clockwork mechanisms

[Steve Smith]

"A man with one watch always knows what time it is, but once he has two or more, he's never sure,"

It's the same with thermometers and spirit levels.


Steve.

[Jim Jones]

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston made fine photographs before they ever saw a selenium cell meter. Even later, experience sometimes served better (Moonrise over Hernandez). No meter of the time would have helped in some of Weston's macro photography with exposures of several hours. Yousuf Karsh said he sometimes checked lighting with a meter, but if the meter reading didn't agree with his guess, he favored the guess. However, for us mortals, meters are valuable tools, and better than ever. My failure rate dropped in 1967 upon buying a Nikon Photomic TN and semi-retiring a Weston Master II with a missing exposure calculator dial. That dial was not necessary for us who learned math before the digital calculator era, but was convenient.

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston made fine photographs before they ever saw a selenium cell meter. Even later, experience sometimes served better (Moonrise over Hernandez). No meter of the time would have helped in some of Weston's macro photography with exposures of several hours. Yousuf Karsh said he sometimes checked lighting with a meter, but if the meter reading didn't agree with his guess, he favored the guess. However, for us mortals, meters are valuable tools, and better than ever. My failure rate dropped in 1967 upon buying a Nikon Photomic TN and semi-retiring a Weston Master II with a missing exposure calculator dial. That dial was not necessary for us who learned math before the digital calculator era, but was convenient.

Adams was wrong on moonrise, he severely underexposed it and had to use an intensifier on the foreground. Karsh was a studio photographer; exposure with studio lights is based on distance between the lights and subject and can be set up without a meter if you have an exposure table for the light (back in Karsh's day, light manufacturer's gave exposure info in the instructions).

[georg16nik]

As well as those who appreciate film photography and film cameras, is there an appreciation of camera clockwork mechanisms. They work beautifully, so why do we need batteries?

Absolutely! camera clockwork mechanisms are good enough when maintained properly.

[Bill Burk]

If I could be there to give advice to analog photographers starting out right now, I would recommend a quality manual camera without (or avoid getting battery for) a working meter. The reason for a quality camera is not for status, it is for durability, something that can stand up to minor knocks or splashes without losing all functionality. I would recommend getting a high quality spotmeter/incident meter. Chris' advice is well-taken, get a good CLA for the camera. Negatives will have a consistency and it will be easier to fulfill your vision.

But this local photographer chose for whatever reason to work without a meter. Her vision comes through this self-imposed constraint.

[David A. Goldfarb]

If you often shoot in the same kind of light, which is not so unusual for some kinds of photographers--to seek out a certain kind of light--then you can do pretty well without a meter. Average indoor lighting, enough to read by, for instance, is astonishingly consistent (around ISO 400, f:2, 1/15 sec.), not to mention sunny 16, open shade, full sun at the beach, and those exposures included on the film data sheet that used to be in the box. It's those unfamiliar situations, or situations with rapidly changing light, that can get tricky.

"Moonrise" was difficult not only because Adams didn't use a meter, but because a landscape with the moon in it is always difficult, particularly without tricks like ND grads or double exposures. You want detail in the landscape without blowing out the moon, and you need a fast enough exposure to get the moon sharp.

Having a good idea of what the exposure should be without checking the meter, I would say, is a fairly important element of knowing how to use a meter.

[Chan Tran]

I do have great appreciation of good clockwork be it's in a clock, watch or a camera but I do use electronically controlled camera with batteries. I do have appreciation for a good efficient electronic device as well.
I can and do get good exposure without a meter but I do use a meter often as well.

[X. Phot.]

I use a 1960's Hamilton Swiss wristwatch to time exposures for small aperture Waterhouse stops & pinholes. It has yet to complained about exhausted batteries. The shutters I am using on the view cameras are ancient. "Accurate" is probably the last word I'd use to describe these shutters. But the "T" and "B" settings nearly always function with utmost precision . . . that is . . . if I remember to squeeze the bulb with gusto.

[cliveh]

I use a 1960's Hamilton Swiss wristwatch to time exposures for small aperture Waterhouse stops & pinholes. It has yet to complained about exhausted batteries. The shutters I am using on the view cameras are ancient. "Accurate" is probably the last word I'd use to describe these shutters. But the "T" and "B" settings nearly always function with utmost precision . . . that is . . . if I remember to squeeze the bulb with gusto.

It is posts like this that restore my faith in real mechanical clockwork mechanisms. How wonderful to use a favourite timepiece to aid an exposure on physical light sensitive material, especially if squeezing the bulb with gusto!