Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/05/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Steven L. Alexander wrote: > > And the best handheld incident meter is Spectra, if you can find them, > correct Fred? > Steven Alexander. > Well, the Spectra is certainly a fine and famous meter, having been used on Hollywood movie sets for decades. When $100,000 an hour was at stake and there was no such thing as bracketing exposures, the Spectra was the meter of choice by all movie cameramen. The downside.... the Spectra was not very sensitive to low light, as meters are today. And as you switched from sunlight to shade to indoors you had to switch slides in the meter to make the light intensity adjustment. Annoying and slow, but one got used to it. The upside.... no batteries and they worked forever. When I had to spend the winter in northern Canada at 55 below zero F., I took a Spectra and 3 Leica M bodies, which worked just great. All equipment was still working at the end of the Geographic assignment (and I did not remove the grease in the cameras). But I did sleep with the gear at night (with all of it at my feet inside my sleeping bag) so I could get a couple of hours of use at higher than ambient temperatures. Today I think it is probably better to buy a modern meter that has all bases covered.... incident light, reflected light (perhaps with spot readings), and electronic flash metering. That way you only have to carry one item. I work that way with Minolta meters now. Fred Ward