Finally picked the old Pentax over the Canon for street shots
Had a Canon AE-1 sitting next to a Pentax Spotmatic on my desk for a week, went with the Spotmatic because the meter seemed more honest in low light. Took it out to the farmers market downtown, blew through a roll of Portra 400, and the shadows came out way better than I expected. Anyone else feel like the older glass just has a different look to it, or am I just making excuses for gear?
The meter being "more honest" in low light is just a thing old meters do, they drift and underexpose and you call it honest. Same with shadows looking better, Portra 400 has tons of range so it's gonna hold shadow detail in most cameras you put it in. The Spotmatic is a solid camera, don't get me wrong, but the glass difference between Pentax and Canon from that era is way overblown online. Half the "different look" people talk about is one lens being dirty or a different lens coating batch. Shoot both with the same film on the same day and see if you can actually tell in a blind test.