Sam,

I got the Spotmatic at a camera shop in Harvard Square Cambridge. Interesting story. I was looking at the model the salesperson gave me, after I said I wanted an older Pentax that was mostly if not entirely manual, and a guy was behind me in line listening politely to what she said and looking at the camera. I was aware he was there and turned and said "If you need her to help you go ahead, I am just looking at this." And he said "I have one of those, it's great," and then explained that one had to be careful about finding a supply for batteries as they did not make the old mercury batteries anymore and sometimes the new zinc ones made specially for old cameras were hard to find. By this time I was realizing this guy's face was very familiar. He also said he had actually come in there to get batteries for his Spotmatic! The saleswoman pointed to where he could get them in the next room. he was apparently not in too much of a hurry and we continued to chat about the camera. I explained that I had not owned a camera in several years and was replacing one that had been stolen and decided a vintage camera would be nice. He said his had also been stolen many years ago, but then he got another one just like it. Finally I had to ask "Hey you look so familiar, are you famous or something?" I expected him to say, "Yeah, I do the weather on Channel 5," or some such thing, and he said "Do you ever watch 60 MINUTES?" I looked right at him and said "Oh my gosh, you're Steve Kroft! I love your show, etc." I asked him what he was doing in Cambridge and he mentioned some meeting at Harvard. He then told me about he had bought his camera just before he went to Vietnam and used it over there. He went to get his batteries, at which point I decided I had to get this camera, the coincidence and significance of the encounter was just too much. The whole outfit cost about $300, more than I wanted to spend, but they threw in a $20 book on how to use vintage Pentax cameras for free. As Steve left the store he clapped me on the shoulder and said "Enjoy that camera! You'll love it." I said "Steve, you're the man!" He smiled and waved and left.

:) It is a great camera. I do not fully know how to use it yet and my first experimental roll of film (shooting kittens in the sunlit porch) was not too successful, but the camera folk said they'd help me with it. There is no light reading instrument that is automatic (either that or the battery is not properly installed) so I need some help with that, too, as I am used to at least having something which offers what setting you should use with existing light conditions.

Aux,

I love irises (have some very old ones in my yard that I now leave behind; I think I shall dig some of them up and bring them to my new place) and never knew they could be hybridized. How interesting! Do they retain their fragarnce when this is done, or, like hybridized roses, do they lose most of that?

Peg