The KM02 is smaller and lighter than the previous model and it has a (slightly) longer battery life. The buttons click nicer than those of its predecessor, and tiny improvements in the user interface complement the device. While all of this combines to smooth away the figurative rough edges of the earlier model, the biggest improvement comes in the new meters’ customization options and the finer points of its functionality.

Specifically interesting is that this new meter is compatible with lower ISO films than the previous version (the KM02 dips down to ISO 6 where the previous model bottomed out at ISO 50). It also meters smaller apertures than the previous model, allows for exposure compensation and for selecting a desired user bias for over- or under-exposure, and offers both single and continuous metering modes. That’s a lot of good stuff!

I do have a couple of complaints. But we’ll save those for the end.

Specs of the Keks KM02

• Material: Aluminum (black or chrome colors)
• Dimensions: 42 x 27 x 15.5mm
• Weight: 29 grams
• Battery: 220mAh Lithium Ion (2.5 hours to fully charge)
• Battery Life: 21 hours (always on)
• Charging Port: USB Type C
• Monitor: 0.91″ OLED screen
• Display Modes: Detailed and Standard
• Shoe Mounts: Three removable aluminum shoe mount sizes provided, can be attached in one of five positions
• Metering: 30 degree average metering (approximately 50mm lens viewing angle)
• Metering Mode: Single metering or Continuous metering
• Exposure Modes: Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority
• Exposure Compensation Reading: -3 to +3 in 1/3 stop increments
• Aperture Stops: Full, half, or third
• Aperture Values: f/1.0 to f/128
• Shutter Stops: Full, half, or third
• Shutter Speeds: 30 seconds to 1/8000th of a second
• ISO Stops: Full, half, or third
• ISO Values: ISO 6 to ISO 102,4000
• EV Range: 1-2015.5mm

Keks KM02 in Use

I spent three months using the Keks KM02 before writing this review, and its operation is (mostly) simple.

The meter mounts to any camera with a hot or cold shoe, and its mounting point is adjustable. By unscrewing the mount we’re able to attach larger or smaller mounts, as well as position the mount in the center or to the side of the bottom of the meter. There are a total of five different mounting positions (two more than the first model), which makes the meter suited to nearly any camera. Keks even offers a stick-on accessory shoe (sold separately), which allows the Keks meter to be mounted to cameras that lack shoes (such as the incredible Olympus Pen F).

Once the meter is mounted to the camera, its operation is simple. To set the ISO to whatever film we have loaded in the camera, we must only hold the metering button (the circular one on the back of the unit next to the screen) and then press either up or down on the +/- adjustment buttons (the two on the top, to the right). Once we’ve selected the correct ISO we’re ready to meter.

The unit works in a way that’s similar to a camera’s aperture-priority or shutter-priority mode. After setting the ISO we then select either the desired aperture or shutter speed, after which, pressing the metering button on the back will result in an instant calculation and display of the final variable which will result in a correct exposure. We can also set the meter to continually meter, in which case the reading will refresh every 0.6 seconds with a new, accurate reading.

To give an example, say we’re shooting 400 ISO film and we want to shoot a shot with the lens aperture set to f/8. We set our ISO to 400, and then simply press the plus or minus button until the meter is set to f/8. After that, pressing the metering button on the back will tell us which shutter speed we should choose. The ISO, aperture, and shutter speed values are all adjustable and displayed in increments which are determined by the user (full stops, half stops, or third stops).

The meter’s 30º metering angle of view strikes a good balance between average and selective metering. It corresponds well with the readings I’m getting from my Leica R5 in side-by-side comparison when the R5 is set to selective metering mode.

The OLED display on the back of the meter is bright and vibrant and I’ve not encountered any issues shooting in daylight. We can manually adjust the screen’s brightness if need be, or set it to auto-brightness, which is nice.

It has two different display modes this time around. The Detailed Display Mode shows a comprehensive readout which displays the selected ISO, the selected shutter speed or aperture (depending which mode we’re in) and the reciprocal parameter which will result in a proper exposure, as well as the Exposure Value and Lux Value, a battery life display, and an indicator for when exposure compensation mode is active. The Standard Display Mode shows less information; the selected ISO, the selected shutter speed or aperture (depending which mode we’re in) and the reciprocal parameter which will result in a proper exposure, battery indicator, and exposure compensation status. There’s also an Inverted Display Mode, for cameras which have their hot or cold shoes on the bottom (such as the Rollei 35 cameras).

An interesting addition above the original light meter is the ability of the new meter to store custom data. The user is able to create parameters for three lenses and three cameras. This is useful in situations where, for example, a camera only offers single stop increments for its shutter speeds or a lens stops down in half or single stop increments, rather than the more typical third stop increments. By setting these custom load-outs (to borrow a military term) the meter works more conveniently for any given photographer and their individual gear.

Additionally the Keks KM02 adds the ability to adjust exposure compensation. This will be huge for those who like to push- or pull-process their film. We can easily use the exposure comp to achieve readings plus or minus up to three stops.

And finally another smart inclusion is a mode called Metering Results, which is a sort of user-selectable metering bias where the user can tell the meter to facor under-exposure, over-exposure, or to meter normally. I see this being a massive benefit, since I typically over-expose every color negative I shoot by a half stop or full stop. This has been why I typically use aperture priority cameras with exposure compensation built in, after all. They make it so easy.

When the battery runs down we plug it into a USB type C connector and it charges up again pretty quickly. It uses a Lithium Ion battery, which some people dislike. I can understand why. Other meters, like the Voigtlander VC Meter, ever popular, uses standard replaceable batteries. That’s nice, in that it will likely be usable for as long as batteries are being made. A built-in Lithium Ion battery is much harder to replace. It can be done (I’ve removed the plate on the KM02 and I can see that a new battery would simply need to be soldered in – not a terrible job), but it’s not as easy as popping a couple of LR44’s into a slot.

Still, I don’t mind a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. Nothing is permanent. Nothing is perfect. But this is convenient.

What are ISO Numbers in Photography and Why it Matters

Understanding ISO is critical to making a good photo (especially when using film). Here's everything you need to know about ISO, one of the three major factors that make or break a photographic exposure.

Alternatives

While the Keks KM02 is an upgrade over the original, for sure, it’s still not as comprehensive a meter as others on the market. Meters made by Sekonic, Gossen, and others will do more than the Keks KM02 – things like flash calculation and spot metering, as well as average metering. But as expected, meters with this expanded functionality are bigger, heavier, and more expensive than the Keks (which still only costs approximately $110).

When the original Keks EM01 released it was the best little meter available for around $100. Since then, a number of similarly compact and similarly-priced meters have joined the fight. The Reveni Labs light meter is well-regarded. I’ve not used one myself. There’s the Doomo S, which is probably a better choice if you’re someone who wants their shoe-mount light meter to have a screen on top rather than on the back. The Hedeco light meter offers wider aperture setting (f/0.7 compared the the Keks’ f/1.0), so if you’re using the new Nikon Z mount Noct Nikkor (although how you’d be using that without a meter, I don’t know) or a Noctilux, maybe buy that one.

Actually, let me stop there. I won’t list all of the competitors because I’ve not used them. I’ve only read their spec sheets and then decided I didn’t need to bother. And the reason I didn’t need to bother is because the Keks did everything I needed, inexpensively, and elegantly. It was the best looking meter on the market, it was priced right, and it worked perfectly. Nothing about that calculus has changed in the last two years. The newer Keks is a better Keks, and it’s still the best $100 shoe-mount light meter on the market. That’s not to say that the others aren’t good meters. I just don’t see any one of them being notably better than the Keks.

Final Thoughts

Is the Keks KM02 a perfect product? Of course it isn’t. I’ve been reviewing camera gear every day for almost a decade now and I’ve never found a perfect product. They just don’t exist. So, where could the Keks improve?

Well, one look at the user manual should give some clue. This is a complicated little device. The four buttons on top are unlabeled, so finding my way through the menus has been an annoyance. It took me reading the manual to remember how to adjust the set ISO. That shouldn’t happen. I think that simply engraving some user interface images onto the buttons or the area surrounding the buttons would help sort this.

I also mentioned in my review of the Keks EM01 that I disliked that the mount was made out of plastic. In that review I specifically demanded that the mount be made of aluminum, as is the body of the meter. Well, they made the new model’s mounts out of aluminum. Wish granted, I guess. And while I personally love it, I was reminded by a reader that plastic might be better.

The theory presented was that, in the event of an accident, the plastic mount of the meter would break where a metal mount would possibly break or bend the accessory shoe of the camera. A fair point, and now I’m not sure which I prefer. I suppose I’ll just never drop my camera and enjoy the metallic mount.

Those qualms noted, I do think the Keks KM02 is the right meter for the job. It does everything I need it to do, and in fact it does more than I really want. I won’t actually use some of its features (such as the custom camera or lens settings), but it’s nice that they’re included for those who will. For everyday shooting with a meter-less camera, it works beautifully, looks great, and meters well. That’s just about all I need to actually use my meter-less Nikon.

Get your Keks KM02 from their website here

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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On April Fool’s Day in 2011, a German design company launched a website to promote a fake product called the Re35. The Re35 was ostensibly a module the size of a film canister with a flexible digital sensor that could be loaded into any film camera. The product would let film photographers use their film cameras to make digital pictures. The Re35 was nothing more than a render. It wasn’t real. I wish we could go back to those days.

In 2016, a Swiss company crowd-funded a product called I’m Back, which was a large, boxy thing that you could attach to the back of many film cameras. It had a digital sensor connected to a focusing screen which fit onto the film plane behind a film camera’s shutter. I don’t actually recall if this product was successfully funded, because it looked (to me) like a terrible idea and I never wrote about it, nor followed its progress. But they again crowdfunded various versions of I’m back in 2017 and 2018 as well.

A couple of years later they launched a new Kickstarter campaign for the I’m Back 35, an improved digital back for 35mm film cameras that cost $350. This time it successfully raised just under $500,000.

I’ve never used one, nor have I met anyone who has. But the product was covered in all of the biggest photo and tech websites and magazines. It got a lot of publicity and coincidentally lots of people bought in. I suspect this has less to do with the product being amazing and more to do with the fact that the Kickstarter campaign was put together by a Kickstarter campaign marketing company that has successfully completed Kickstarter projects with a cumulative value of over $460 Million. They obviously know how to write a press release.

From my seat, the I’m Back 35 records pretty terrible photos. The creators say it makes images that fall somewhere “between film and digital.” Or, as people not invested in the thing’s success might describe them, bad digital photos. It’s also an enormous and unwieldy ganglion hanging grotesquely from the back of your otherwise pretty and functional film camera. Win win?

Just a few months ago the world was blessed with another new option for shooting your film cameras without film. It’s called the DiGi Swap, and it allows film camera users to strap their cell phone into a massive plastic adapter and hang the whole package off the back of their beautiful film camera. The DiGi Swap (which costs $185) squeezes a low-quality lens and projection screen in between your cell phone’s camera lens and the film plane of your film camera. There’s a dedicated app that costs $50, and this app detects when the camera’s shutter opens (I guess) and then records onto your phone whatever image it sees through your film camera’s lens.

The wonderful intermediary lens of the DiGi Swap adds a healthy dose of distortion and softness to the images made through your Leica M6 and its old, boring Summicron.

Finally, we film camera shooters can use our obsolete $6,000 film camera and lens in a way that just makes sense. We can achieve the look of $30 Holga and store those images onto our phones.

I’m not typically one to stand on my soap box and proclaim my opinion as truth, but these digital conversion products are terrible. They miss the point of film cameras entirely. We film camera likers like film cameras for two main reasons: the film, and the camera. We like the look of images made on film and the process of making them. We like the film cameras themselves because they’re fun to use, exciting to collect and to own, and because they put us into a community that’s usually much more inclusive and supportive than the digital photography community is (or was, for sure, a handful of years ago).

These film-to-digital products make no sense. They take away the film and ruin the camera. And we just don’t need them.

If you want a film camera, buy a film camera, buy some film, and help support the people in that industry. If you want a digital camera that feels nice to use, there are plenty of options out there. Leica’s Q2 is one, and less expensive offerings come from Fujifilm’s X series, and the Ricoh GR digitals are virtually identical in form and function to their old film ancestors. Or pick both, film and digital, and enjoy each for their own merits.

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While these heinous crimes may not be of interest to the readers of this site, the method which I employed to identify the thief should be.

The camera that I used to catch the thief is a surveillance camera that I’ve owned for many years. But it’s not just any surveillance camera. The Mamiya Watcher A is a computer-automated point-and-shoot 35mm film camera weirdly disguised as an ugly clock.

With the help of the Mamiya Watcher A, I was able to identify the thief in a matter of days. The authorities have her in custody and we’re pressing charges.

Let’s start at the beginning, by cataloguing what was stolen. The thief was greedy. She took a whole box of Cheez-it salted cheese crackers, a couple of Ghirardelli chocolate squares, and a pack of Sour Patch Kids gummy snacks.

See, despite being generally healthy and exercising regularly, for better or worse I’m a guy who likes his snacks. And no matter where I stash them in my office they always seem to get stolen. Up until the Mamiya Watcher, I’d had no idea who was taking them, or when, or how. But now I have the answers.

What is the Mamiya Watcher A

The Mamiya Watcher A is a clock with built-in circuitry to activate a hidden camera within. Through use of a radio remote shutter trigger, we’re able to shoot photos from what externally appears to be nothing more than a decorative timepiece. Setting the dials inside the clock allows us to control how many exposures are made in succession, and the interval of time between these exposures. By setting these settings and using the remote shutter trigger it would be possible, for example, to press the remote control button just before a business associate enters the room and then have a 35mm film multi-frame record of the events that happened in the room over a set span of time.

The camera inside the clock is a Ricoh LX-33sW point and shoot, which was first released in 1993 (dating the Watcher more accurately than any other method I’ve found – the Watcher is a pretty rare object and not much information is available on it). This water resistant Ricoh point and shoot has a 34mm lens and a fixed focus point and a single exposure setting (1/50th of a second) when the flash is turned off, which it always is in the Mamiya Watcher A. The camera does not offer auto-focus or auto-exposure and film above 400 ISO must be used (the higher the better, in fact, since the covering which disguises the camera and lens is tinted quite dark).

The camera runs on two AA batteries and the clock and its circuitry runs on six C batteries. The remote also runs on a small battery. Yeah, there’s a lot of batteries.

And that’s really all there is to it. You simply load the camera, the clock starts running, and then when you’re ready to shoot your film you press the radio controlled shutter release and… I guess, act natural?

The longest possible interval between shots is 15 seconds, so using a 36 exposure roll of film it’s only possible that the Mamiya Watcher will capture a span of about nine minutes. I’m not sure how useful this would be.

The clock itself is, aesthetically, what’s the word… hideous. A giant gold clock face with terribly gaudy face hands, a confused jumble of colorful shapes on a black plastic body. It’s pretty ugly.

How I Caught the Thief

I knew that the thief was a repeat burglar, and that they’d taken my snacks on a nearly weekly basis for the prior three years, so the method by which I baited the trap was simple.

I poured succulent gummy bears into a bowl perfectly sized for stealing, and laid this glimmering bowl of gelatinous rainbow sugar in the most conspicuous spot that I could find in my office. I then placed the Mamiya Watcher A on a small table opposite the bowl of candy and loaded it with JCH Street Pan 400 film (this is, after all, a surveillance film).

After that, all I had to do was wait.

A day later the gummy bears were gone. The bowl, too, was gone. And as was the case in every previous robbery, there was no clue left behind as to where they went or who had taken them.

I rushed to the Mamiya Watcher and opened the back. The film had been exposed! I pulled the film from the back of the camera and rushed to develop the roll right there in my home office. A dozen minutes later I had my evidence, and my answers.

Alright, listen. I’m having a little fun with this, if you couldn’t tell. The conceit of this article is that someone’s been stealing my stuff and the Watcher helped me solve the crime. But what’s really happened is that I needed an appropriate scenario in which to use the Watcher so that I could write about it in this article, and since my two daughters constantly steal the many snacks which I keep hidden for myself in my office, I figured that this would be a good imaginary crime to solve. One Amazon-purchased burglar mask later and we had our themed photo shoot shot.

I sat there with the Watcher, pressing the shutter release on the radio remote while I directed my daughter frame by frame so that we could get some funny photos. The funniest flourish, I think, being the burglar mask that she pulls out of nowhere. I had fun, she had fun, we both ate some gummy bears and I think I’ve gotten a fun article out of it.

But could the Mamiya Watcher A truly solve an actual crime? I doubt it. You’d need to know when the crime is to happen and you’d need to fire the shutter yourself with the remote, which means you’d have to be in the room when the crime is occurring. Besides, the noise that the camera inside the Watcher makes is so raucous that it would pretty obviously give up the jig.

I suppose there could be other uses for the Watcher, but I’m not sure I want to entertain them. There’s just a lot about the Watcher that rubs me the wrong way. The manual even makes sure to mention that “This product should not be used to intrude upon people’s right to privacy.” I agree, myself, but I suspect that whoever bought this product in its own time didn’t share the qualms of whoever wrote the thing’s manual. This clock/camera is just kind of creepy.

Still, the Watcher A is a funny and interesting bit of film photography history, and I had fun using it to solve a fake crime.

Find your own Mamiya Watcher on eBay

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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For the past few years in cases where the product falls into that last category (being a product that’s really useful or nice but not revolutionary or interesting enough to warrant its own in-depth article) I’ve typically sent the products back to their makers with a polite explanation.

But not anymore!

Lately I’ve held onto these types of products until I now have enough to fill a small office, and I’m going to begin rounding them up into a monthly article series unimaginatively called The Product Roundup. You can assume that any of the products in this and other upcoming Product Roundups have already passed the test – the products are useful, well-made, and I can envision some of our readers using and enjoying them.

Today’s roundup showcases a travel tripod, a camera grip, a nice leather strap, and a life-changing (at least for me) LED light. Let’s dive in.

Due North Leather Straps

Mark, from Due North Leather Goods Co., sent me a leather camera strap many months ago. It’s nice looking, supple and smooth, and well-made in Canada. Unfortunately, even that many positive traits isn’t enough to get me excited about writing a big-time review of a strap. But there’s a nice balance struck by Due North’s approach which I think puts their straps comfortably at home in this roundup.

Like many of the best leather camera straps on the market, this strap is made by hand, will age beautifully, and has that lovely leathery smell that we all love (at least, those of us who aren’t vegan). I’ve written about straps from Tap & Dye and Hawkesmille, two luxury strap makers who truly make great products. The problem with those, however, is that they’re expensive. Very expensive. Due North’s strap is as good as any I’ve had from Tap & Dye (it actually feels softer than T&D’s Legacy strap), but the Due North example costs quite a bit less. The savings are even greater when we compare Due North to Hawkesmille.

Short story even shorter – if you want a beautiful, Canada-made leather strap at a fair price, consider those from Due North.

Get a Due North Strap directly from the makers here.

Metro Case Leica M Hand Grip

Super lightweight, strong, and comfortable. That’s what makes Metro Case’s handgrips so appealing. Metro Case sent me their grip for Leica M cameras, and it did what it was supposed to do – made the Leica M (actually) holdable! It also adds an Arca-Swiss style tripod mount, a standard tripod screw mount positioned at the optical axis, comes off along with the baseplate when switching film, and protects the bottom of the camera.

It’s inexpensive, strong and sturdy, and doesn’t detract from the classic good looks of the M series. Metro Case also makes handgrips for plenty of other film and digital cameras, including Barnack Leicas and Fujifilm’s ever-popular X Series mirrorless cameras. Not much to say beyond that – simply a good product.

Get your Metro Case handgrip here.

Magnus TR-13 Travel Tripod

Talk to enough photo nerds (or watch enough YouTube videos made by photo nerds) and you’ll be convinced that you need a five-hundred dollar Gitzo tripod made of platinum and cored with mercury for that good, good weightiness. But that’s all wrong. The tripod that most people need is this one – the Magnus TR-13 travel tripod.

Ever since the makers of this tripod sent me the TR-13, I’ve been using it almost exclusively as my big, beefy Manfrottos languish in the corner of my office. I’ve used it to shoot product shots for my site, I’ve used it to shoot video for a YouTube channel, I’ve used it to hold LED lights and diffusers, and it’s worked great. No wobble, easy to articulate, it holds my stuff. Like the camera strap mentioned above, it’s difficult to find things to talk about when reviewing a tripod. If it holds the camera in the position that you need it to, and if it holds that camera steady during your exposure, the tripod’s done its job. This one does that.

What’s really great about this tripod, however, is that it hits a super low price point without sacrificing features. It’s got a dual-action ball head, a weight hook, an Arca-type quick release with level, quick-release legs, grippy feet, a travel bag, and it’s even got a reversible stock for upside-down mounting of the camera.

Maximum load is a truly respectable 13.2 lbs (this is much better than the similarly priced and specced Manfrotto competition, which can only hold 3 lbs). Maximum height is 62.5 inches (same as the competition) and closed height is 18 inches. The unit’s total weight is 2.9 lbs, which is great for travel! And all of this costs just $69.

It won’t work for the largest medium format cameras, and landscape photographers in wild climates shooting in hardcore conditions will need one of the classic heavyweight tripods. And it doesn’t have a boom to extend the camera out above subjects. But for most of us (and for the unbeatable price) this tripod will be all we need.

Get your Magnus TR-13 travel tripod from B&H Photo here!

Luxli Cello 10 Multicolor RGBAW LED Panel

This product probably could warrant its own complete article, but here we go. The Luxli Cello 10 Multicolor RGBAW LED Panel has completely replaced my big honkin’ softboxes for all of my product photography (on this site and my shop).

Key features that I love :

• Adjustable color temperature from 3,000 to 10,000 K.
• RGB control makes it possible to blast virtually any color imaginable!
• Adjustable brightness control.
• LCD data panel on the back.
• Tripod socket mount, with included adjustable ball head.
• There’s a one-year limited warranty.
• It’s tiny!
• It’s made in Norway, which brings my Norwegian household products count up to 1!

Things I don’t like (or don’t use):

• Diffuser screen is not included (sold together with the light in a kit for $30 more than the light alone, or the diffuser is sold separately for $49).
• DC power adapter not included, and the single battery with which the unit is delivered does not last very long.
• Can be controlled via apps on my phone? Never used.
• There are strobe modes, and lightning modes, and other modes which are made to look like, I suppose, aura effects? Never used.
• It’s expensive.

If you’re buying a lighting setup for product photos or video work, or you want a light to give splashy RGB tones (as in colorful low-key portraiture) I can’t think of a light that I’d prefer over this one. It’s been amazing to use.

That said, it’s a bit pricey. But it’s made my product photography better, added greater versatility than I’ve ever had in a light setup, and cleaned up my office quite a bit. Just get the one that comes with a diffuser.

Get your Luxli Cello 10 LED Panel Light from B&H Photo here.

Get the kit which comes with a diffuser here.

There’s also a Mach 2 version, which includes a power adapter for $399.

Have a product you’d like featured on the site?

Get in touch via email to Contact@FStopCameras.com

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

The post Tripods, Lights, Grips, and Straps – Product Roundup October 2021 appeared first on Casual Photophile.

The LM1 is a pocketable incident meter (meaning you point the meter at the camera not the subject) that assists with ambient light exposure readings. Designed to deliver both accuracy and usability, it measures in 1/3-stop adjustments for ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, with the correct reading being displayed on a backlit display with multiple viewing modes.

The Kickstarter is one of the final steps in a long process for Negative Supply. The goal of designing a fully capable light meter that slides easily into a pocket was no easy task.

“The LM1 is the most complicated product we’ve designed, and everything needed to come together perfectly to bring it to life,” Negative Supply co-founder and director of design Saxon McClamma said in a press release. “The experience of our incredible team of programmers, engineers, and manufacturing partners allowed us to create an elegant, timeless design without compromising functionality.”

The Kickstarter Campaign, which has already doubled its fundraising goal, offers supporters a number of different tiers. The first level that gets you a light meter costs $379 and delivers the flat black version of the meter in November 2021. The steps increase all the way to the final step, which for $649 gets you by February 2022 a limited-edition LM1 in brass and finished in glossy black, which is cheaper than the normal retail price of $749.

The company says that the decision to create the LM1 came from a realization that many of the cameras they and their customers used either didn’t have a light meter or one that no longer worked. When they looked at the light meter market, they felt that the offerings — largely plastic and bulky — didn’t quite match the cameras for which they were reading light. 

So they put quality of both form and function at the forefront of the LM1’s design.

Measuring just 44mm by 90mm, the meter is only slightly bigger than a roll of 120 film. The body is made completely from aluminum and brass. It comes in three colors (Satin Metallic Green, High Glass Slate Grey and Satin Metallic Silver) in addition to the standard option of black.

It has a four-button interface perfect for single-hand use. It includes a “sleep mode” that helps to save on battery life but the standby makes sure that it “wakes up” quickly.

The backlit TFT-LCD display (114x168px) is bright enough for use during sunny days, but isn’t a battery hog. The integrated rechargeable battery (USB-C) can last for weeks depending on use and it takes about 2 hours to charge from empty.

Additionally the LM1 also measures color temperature, which is welcome news for cinematographers and photographers looking for help making their filter or film stock selection. 

Founded in 2019, Negative Supply specializes in developing tools for the film photography community. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the company released its first piece of film scanning equipment called the Film Carrier MK1. Since then they have released a variety of products to make scanning film easier and more accessible to photographers at home. Initially just for 35mm film, they now offer products for photographers shooting medium and large format film as well. Based in California, the company’s entire workflow, from design to shipping is done locally by a team of craftspeople.

For more articles on Light Meters and other accessories, click here

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[Some of the links in this article will direct users to our affiliates at B&H Photo, Amazon, and eBay. By purchasing anything using these links, Casual Photophile may receive a small commission at no additional charge to you. This helps Casual Photophile produce the content we produce. Many thanks for your support.]

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The trend continued in later brochures and manuals, which used computer-aided graphics and illustrations. In the 1980s, particularly, drawings of this kind were used to showcase astonishing new technologies like autofocus and advanced metering modes which would be otherwise challenging to visualize, or to showcase the cutting edge micro-computers, circuit boards, and ribbon cables which made these new features possible. Take for example the brochure for Minolta’s Maxxum 7000, shown below.

Polaroid, another tech giant of the 1970s and ’80s, similarly emphasized the inner workings of their amazing machines in ads and promo material for the press and for dealers. One of the photographic artifacts in my office is a holographic display promoting Polaroid’s then-new Sonar autofocusing system, which mesmerizes with its faux-3D resistors and PCBs (and other things that I don’t recognize).

In addition to showing off the insides of their creations via print materials, some camera companies went one step further and created physical displays known as “cutaways.” These were actual production cameras which had been specially modified with segments of their bodies cut away to reveal the mechanical workings beneath. Leica created cutaway versions of many of their most popular cameras. These cameras were usually shipped to Leica dealers and camera shops, which would use the cutaway models to show prospective buyers exactly what was under the skin of their (potential) new camera.

These cutaway cameras are sought by collectors today, and they sell for a pretty penny indeed (see this Leica M2 listed for $7,000). I’ll use this exorbitant price to shamelessly plug a much cheaper option – my Leica M3 Exploded View print, which you can buy in my shop here.

As the camera world shifted away from all-metal cameras to an epoch coated in plastic, so too did the cutaway camera shift. No longer were cutaway cameras simply band-sawed in half, or made with holidays in the casting. Instead, camera companies began creating “see-through” cameras. These new versions of the cutaway camera were identical in construction to their production model counterparts, however their external casings were made with transparent plastic. The effect is pretty mesmerizing, especially when we see the cameras in action, their mechanical components whirring to life, their electronic components illuminating.

Unfortunately for those of us who are simpletons and begin drooling over the idea of having and using a see-through special edition of our favorite model, sadly this isn’t necessarily possible. Since the cameras are see-through, any film which we run through the camera will naturally be exposed to all sorts of unintended light. These are not, as the old description goes, “light-tight boxes.”

Always keen to show off their technology, Polaroid made quite a few see-through cameras. The cream of the crop, for me, is the gorgeous, translucent-shelled Spectra camera called “Onyx.” This is quite possibly my favorite Polaroid model. It is simply gorgeous. And it makes me so unhappy that Spectra film is no longer being produced. Interestingly, only the top plate of the Onyx Spectra is see-through, which means that the camera can actually be used like a normal camera without ruining the film.

Many manufacturers jumped onto the see-through camera bandwagon. I’ve at times owned see-through cameras from Minolta, Canon, and Pentax, and I’m sure that other companies made examples as well. But since these see-through cameras were often manufactured to be display pieces or sent as advertising materials to dealers and press, it can be nearly impossible (these days) to create a comprehensive list or to accurately represent production numbers. It is perhaps this mysteriousness which helps to create a market in which these see-through plastic cameras, like their mechanical cutaway counterparts of previous eras, are so sought by collectors.

Do you own a see-through camera? Share it with us in the comments below.

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