Blast from the Past: 1965 Pentax Spotmatic Review

Photography has a rich history that is really fun to peer back into once in a while when you have a spare minute to stop oogling over the next piece of gear (*cough* NEX full-frame *cough*) that’ll steal your heart and most of the funds in your bank account.

On that note, check out this awesome old review of the Pentax Spotmatic. It was written in 1965 by the late Fred Springer-Miller, and it might make you think twice before you take today’s technology for granted.

The primary thing that set the Spotmatic apart form the majority of its competition was the fact that it could do “through-the-lens” light metering. At the time, this and the DOF preview button were both features that allowed photographers to never have to look away from the viewfinder to make calculations or take light readings.

Here’s a look at page one of the review (click here and here for high res versions of pages one and two):

You really have to read the review to get the full effect, so we won’t spoil it all here, but one of our favorite lines include Springer-Miller’s lament that the name gave him “visions of a switch that would let you meter either the whole field of view or just a spot in the middle.” Alas, that wasn’t the case.

Another great statement can be found in the paragraph at the end, where he talks about how well-equipped amateurs with their high-quality zoom lenses “could actually compete on an equal basis with the pros.” Something tell us the pros still got the better shots though.

To see the full review, follow the above links to see the high-resolution images and read the entire thing for yourself. And when you’re done, drop us a line in the comments and let us know what part of the review you liked best.