Re:Grant Compos on GE Meter (digest 1602)

[P3D Bob Howard <bobh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

RE: Grant comments that with his old GE meter..it only reads right if
the subject is 18% gray. If he wants to use it for zone work he has to
offset stops for white or VII etc. Everything he says is true, except
that GE did not put bum ASA numbers on the meter. They were GE numbers!
And Weston had Weston numbers..when ASA got in the act they very
scientificially devised the ASA rating (now ISO for international)
which my coincidence split GE and WESTON down the middle. So early
camera meter users could choose between:

         Scheiner H&D  DIN  Weston  ASA  GE
                              8      10   12   (Kodachrome then)
                       12    10      12   16
                       15    20      24   32
                       18    40      48   64
                       21    80      96   128
 ASA rounded 96 to 100 on film boxes. Prewar the fastest film in 35mm
was AgfaAnsco UltraSpeed at 100 Weston. It blew Kodak's Super-XX 80 out
of the water. It took 10 years for Kodak to discover that gold doping
was the secret and Tri-X was born..at 200ASA. Soon they dropped the
saftey factor and called the same film 400! BobH


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