Any manual cameras with spot metering?

Arkady said:
I had a Spotmatic and although it had centre-weighted metering, did not have spot-metering, despite the name. You are correct in that it did have an M-42 mount however.
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When the original prototype Spotmatic was shown at the 1959 Photokina it did have a spotmeter, but just before the production model was due to start production, it was decided that a spotmeter would be too advanced and difficult to use for the average photographer so it was switched for average metering but all the documentation, logos etc were 'spotmatic' and not having enough time to come up with a new name and redesign everything Asahi Pentax kept it and confused many photographers in the process. Only in the later electronic ES and ESII and possibly the mechanical F was the metering centre-weighted.
 
s162216 said:
When the original prototype Spotmatic was shown at the 1959 Photokina it did have a spotmeter, but just before the production model was due to start production, it was decided that a spotmeter would be too advanced and difficult to use for the average photographer so it was switched for average metering but all the documentation, logos etc were 'spotmatic' and not having enough time to come up with a new name and redesign everything Asahi Pentax kept it and confused many photographers in the process. Only in the later electronic ES and ESII and possibly the mechanical F was the metering centre-weighted.
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Maybe I'm confusing my Spotmatic-S with the Olympus OM-1n I replaced it with, but I thought it had centre-weighted metering...
 
OM4 would get my vote, has a brilliant 'multi-spot' metering system.


Later ones had improved electronics which didn't eat batteries.

OM3s were a mechanical version but rarity makes them expensive.
 
john-oh said:
OM4 would get my vote, has a brilliant 'multi-spot' metering system.


Later ones had improved electronics which didn't eat batteries.

OM3s were a mechanical version but rarity makes them expensive.
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The OM10 and Om20 put me off ever getting any other Olympus camera...my logic is:- if Olympus engineers can't make a decent well designed cheap camera like for example Canon A series, then I have no confidence for their more expensive ones.
 
OM-10 and 20 were truly dreadful, it has to be said, but so was the Pentax ME-Super...

OM-1n and OM-2n were gleaming little cameras...If I hadn't kept breaking them I might be using them still...
 
Arkady said:
OM-10 and 20 were truly dreadful, it has to be said, but so was the Pentax ME-Super...
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Whats so wrong with the ME Super then? Brilliant little camera IMO after handling my dads one that he got in 1981.
 
s162216 said:
Whats so wrong with the ME Super then? Brilliant little camera IMO after handling my dads one that he got in 1981.
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I bought it as an 'upgrade' to my Spotmatic - I hated the silly little buttons for the manual-mode...it took me all of a month to off-load it and buy an OM-1n.
 
Still have an OM1n and lenses .... Great camera. No spot readings though.
 
my old LTL3 (between the LTL and MTL3) had a meter that was perfect - use it with FP4 which had at least 3 stop latitude and you could correct for almost anything in the darkroom.

As to whether it was centre-weighted - I don't think they had even invented the term.
 
In case nobody's mentioned it, you really have to know what you're doing with spot metering, i.e. where you are going to place that subject on the grey scale. It's a useful tool but a poor one if it's used indiscriminately.
Personally I tend to take one incident reading at the beginning of a session and don't trouble again unless the light changes dramatically, and the negs are more consistent than continually taking meter readings.
 
I have recently bought off the Bay an OM2n (a cheap gamble) that has turned out to be nigh on perfect!

Just had it CLA'd by Michael Spencer (Camerarepairs-R-Us) at Clay Cross and it is now 100%. The repairers attention to detail has made the camera 'as new' The meter is spot on with my Gossen and the 50mm F1.8 zuiko is a joy.

The Pentax Spotmatic 2:

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=219995

£20 including RMSD - why is this still here? A steal. Get it CLA'd (maybe put a film through first to check) Wonderful works of art!

Alistair
 
Contax S2 - manual 35mm camera with spot meter.

Sorted!
;)

Bit pricey though.
 
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