Have a look at the Beatles photo at http://www.wolfgangsvault.com -- it's of the group arriving in San Francisco in 1966 for their final U.S. concert. (Click on it to see full-screen -- and look at the other great stuff on this site from impresario Bill Graham's collections.)

What camera do you think Paul is holding? Not a Spotmatic, I don't think, so I'd go with a Nikon F due to the shutter speed dial size and what I can see of the film advance lever. I guess Paul would have seen enough Nikon F's in the hand of myriad photographers that he'd gravitate in that direction.

I'd really go for a black Spotmatic SP: no hotshoe, and the angle of pentaprism look like it.

BTW, that's an awesome shot!

Looks very much like a black Pentax SV. By the way, I really miss the "Unofficial Asahi Pentax Spotmatic Home Page" that once existed - a great resource...

What camera do you think Paul is holding? Not a Spotmatic, I don't think, so I'd go with a Nikon F due to the shutter speed dial size and what I can see of the film advance lever.


Definitely not a Nikon – the shape of the pentaprism is wrong. Probably some sort of Pentax.


Richard

Can't tell the camera, but maybe this will help--

Here is another view of that day.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/chronicle/archive/2001/12/01/MN72382.DTL&o=0

Matt

I'd say he used a pentax...just a guess...


http://itsadoozy.com/hostees/beatles/mccartney/64camera.jpg

Matt

Well, I guess I got stuffed on that one! I should have gone with my first instinct -- Spotmatic all the way.

Well, I guess I got stuffed on that one! I should have gone with my first instinct -- Spotmatic all the way.

I think he owned a Nikon F as well. There was an interview in Amateur Photographer a few years ago with his brother Mike McCartney who is a photographer and was a member of the band The Scaffold.

Just after the Beatles made it big and therefore had a bit of spare money, Paul bought Mike a Nikon F as a christmas present. I'm fairly sure it said that Paul bought one for himself too.


Steve.

Looks very much like a Pentax SV. The self timer dial under the film rewind crank gives it away. The SV was before the Spotmatic.

I wonder where that camera is today! :)

I wonder where that camera is today! :)
He probably still has it Snegron, I heard a recent radio interview with him, he said he still has every musical instrument he ever owned he's probably the same with cameras, or maybe he gave it to his daughter Heather who is a pro photographer.

Looks very much like a black Pentax SV. By the way, I really miss the "Unofficial Asahi Pentax Spotmatic Home Page" that once existed - a great resource...

Well, this site seems to be archived:

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.arnhem.telekabel.nl/~pjonkman/index2.html

He probably still has it Snegron, I heard a recent radio interview with him, he said he still has every musical instrument he ever owned he's probably the same with cameras, or maybe he gave it to his daughter Heather who is a pro photographer.

Now if we only knew where Paul Simons' Nikon is...:D

Now if we only knew where Paul Simons' Nikon is...:D

Ya and his Kodachrome.

Ya and his Kodachrome.

His mother took it from him.

Wasn't Linda a big Nikon user?