

Tested in “Popular Science”, September 1964.

Pentax Spot Exposure Meter 3º21º

• CdS cell
• Waist-level, Frontring black
• Black dials
• Introduced 1963/64 ?
• Meter range 2-18 EV

Pentax Spot Exposure Meter

I found this spotmeter with chrome dials in an old advertising that must be younger than 1962, as it had a Honeywell H3v on the same page.
The patent for the 3/21 spotmeter was also filed in 1962.

Pentax Spotmeter 1º/21° (II)

• CdS cell
• Penta prism
• Introduced 1964 or 1965 ?
• No lowlight illumination, no IRE scale
• Meter range 3-18 EV
• One 1.3V mercury battery (Mallory RM640, Eveready E640 or equivalent)
• One 9V dry battery (Mallory M-1604, Eveready 216 or equivalent)

Pentax Spotmeter III

• CdS cell
• Introduced 1966 ?
• Lowlight illumintion, IRE scale
• Meter range 3-18 EV
• One 1.3V mercury battery (Mallory RM640, Eveready E640 or equivalent)
• One 9V dry battery (Mallory M-1604, Eveready 216 or equivalent)

Pentax Spotmeter V

• Silicium cell
• Introduced 1975/76
• Lowlight illumintion, IRE scale
• Meter range 1-19 EV
• 3 Batteries SR44

Pentax Digital Spotmeter

• Silicium cell
• Introduced 1977
• Digital display
• Meter range 1-19 EV

Clip On Exposure Meter

Clip-On Exposure Meter 1

• CdS cell
• 1961 - 1962

Clip-On Exposure Meter 2

• CdS cell
• 1962 - 1968

Clip-On Exposure Meter SL

• CdS cell
• 1968 - 1973