Last week I finally was able to clear out my little studio space in the basement. It kept filling up with stuff until I hardly had space to put the tripod. Now it's all cleaned up and rearranged. Now I can to some more table top shooting.

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Shot with 2 Vivitar 285 HVs through umbrellas. I've been shooting the Spotmics more. I had considered getting a Nikon F3. A friend had lent me his and it really is sweet. They can be had for good prices. But in the end I've decided to stick to the Pentax Spotmatics. They are a lot less. Bodies can be had for around $30. Lenses are inexpensive, too. A Pentax Spotmatic body and Pentax Takumar lens were top of the line in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They are wonderful to use. Very high quality. My friend Vern had an older firend of his die recently. His friend was a camera collector and Vern has been helping his widow by going through his cameras and picking out what can be sold. I will be helping him sell the Spotmatics and rangefinders. Two of the lenses in the picture are from that collection. On the Black Spotmatic SP is a Vivitar 20/3.8. Very wide but still rectilinear. Vern has a Nikkor 20mm lens so he is pretty spoiled. He claimed this lens wasn't horrible. It actually seems pretty decent. It has a little fungus so we really can't sell it. They can be had on eBay for under $50. The lens on the right, on the Spotmatic F, is a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 85/1.8. This lens is highly desirable. Very sharp and fast. Unfortunately it also has a small bloom of fungus. It doesn't really affect the image but makes it unsaleable. Vern will be going down next month and bringing the rest of the gear back. I will list it here before going to eBay. The lens in the middle is my 50/4 Super-Multi-Coated Takumar Macro. The Spotmatics are a joy to use. The Pentaxes, in the 1960s, defined what a SLR was to be. The Spotmatic is the camera everyone copied.