hot shoe exposure meter

himself · Jan 13, 2013

Mornin'

was wondering if these exist?

I was sat wondering the other day, trying to decide between my hi-matic 7s or my zorki 4 and was disappointed not to choose the zorki, which I prefer, my reasoning was thus - in a pinch if I need to meter the minolta has it and I wont have to reach into my bag for the hand-held meter.

and as wondering tends to do, I was led to a place where I figured there must be a simple fix for this problem, to take away the need to choose, a little meter I could fit to my zorki hot shoe and never need to consider this again.

does such a wonderful thing exist?
cds or battery powered?

anything?

Sirius Glass · Jan 13, 2013

I used to hove one. There should still be some working ones around.

himself · Jan 13, 2013

what am I looking for, did they have a specific name, manufacturer?

Rudolf Karachun · Jan 13, 2013

As i remember Cosina used to manufacture them for Bessa. Check out Cosina dealers, they may have them.

DWThomas · Jan 13, 2013

The currently manufactured Gossen Digisix has a threaded insert in the bottom and there is an optional shoe mount adapter (which costs about twice what it should) available.

I don't recall the model, but I believe it was Voigtländer that had a very small meter that mounted on an accessory shoe.

rawhead · Jan 13, 2013

Cosina/Voigtländer has the VC meters. They go for a pretty penny on Ebay these days.

AgX · Jan 13, 2013

DWThomas said:
The currently manufactured Gossen Digisix has a threaded insert in the bottom and there is an optional shoe mount adapter (which costs about twice what it should) available.

Just get a flash socket, flash adapter or whatever of that kind you can grab at a fleamarket ar alike, and mount the socket proper by screwing or glueing to that Digisix.

The historic mount-on ones I can remember were selenium ones. But there are some sites on the net devoted to historic exposure meters, maybe you find there something apt to look for then.

himself · Jan 13, 2013

thanks very much...

any that go for an ugly penny?
not looking for something too bells and whistles-y, just something to use in a pinch

thegman · Jan 13, 2013

Could get a Leicameter MC, cheaper than the Voigtlander, and probably less accurate. I've used both, prefer the Voigtlander, but it's quite pricey.

Aron · Jan 13, 2013

Easy solution: keep your handheld meter in your pocket or around your belt so it will always be within easy reach. To me incident meters are fundamental accesories and I wouldn't want to trade mine for an accesory shoe mounted one that one would inevitably use mostly in reflected mode, if it's got an incident option at all.

AgX · Jan 13, 2013

A small scall meter capable of incident light metering, could be used mounted on the camera the same way as as lose meter.

wiltw · Jan 13, 2013

The problem with older hotshoe-mounted exposure meters is either

they use selenium photosensor which may well have degraded
they use CdS photosensor which require mercury oxide button cells which are no longer manufactured (Wein air cells may or may not be available in the proper size to fit)

Pioneer · Jan 13, 2013

The Sekonic L-208 Twinmate used to be sold with a hot shoe adaptor that could be attached to the meter. Its a decent little meter that is relatively inexpensive.

AgX · Jan 13, 2013

One can make silver-oxide cells fit mechanically and electronically. But that would mean some hassle.

wiltw · Jan 13, 2013

AgX said:
One can make silver-oxide cells fit mechanically and electronically. But that would mean some hassle.

But they are 1.5v and decline voltage over their lifetime, whereas CdS meters RELY upon a constant and unvarying 1.35v provided by mercuric oxide batteries. Simple substitution of alkaline or silver oxide very frequently results in inaccurate readings that cannot be simply compensated with lying about ISO...the Olympus OM-1 is one such example.

MattKing · Jan 13, 2013

wiltw said:
But they are 1.5v and decline voltage over their lifetime, whereas CdS meters RELY upon a constant and unvarying 1.35v provided by mercuric oxide batteries. Simple substitution of alkaline or silver oxide very frequently results in inaccurate readings that cannot be simply compensated with lying about ISO...the Olympus OM-1 is one such example.

I must respectfully differ. Silver oxide cells are very consistent over their lifetime, whereas alkaline cells are not.

One cannot just substitute the silver oxide cells for the mercuric oxide cells, because the meter circuit's response to the incorrect voltage does not necessarily result in a linear error. If one reduces that voltage appropriately however (through an appropriate adapter or other circuitry)the meter circuit will respond appropriately.

himself · Jan 14, 2013

ok, so hmmm.

that's a lot of information, not so much of it to make my choice easier...
but then I don't much like my 7s.

thegman · Jan 14, 2013

Well, you've got a Zorki, and Hi-Matic, and budgeting for a meter. You could sell the lot and get a Bessa, have a nice built-in meter? A Bessa R, R2, or even R3A can sometimes be picked up for a good price. If you don't mind a separate finder/range finder, then the Bessa T is worth a look, they are pretty nice cameras and *tiny*.

himself · Jan 14, 2013

thegman said:
Well, you've got a Zorki, and Hi-Matic, and budgeting for a meter. You could sell the lot and get a Bessa, have a nice built-in meter? A Bessa R, R2, or even R3A can sometimes be picked up for a good price. If you don't mind a separate finder/range finder, then the Bessa T is worth a look, they are pretty nice cameras and *tiny*.

only budgeting for a meter by considering selling the Hi Matic, which unfortunately isn't worth much here in the UK (sorry for assuming you may not be for the UK, but there seems to be mostly people from the States on here), the zorki isn't worth anything either...

anyway, added all up, unless I'm lucky, I'd need to sell a kidney on top of all that for a bessa

kanzlr · Jan 14, 2013

Pioneer said:
The Sekonic L-208 Twinmate used to be sold with a hot shoe adaptor that could be attached to the meter. Its a decent little meter that is relatively inexpensive.

it still comes with the optional shoe. I got one for Christmas and the shoe was included. Still, I think it is more practical to have it in a shirt pocket.

Xmas · Jan 14, 2013

himself said:
only budgeting for a meter by considering selling the Hi Matic, which unfortunately isn't worth much here in the UK (sorry for assuming you may not be for the UK, but there seems to be mostly people from the States on here), the zorki isn't worth anything either...

anyway, added all up, unless I'm lucky, I'd need to sell a kidney on top of all that for a bessa

Cheapest option is a Weston II or III, PeterLoy occasionally has one, or Street vendors on Bricklane or Sptalfield Mkt.

20 GBP without invercone/filter, 30 with (about). You need a free pocket as well. If they are still in qual after 50 years they will last another 50 years - probably...

Noel

himself · Jan 14, 2013

i've already got a pocketable one, but lacking a free pocket - was considerin me options like

rockphotographer · Jan 17, 2013

Sekonic makes one as well....the L-208.

I have one for my Rolleis, when I want to cheat hah!

http://www.sekonic.com/Products/L-208/Overview.aspx

wiltw · Jan 17, 2013

MattKing said:
I must respectfully differ. Silver oxide cells are very consistent over their lifetime, whereas alkaline cells are not.

One cannot just substitute the silver oxide cells for the mercuric oxide cells, because the meter circuit's response to the incorrect voltage does not necessarily result in a linear error. If one reduces that voltage appropriately however (through an appropriate adapter or other circuitry)the meter circuit will respond appropriately.

I know, with certainty that SOME meters could substitute 1.5v for the original 1.35v battery, and not have a problem.
But SOME meters absolutely cannot simply be compensated for even a constant 0.15v difference simply because the amount of meter error is different at different levels of light being measured! The meter in the Olympus OM-1 is one of these...I know, because I still have a few mercury oxide cells and compared the mercury oxide reading with a 1.5v substitute, and the error was NOT consistent at different light levels.

Xmas · Jan 19, 2013

wiltw said:
I know, with certainty that SOME meters could substitute 1.5v for the original 1.35v battery, and not have a problem.
But SOME meters absolutely cannot simply be compensated for even a constant 0.15v difference simply because the amount of meter error is different at different levels of light being measured! The meter in the Olympus OM-1 is one of these...I know, because I still have a few mercury oxide cells and compared the mercury oxide reading with a 1.5v substitute, and the error was NOT consistent at different light levels.

The Pentax Spotmatic series may all be ok (when they use a bridge circuit with Silver Oxide or alkaline batteries).
The Pentax K1000 series ditto (they use a dual coil galvanometer for similar effect)
But I'd use silver oxide in either myself, e.g. cept when stuck on Sunday, with dead battery and no shops.

The rest probably all need a Shockley diode to drop the Silver ovide 1.5 volts (nominal) to close to 1.33 volts.

Most of the time I remove battery and use sunnyside f/16...

Noel

hot shoe exposure meter

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