The tenth camera in my 12 months of film project is the Pentax Asahi SP500, manufactured by the Asahi Optical Co. Ltd, later known as the Pentax Corporation. There were a number of different variants produced between 1964 and 1976 and the SP500 was one of the companies budget models. It allowed a maximum shutter speed of 1/500th second but had no self timer like the original, more expensive camera. It's incredibly well built, made pretty much all from metal, and has a certain heft to it. It requires a 1.35 volt mercury battery or equivalent silver oxide battery, the latter available easily on eBay.
In the hand it feels reassuringly solid, and pretty easy to use. The shutter sound is nice and crisp, and seems quite refined. I was using the SP500 with a 58mm F2.0 and the viewfinder offered a nice bright view of the subject.
Now to the disaster. I thought that the film advance lever felt a tad strange when I advanced the film, and it turns out it wasn't advancing at all. It was my error. I don't think I attached the film leader to the spool correctly, so it didn't take up. I only realised my mistake once I started to rewind the film, only for it to do so in about a second. So I don't have any photographs from the camera at present. After I have used cameras eleven and twelve, I will try again, and update this post with what I hope will be a lovely set of images from the Pentax Asahi SP500.
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| Front view of the Asahi Pentax SP500 |
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| Rear view |
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| Asahi Pentax SP500 top view |
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| 58mm F2.0 lens side view |
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| Shutter speed dial and film advance lever |
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| Film rewind lever |
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