1956 advertisement for an accessory selenium light meter for a Leica camera.
Toronto. … Add-ons are always a way to increase sales/profits. In film photography add-ons or accessories, as they are often called, helped the photographer create better/different photos.
In the mid 1950s built-in meters were uncommon yet an exposure meter was often necessary for the casual photographer to obtain decent results. The meters usually worked okay outdoors in sunlight but were woefully ineffective indoors or at night when exposure help was really needed.
In the case of Leica, like many others, the meter was slipped into the accessory shoe (later called a hot shoe when its use became primarily for a flash and the hot contact eliminated any need for an added flash sync cord). This add-on meter for screw mount Leicas featured a selenium cell meter for reflective or incident light. Later meters connected to the shutter speed control and even later used the CdS cell and a battery to offer far greater sensitivity.
The above ad appeared in the May 1956 issue of Popular Mechanics. Today’s photographers have cameras with built-in metering and auto-everything significantly reducing the risk of photographer induced errors – given enough light and a steady hand!
Our thanks to good friend George Dunbar who sourced this piece of nostalgia and shared with us. Well done, George!
