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From: ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian)
Newsgroups: net.rec.photo
Subject: Re: Waggling needles, blinking lights
Message-ID: <433@wjvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-May-85 12:50:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: wjvax.433
Posted: Thu May  2 12:50:22 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 03:58:42 EDT
References: <1942@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Watkins Johnson, San Jose, Calif.
Lines: 50

Me:
>>The biggest deal in match needle exposure reading for me is that you
>>not only know whether you are under or over exposure, but BY HOW MUCH.
>>And not the paltry 1 stop or so those plus and minus signs give you.

David:
>I haven't used an FE or FE-2 (I bought FM and FM-2, because I didn't
>want little needles waggling around in my viewfinder :-), but on my
>Miranda and Pentax cameras (old, no longer with me) the match-needle
>setup didn't give me anything except "right on" and +/- half stop.
>Same as the lights in my FM[-2]
***

I think you are confused.  The display in the FE[-2] shows the entire
shutter speed range.  The needle can be anywhere in that range.  You
adjust exposure by matching a little green flag over the needle with
the shutter speed knob, or adjusting the aperture until the needle
matches the green flag.  This is 'match needle'.  I think you are referring
to the little needle that you have to keep between a '+' and a '-' in
some of the older cameras.  (Like my grandfather's Mamiya, and the
Nikkormat and F2.)

David again:
>I went to FM because of increased ruggedness (partly on the recommendation of
>some professional friends of mine).
>			-- David Dyer-Bennet

Well, I guess one could make a case for diodes being more rugged than
needles.  (Grumble grumble.)  But the important thing here is, is your
camera rugged *enough*?  I'm very hard on cameras, and I've yet to have
the slightest problem with the metering on my FE.  (Hey, it just had a
birthday!)  The shutter has stuck exactly twice, but I'm told this happens
when your battery is losing it's grunt.

For that matter, my old Pentax auto 110 has been around the world twice,
and it, uh, doesn't workanymore....    Never mind.

I should confess that my original article was more than a little tongue-
-in-cheek.  It really doesn't matter what equipment you use, as long
as you're out there taking pictures.  The poor FE *has* taken some abuse
in this newsgroup which I feel is undeserved.  But hell, it's all a
matter of preference.  I wouldn't be caught dead with a rich man's toy
like the FA, for instance.  Or any of those plastic do-everything cameras.
But friends of mine have them, and I try to be tolerant.  (:-))

-- 
__
	Ron Christian  (Watkins-Johnson Co.  San Jose, Calif.)
	{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,certes}!wjvax!ron
	"What do you mean you backed it up the wrong direction???"