I am planning to remove the meter circuit...

[baachitraka]

and the meter needle completely from my Olympus OM-1n camera to have an unobstructed view through the view finder and replace with an external meter.

what meter would be the best choice for landscape photography?

Spot or incident.

[Les Sarile]

The spot metering of the OM-4T is accurate like my Sekonic 758DR and you won't need to remove the needle as Oly already did it for you . . .

Also, I don't have one but I believe the OM-3 has the same metering setup as the OM-4.

[baachitraka]

Well, I only own few of OM-1ns and an OM-2sp. One of the OM-1n require CLA. So, I may ask the repairer to remove the metering circuit completely.

OM-3(Ti) are very expensive indeed, with that money I can buy a good spot-meter and a couple of other gear.

[Les Sarile]

Your signature also shows an OM-2SP which I understand uses the same/similar metering system as the OM-3 and 4. If it is in good working order then that can also be your spot meter.

[baachitraka]

The idea to remove the metering circuit including needle is to have a camera with clear view finder. CW metering is rather sub-optimal in most cases.

OM-2sp is one cute camera but it eats batteries like crazy. Further, I have no interest to acquire electronic OM's anymore.

A good spot meter with/without incident capabilities should be fine I guess...I will be delighted to hear some of your experiences.

[Neal]

Dear baachitraka,

If you are willing to make the step to tripods and spotmeters, why alter your OM-1? It is a well sought after camera and you will only reduce the value. An inexpensive 645 will make much better photos and you can keep the OM-1 for those times when a tripod is inappropriate. Trust me on this one (I sometimes use an old press camera for walking around when I'm willing to put up with the questions), a spotmeter (or any non-coupled meter) is not nearly as handy if you ever need to work quickly. I suggest trying it out a few times before modifying your camera. You can sometimes find an old Soligor spotmeter for well under $100. I have one and, while it's not as good at low light as the better models, I have made plenty of good exposures at all times of the day.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

[Bill Burk]

Hi baachitraka,

I use OM-1 without utilizing its meter. I just take the battery out.

I find I am able to ignore the needle.

But I get it... I appreciate uncluttered finders. Plus when you take pictures you really _aren't_ supposed to be ignoring what is in the finder.

[ic-racer]

and the meter needle completely from my Olympus OM-1n camera to have an unobstructed view through the view finder and replace with an external meter.

what meter would be the best choice for landscape photography?

Spot or incident.

Averaging meter.

Spot meter requires you to determine a shade of gray so many stops below the average of a scene and assign that to the meter reading. The averaging reflected meter does that for you.
Incident meter can be very difficult to calibrate for landscape. You will get many different readings depending on how the light hits the dome. You can calibrate it for a sunlight reading or a shadow reading.Works best with flat copywork where you know the range is five stops from white paper to black paper or paint.

[baachitraka]

Dear baachitraka,

If you are willing to make the step to tripods and spotmeters, why alter your OM-1? It is a well sought after camera and you will only reduce the value. An inexpensive 645 will make much better photos and you can keep the OM-1 for those times when a tripod is inappropriate. Trust me on this one (I sometimes use an old press camera for walking around when I'm willing to put up with the questions), a spotmeter (or any non-coupled meter) is not nearly as handy if you ever need to work quickly. I suggest trying it out a few times before modifying your camera. You can sometimes find an old Soligor spotmeter for well under $100. I have one and, while it's not as good at low light as the better models, I have made plenty of good exposures at all times of the day.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

Hello Mr. Neal,

Well, may be I should learn not to look the meter needle while composing. Okay, I will keep these gems unmodified except CLA.

My only question is, if I meter the desired shadow(mostly landscapes) and place it two stop below which is eventually Zone III(I try not to go to Zone System), will this method work for 35mm too?

[Bill Burk]

Hi ic-racer,

I'm surprised you recommend averaging, but then a lot of exposures have been averaged with reasonable results.

In the thread "What is the Relationship between Film Speed and Camera Exposure?" we are discussing why averaging metering "works".

I can't reconcile the ideas of using statistical average when I could quickly spot shadow and highlight and know the actual average.

baachitraka,

Spot metering a significant shadow works for 35mm black and white negative film. You can also use the "vocabulary" of Zone System to check other spots, for example placing caucasian skin on Zone VI.

Many darkroom workers use the capability of multigrade papers to deal with the highlights.