It is true, that the difference between the SP500 and 1000 is the "lack" of
a 1/1000th shutter speed on the 500. However, although the shutter speed
dial is only marked up to 1/500, there is a detente past the 1/500 speed,
where the 1/1000 speed should be, and the shutter does fire at that "phantom
speed".
It seems that when the marketing people came up with the concept of a
bargain Spotmatic without a timer, they decided that dropping the 1/1000
speed would be an incentive for some to spend the extra bucks for an SP with
both of those features. However, the folks in engineering found that it
wouldn't be cost effective to design a new shutter without the 1/1000th
speed. So, they simply stuck the old SP shutter in, dropped the 1/1000
marking from the dial, and didn't calibrate the 1/1000 speed at the factory.
So, the SP500 does have a "1/1000" shutter speed, although in fact, it
usually fires at around 1/750 or 1/800 - close enough to make it usable in
real life.
I have an SP500, and use the "phantom speed" when needed, with good results.
regards,
frank
Aaron Reynolds wrote:
> I've got an SP500 and an SP1000 that have performed admirably for me for
> ages. The big difference is that the 500's top shutter speed it 1/500
> and the 1000's is, you guessed it, 1/1000. They're both tough. The
> SP500 was bought brand new when it first came out by my Dad, who still
> uses it (though nowadays he's kidnapped my white elephant Yashica AF
> SLR, because he likes AF and the built-in flash), and I got the SP1000
> used when I was about 15, after grinding a poor Practica LTL-3 into the
> ground with a year and a half of heavy use. The SP1000 still sits in
> its backup bag, ready to rock whenever (battery out), with my 105mm
> f2.8, 200mm f4, 50mm f1.4 and my prized 35mm f2 (which actually spends
> most of its time in the bag with my LX and a screw-to-K adaptor on it).
>
> I've never owned a Spotmatic F, so I can't comment on it. I did briefly
> own an SV, which I liked, but not enough to keep (it came as part of a
> pile of stuff, including that 35mm f2 and a bellows set, both new and
> unopened in their original boxes after nearly 30 years). The fellow I
> gave it to liked it a lot...until it was stolen out of his truck on a
> roadtrip along with his Hassie and 100 CDs. The insurance company gave
> him an MZ-M for it. They wanted to give him the cheap SMC-A 50mm f2,
> but he kept pressing for a 50mm f1.4 of any vintage until they relented
> and gave him an SMC-FA 50mm f1.4. Lucky man.
>
> Aaron
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