User ID

I worked at a large government agency. It was a long hike to the stockroom.

Do you remember the Newton, a very early PDA ? Well, I reeeally needed one and the ask went like so:

Me: Boss, I need a Newton.
Boss: What for ?
Me: By the time I get to the stockroom I’ve forgotten what I went there to get.
Boss: Howbout a pencil and notepad ?
Me: OK. Where do I get that ?
Boss: From the stockroom.

You see just how toadally unreasonable government can be ?

User ID

You must be not from around these parts, are you ? You do seem somewhat averse to our sacred UHH tradition of pomposity. Stick around. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Paul Diamond Loc: Atlanta, GA, USA

Yes, I owned one of the first mass produced TTL metering cameras, the Topcon RE Super (Super D in the USA). With a meter on the mirror, your camera exposure meter "saw" the same lens focussed image as your eyes through the viewfinder. At this time, Pentax, Nikon and others had external meters, usually attached/part of the porro prism of the camera/pointed toward the subject being photographed.

I enjoyed a camera that could use a manual aperture lens and get an actual TTL metering of the image for generally better exposures. Used the camera with all my (studant purchased) lenses and even my telescopes of the day.

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

Just looking at my Nikon D5600, in "A" mode. No match needle is seen in the view finder until I press the =/- EC button and turn the command dial to adjust the EC - Then the match needle is there. If some EC is already set, the match needle is present right away. EC at 0 - no match needle. "M" mode has the same behavior. Just tried it with a "scene" mode, which I never use. Trying to dial in EC - nothing, until I took the lens cap off... lol Wasn't looking thru the lens, just at the info screen. Gotta remember this: turn the camera on, if I'm seeing the match needle, then some EC is dialed in from last use of camera.

Just looking at my manual, Nikon refers to it as "exposure indicator", "exposure compensation indicator" and "Bracketing progress indicator". I used to shoot film Minolta's and remember "match Needle" from those cameras.
I've read my Nikon manual at least twice, never encountered "Match Needle", but that's what it is. Great thread here, picking up a lot here. I'm intrigued with that bracketing progress usage now... D5600 only allows a 3 shot bracket, but easy to forget where you're at if shooting a bunch of brackets. Getting away a bit from "match Needle" usage . . .

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

I worked for County government. Ordering anything that cost more than $100 was screwy. First computer system, a Vax 751, didn't come with a printer. I wanted to order a cheap dot-matrix printer for about $300 to print code. Request goes off to purchasing, and a couple of months later, they inform us that they thought a color laser jet for $10,000 would be a better choice. Considering what we had in our limited budget, we got permission to order the dot matrix printer. Probably about 9 months later. Private sector so much easier. Tell your supervisor what you want, tell them why, and in a minute or two it's a yes or no. I'm retired 11 years now from the County, it's probably just as bad and as screwy now as it was then.

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

Wow. Thanks for that. Never noticed that, and I consider myself pretty computer literate and use right click context menus all the time . . .

smussler Loc: Land O Lakes, FL - Formerly Miller Place, NY

As all orders had to go thru the front office in writing, We used to joke: "How do you order more pencils when you don't have one?"

williejoha

I have fond memories and still have my Pentax Honeywell Spotmatic F. What a great camera at it’s time.
WJH

BebuLamar

Thank you all who replied! I thought the "match needle" is only 1 type but as the thread goes on it seems that to some just about any metered manual camera is "match needle".

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I’m surprised they didn’t give you a FIG Newton.

The Apple Newton was an ill-executed box full of great ideas without the needed technologies to really make them practical. Its concept was way ahead of its time.

Just ask for any current iPhone…

BebuLamar

The Newton used handwriting recognition and even now that technique doesn't seem to work all that well although speech recognition is working quite well today. I would have thought that speech is more difficult than handwriting.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes… I use Siri daily, and occasionally dictate texts, posts, and emails. I still prefer typing silently, though. I have no need for handwriting recognition, although it would be great for students.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

I also still have my father's working Carl Zeiss Contaflex 35mm camera with a Tessar 50mm f2.8 lens and a Pro-Tessar 35mm f4 lens. The front coating on the 35mm lens is separating a little bit at the edges, and all the equipment is well used burnished, but working condition. The meter is photovoltaic and there is an EV dial at the top that one turns to match the EV exposure setting "circle" needle to the photovoltaic needle. This dial EV reading is then set on the Carl Zeiss lens. The lens then locks the EV to a shutter speed and to an aperture. When one turns the lens to a different shutter speed, the aperture automatically changes with it. Likewise with a change of aperture: the shutter speed changed with aperture change. It always preserved the EV value. For its day, it was a phenomenal camera. For today standards, it is just a unique good working camera. I have no plans to part with this beautiful piece of the past.

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

"Before that I used a hand held light meter ( still do with close up work)"

I still use manual film cameras and yes, I still use my Minolta III F hand held meter. It is not the best meter, but it does the job. One of my F2's does not have a meter, but I use it often. Read the light and select your camera exposure controls to get the picture you imagined.
If you want to learn manual exposure using your camera, go out and shoot it. Learn the basics and go out and shoot.
Mundy

mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area

The first Nikon, with a electrically controlled apature priority, was the Nikkottmat EL. I just put a new battery in mine last week. The camera is built like a tank. The battery looks like a miniature garbage can and sits under the mirror.
Mundy