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What is match needle?
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Jun 11, 2021 01:50:51   #
JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA
 
burkphoto wrote:
Match needle metering… Line up a pointer with a circle in the viewfinder (or on top of some cameras) to balance ISO, aperture, and exposure time. It was how we achieved “correct” exposure before automation. It requires some knowledge of how the three variables interact, as well as what type of meter is in the camera (spot, average, center-weighted, matrix…).

Beyond that, you had to understand light and reflectivity and what to meter.


Bringing back memories. Had to use the match needle method with my first SLR in 1968. But it was really only 2 variables we played with. Film speed was set when the film was loaded into the camera and not touched again until a new roll of film was loaded. That left aperture and shutter speed as the only variables.

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Jun 11, 2021 06:32:50   #
chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY
 
Oly om-1/om-2/om-1n/om-2n many cameras of that era had match needle viewfinders

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Jun 11, 2021 08:29:42   #
BebuLamar
 
Thanks everyone. It seems that anything is considered match needle. The OM1 / OM2 has only 1 needle and you still consider it match needle. So now I take it anything is match needle.

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Jun 12, 2021 02:06:12   #
mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area
 
BebuLamar,
OM-1 is a nice camera. I had a new one when they first came out. Good glass!
Mundy

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Jun 12, 2021 11:59:12   #
chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY
 
This thread also reminds me - this is not pure "match needle" but my first SLR was a Praktica LB2 back in the mid 70s (friends used to joke with me saying "so it weighs 2 pounds?"). It was all manual but it had a selenium photocell on the front of the camera (not TTL). The meter was connected to a dial around the rewind crank where you selected ASA (ISO/DIN) of the film - you turned the dial until the needle was over the fixed circle (tiny window to the right of the dial)- you then had a combo of f stops and shutter speeds to pick from. The meter was on the top deck of the camera - no TTL metering or display.





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Jun 12, 2021 22:30:14   #
Wyantry Loc: SW Colorado
 
BebuLamar wrote:
Give me example of a camera with match needle. I don't want to steal the thread but this member post this and I am wondering. RMALARZ: “how I miss match needle"


Match needle exposure system — a needle/arm/pointer that indicates exposure (light) received by a photosensor. The needle was visible in the prism viewfinders of many early cameras. An example is a Pentax Spotmatic. (Which just happened to be my first 35mm camera).

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Jun 12, 2021 23:10:44   #
xposure
 
Here are some photo examples of match needle and a quick explanation from canon as to what it is.
Here is the link on how to use it to adjust the Canon AT-1: https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART119947



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