I think you can confidently regard yourself as a world leading expert on this model; others will be referencing YOU for advice. My ES2 still works, but usually caps at 1/1000. (Turning the camera upside-down reduces the weight of the mirror and sometimes helps with this.) Anyway, I found you on the Pentax Forum and will subscribe here as well. Thanks for saving this example from the past and keeping it from being scrapped.
Because of this video revealing the hand built electronics vs the ES 2 circuitry....as a lifetime user of Pentax for over 50 years. HS photog at 14 yrs old... now 67 and still shooting my 1978 Pentax 6x7. I just bought 10 yes TEN MINT 5+++ electro spotmatics out of JAPAN. the rarity of a mint condition 100% operational 1970 camera is REMARKABLE. The Electros can be found international ebay etc for around $75 to $125 usd plus $30 shipping direct from Japan...
Amazing! Congratulations on your purchase! They are very special cameras, marking both the end of the era of fully analog, discrete electronics and the beginning of the era of automatic electronic SLRs.
Thank you. I'd be interested to hear what kind of symptoms your cameras are showing. Part 2 is coming soon, in which I explain the theory of operation of the electronics and measure the light sensitivity. I hope it will be helpful.
@@EdwinSteiner Thank you for your reply. My first camera (looks like a new) has the same symptom: the speed remains always fast, despite the "correct" arrow reading in the viewfinder. Battery check ok, light reading ok, speed doesn't change. The second camera (with traces of heavy wear and damage) works almost well electronically, speed changed correct (at hear), but I'm not sure of the correct metering and also the ISO knob is blocked by shock. I had the idea of replacing components between bodies, but it risks losing both cameras in the process.
@@andreikudriavtsev4355 When you say "light reading ok" for the first camera, do you mean it agrees with a known-good exposure meter over the full range, or is it just reacting to the light approximately in the right direction, like my camera did? These can point to quite different root causes. It's good to be cautious about swapping components because there are different revisions of the electronic boards and also some components need to be matched to each other. However, once you know exactly what's wrong with each camera (and I hope my videos will help you to find out), you may be in the nice position of having a donor camera for some difficult to get components. There's a lot of information in the upcoming parts to the video but always feel free to contact me directly for questions. I have a lot more detailed information than I can possibly share in the videos, and it would be interesting to compare board revisions and causes of failure.
I got an Electro Spotmatic back in 2018 and despite being in awful condition (missing hotshoe, corrosion, etc.), the light meter surprisingly still worked! Until 2019 that is. Ever since I found myself using the camera less but as of today, this video helped me get it working again :) Excellent work and thank you very much for sharing and preserving knowledge about these old cameras :)
Great video! I was wondering if you would be able to share a link to the slotted screw driver you used (the one that has a "5" on it @5:32)? I've been looking for one of these and haven't been able to find one!
Thanks! I made this slotted screwdriver myself using a Dremel to grind the slot into a regular old slotted screw driver we had lying around. I also had to grind it a bit flatter to make it fit. So, unfortunately, I cannot give you a link. If you don't want to make it yourself, you could try searching for "face spanner", which I think is the name for a tool with two frontal prongs for turning fasteners.
Hi. I would like to say a huge thank you for this series of videos about Pentax Electro Spotmatic. I bought myself such a camera for restoration, but the electronics worked in it. Recently, I accidentally put a 4LR44 battery with the wrong polarity and the exposure meter stopped functioning. I would really like to repair it, but I can't find an electronic repair circuit. Problem: The exposure meter only does not react to light. ISO switching, exposure correction, aperture data transmission systems change the values of the exposure meter, but only when the mode is turned off. If you turn on the exposure measurement mode, the camera will work out 1/1000 and not react to light. I will be very grateful for any help in solving this problem. Thank you in advance.
@@Vanya_Avan Hello! Sorry to hear about your troubles. I will be traveling the next days, so I cannot look into it immediately. Maybe you can send more details about the behavior of your camera to my email: edwin dot steiner at gmx dot net. In particular, what do you mean by "measurement off"? Do you mean the open aperture metering mode?
@@EdwinSteiner Thank you! That's right, when the exposure metering mode is turned off, the arrow reacts to switching other parameters. I will email you a more detailed description of the problem and a link to a video of the problem.
Hallo! Fragen kann ich gerne auch auf Deutsch beantworten. Das ganze Video zweisprachig zu machen ist leider zu aufwändig. Bald werden die KIs ohnehin alles übersetzen können.
![The Pentax Electro Spotmatic: Reverse-engineering a marvel of 1971's Japanese electronics [Part 2].](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jkEPIudCGIo/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Pentax Electro Spotmatic: Reverse-engineering a marvel of 1971's Japanese electronics [Part 2].](/img/tr.png)
![The Pentax Electro Spotmatic: Reverse-engineering a marvel of 1971's Japanese electronics [Part 3].](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HOnj1KhhlGY/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Pentax Electro Spotmatic: Reverse-engineering a marvel of 1971's Japanese electronics [Part 5].](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6Fi4C9pPbLg/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Pentax Electro Spotmatic: Reverse-engineering a marvel of 1971's Japanese electronics [Part 6].](/img/n.gif)
Not many people might see this, but your efforts are pure gold.
I think you can confidently regard yourself as a world leading expert on this model; others will be referencing YOU for advice. My ES2 still works, but usually caps at 1/1000. (Turning the camera upside-down reduces the weight of the mirror and sometimes helps with this.) Anyway, I found you on the Pentax Forum and will subscribe here as well. Thanks for saving this example from the past and keeping it from being scrapped.
Because of this video revealing the hand built electronics vs the ES 2 circuitry....as a lifetime user of Pentax for over 50 years. HS photog at 14 yrs old... now 67 and still shooting my 1978 Pentax 6x7. I just bought 10 yes TEN MINT 5+++ electro spotmatics out of JAPAN. the rarity of a mint condition 100% operational 1970 camera is REMARKABLE. The Electros can be found international ebay etc for around $75 to $125 usd plus $30 shipping direct from Japan...
Amazing! Congratulations on your purchase! They are very special cameras, marking both the end of the era of fully analog, discrete electronics and the beginning of the era of automatic electronic SLRs.
I have two broken ES, they were waiting for this video because they were considered unrepairable. Thanks, you have made the internet more intelligent
Thank you. I'd be interested to hear what kind of symptoms your cameras are showing.
Part 2 is coming soon, in which I explain the theory of operation of the electronics and measure the light sensitivity. I hope it will be helpful.
@@EdwinSteiner Thank you for your reply. My first camera (looks like a new) has the same symptom: the speed remains always fast, despite the "correct" arrow reading in the viewfinder. Battery check ok, light reading ok, speed doesn't change.
The second camera (with traces of heavy wear and damage) works almost well electronically, speed changed correct (at hear), but I'm not sure of the correct metering and also the ISO knob is blocked by shock.
I had the idea of replacing components between bodies, but it risks losing both cameras in the process.
@@andreikudriavtsev4355 When you say "light reading ok" for the first camera, do you mean it agrees with a known-good exposure meter over the full range, or is it just reacting to the light approximately in the right direction, like my camera did? These can point to quite different root causes.
It's good to be cautious about swapping components because there are different revisions of the electronic boards and also some components need to be matched to each other. However, once you know exactly what's wrong with each camera (and I hope my videos will help you to find out), you may be in the nice position of having a donor camera for some difficult to get components.
There's a lot of information in the upcoming parts to the video but always feel free to contact me directly for questions. I have a lot more detailed information than I can possibly share in the videos, and it would be interesting to compare board revisions and causes of failure.
Great, great, great job!!
I got an Electro Spotmatic back in 2018 and despite being in awful condition (missing hotshoe, corrosion, etc.), the light meter surprisingly still worked! Until 2019 that is. Ever since I found myself using the camera less but as of today, this video helped me get it working again :)
Excellent work and thank you very much for sharing and preserving knowledge about these old cameras :)
Your work is excellent! And I'm going to use it in my workshop and repair these Pentax Electro Spotmatics with greater peace of mind...
Just scored one of these in Thailand at a flea market for the equivalent of €3.20.
Still need a battery, and lens though.
Great video! I was wondering if you would be able to share a link to the slotted screw driver you used (the one that has a "5" on it @5:32)? I've been looking for one of these and haven't been able to find one!
Thanks! I made this slotted screwdriver myself using a Dremel to grind the slot into a regular old slotted screw driver we had lying around. I also had to grind it a bit flatter to make it fit. So, unfortunately, I cannot give you a link. If you don't want to make it yourself, you could try searching for "face spanner", which I think is the name for a tool with two frontal prongs for turning fasteners.
Hi. I would like to say a huge thank you for this series of videos about Pentax Electro Spotmatic.
I bought myself such a camera for restoration, but the electronics worked in it.
Recently, I accidentally put a 4LR44 battery with the wrong polarity and the exposure meter stopped functioning. I would really like to repair it, but I can't find an electronic repair circuit.
Problem:
The exposure meter only does not react to light. ISO switching, exposure correction, aperture data transmission systems change the values of the exposure meter, but only when the mode is turned off. If you turn on the exposure measurement mode, the camera will work out 1/1000 and not react to light.
I will be very grateful for any help in solving this problem. Thank you in advance.
@@Vanya_Avan Hello! Sorry to hear about your troubles. I will be traveling the next days, so I cannot look into it immediately. Maybe you can send more details about the behavior of your camera to my email: edwin dot steiner at gmx dot net. In particular, what do you mean by "measurement off"? Do you mean the open aperture metering mode?
@@EdwinSteiner Thank you!
That's right, when the exposure metering mode is turned off, the arrow reacts to switching other parameters.
I will email you a more detailed description of the problem and a link to a video of the problem.
detaillierte Information, leider nur in englisch
Hallo! Fragen kann ich gerne auch auf Deutsch beantworten. Das ganze Video zweisprachig zu machen ist leider zu aufwändig. Bald werden die KIs ohnehin alles übersetzen können.
😁 "promosm"