James's Light Meter Collection: Norwood Director (Model A)
Norwood Director (Model A) USA
Maker: Photo Research
Model: A
Circa: 1946
Price (new): $75
Cell type: Selenium
Measure type: 3D incident (2D incident and Reflecting/Averaging available with accessories)

click for larger adFor more background on this, please see The Many Faces of the Norwood Director, or check out some other sites on my Resources page.

I was amazed—I never thought I'd find the original version of the Norwood Director. This is known among collectors as Model A, the predecessor of the long-lived Model B and sister to various Spectras for the next thirty years. To the best of my knowledge, Photo Research only sold this for about a year. Then Norwood went to American Bolex and got a makeover, and PR rechristened it the Spectra.

The only big difference between this and the later Spectras (like the Professional) was the latter had perforated slides that were calibrated to match up with a secondary ƒ/stop scale on the face. The slides were set for 1/50th shutter speed and various exposure indices, so you could pick the appropriate one and direct-read your meter. This one has a slide for bright light, but that's it.

But to show how little difference there is—the photosphere and the slides on this meter both fit my Spectra Combi-500, despite about 20-years difference in age and the inclusion of CdS technology in the latter. It wasn't until the 1970s that they seriously redesigned this meter.

©opyright by James Ollinger. All Rights Reserved.

Company names and models are registered trademarks of their respective owners
and are not affiliated with this website in any way.