TomB_tx Posted February 26, 2014 Share #1 Posted February 26, 2014 Advertisement (gone after registration) The Leica M5 meter, with the CdS cell on a swinging arm that moves in front of the film plane for metering, was quite innovative. However, it wasn't the first camera to try a cell swinging out to meter in the light path from the lens. There may have been others, but in 1960 Asahi showed a concept prototype called the Spot-Matic, and many know that the prototype metered a spot in the center of the frame. Reading about it recently I saw a diagram showing that it too used a CdS cell on a swinging arm, but the arm swung out just under the focusing screen when the meter was activated, and folded away for normal composing and viewing. So it was a very similar concept to the M5, but the cell was in the path reflected from the mirror. When metering the cell would obstruct the center part of the image in the viewfinder, but that would at least make it very clear which part of the picture was being metered. However the blind spot in the finder (only when metering) would have been irritating. So Asahi wisely never released the "Spot-Matic" and instead moved the metering cells out of the light path for the Spotmatic 5 years later. The Spotmatic was, of course, one of the most successful Asahi models. Leitz, of course, also moved the meter cell out of the light path for the M6 some years later. It was also very successful for Leitz. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 26, 2014 Posted February 26, 2014 Hi TomB_tx, Take a look here M5 and Spot-matic meters. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
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