canon light meter for P

[conradyiu]

Dear all,

Any of you use the canon light meter (the one attached to the hot shoe) for P?
If the light meter is about 1 stop off, do you recommend it?
A stupid question, what kind of battery it use?

Thanks
Conrad

 

[Xmas]

It (mine) is a selenium call - no battery, if ok it should be close to a (another) reference meter, yours might need a new cell after 40 years or so...

Noel.

 

[conradyiu]

Thanks for your advice. That is, it is just like the meter of canon 7.

 

[Xmas]

There is a zero adjustement I seem to recall...

noel

 

[Sonnar2]

The Canon Meter has a calibration screw. As long as there is any daylight I trust my Canon Meter with negative film. It is as precise as can be expected from a selenium meter.

 

[jlw]

If the light meter is about 1 stop off, do you recommend it?
A stupid question, what kind of battery it use?

There's more individual variation among meters than most people think; also, different angles of acceptance and spectral sensitivity can make different meters give different readings even if both are working correctly.

Back when the Canon P was new, almost every advanced photographer would use a personal metering index that reflected his/her equipment and exposure preferences. For example, if you found that most of the time your shots on ISO 400 film were slightly underexposed, you'd make it a practice to set your meter instead to EI 320... or 250... or whatever provided exposures that gave results you liked.

That's still a good practice, especially with older equipment. So if your Canon meter is consistently "about 1 stop off" vs. the results you prefer, there may not be anything wrong with it; you just need to adjust your personalized metering index.