7s meter range/sensitivity

lmd91343

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What is the EV range on the 7s meter?

Is the 7s more sensitive than the 7?

The Canon museum shows the low end at EV 6, same as the vanilla 7. Stephen Gandy lists it as 2, which is reasonable for a CdS meter.


Thanks,
 
I've only got the orig 7 (w/ a very accurate selenium meter, I'll add. It and my Sekonic L-28c tend to be, at worst, a 1/2 stop in disagreement), but my bet would be on Mr. Gandy with this question. As you say, it's more appropriate value for a CdS meter and also it's very easy to imagine the web master of the Canon Museum web site making a cut and paste error on something like that.

I believe you don't currently have a 7s. Getting meter envy? I ask simply because I have found that, IME, a selenium meter is fine for most situations until things just get too dark. But I have also found that, again IME, that http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm has taught me enough to not need anything as modern/fancy as CdS... 🙂 To be sure, it's a rationalization, but it's one I'm sticking to for now 😉

Hope this helps, somehow...

William
 
Indeed, you can trust a good selenium meter as good as a inbuild CDS cell. Plus you don't need a 1.35V battery. In both cases, you need a good handheld meter for best readings, or if it is too dark. The reason why the 7s is more expensive than the 7 is rarity - collection value, not user's value.

cheers Frank
http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras
 
I'll check my 7s meter's coupling range when I get home tonight, but I'm guessing that Gandy is right. I've found typos on the Canon museum site before (mostly in lens weights.)

Having owned a 7, and currently owning the selenium meter for the VI/P series (which is actually more sensitive than the 7 model's built-in selenium meter) I can confirm that the 7s meter is more usable in low light. A selenium meter can certainly be just as accurate photometrically as a CdS meter, within its limitations -- but since the cell's output is lower in low-light conditions, the low end of the meter scale has to be more crowded together, making it more difficult to read out fractional f/stops.

If you're interested in doing really low-light photography, though, also note that even the 7s has a film speed scale that only goes to 400. This is a bit inconvenient for use with the faster films you'd normally choose under low light. Yes, you can take a reading and then compensate in your head -- but if you've got to do that extra work, you might almost as well be using a hand-held meter in the first place.
 
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