The Photo Research Era
Karl Freund was a Czech who became a cinematographer (aka Director of Photography) during the heyday
of German movie-making in the 1920s (his credits at this time include
Metropolis). Around 1930 he
immigrated to the US, where he photographed many of the horror movies Universal was churning
out at time time, including Dracula.
The late 30s found him over at MGM, where won an oscar for
The Good Earth, and in the late 40s
at Warners where he worked on movies like
Key Largo. He capped his career at Desilu, pioneering the three-camera filming techniques for
I Love Lucy.
In the midst of all this, in 1941, he started a company called Photo Research in San Fernando (near Hollywood), California. The company's early papers are not available at this time, but if the future is an indication, its mission was to develop and perfect light measurement systems. This made sense: cinematographers were involved in all aspects of photographing a motion picture, but measuring light and setting camera exposure was key. It was very likely that Freund became aware of Norwood's patent and wanted to make it into a useful product; something he himself could use on the set, and something he could sell to his colleagues.
Freund and Norwood had some sort of business relationship: Photo Research published a 63 page book by Norwood called "A New Approach to Exposure Control" in 1943. It is likely that Photo Research purchased (or least licensed) Norwood's patent and began working on a new meter that used what would be called the photosphere, the hemispherical dome over the selenium photocell.
By 1946, they had a unit in production and ready for sale. Advertisements appeared in issues of US Camera. The original unit was different from anything else being sold at the time: it had two sections, a lower half with the meter needle, and an upper section with the photo-cell sensor. The upper section had a pivot so it could turn 300° so the cell could always be aimed at the camera lens while the meter needle could still be read at a comfortable angle. The calculator dial was on the rear of the upper section.
It was named The Norwood Director, in a fancy font that suggested it was a serious product, not just some rig that was hand-soldiered in someone's garage out of surplus radio parts. The full page display ads said the meter was for "developed for Hollywood's Directors of Photography . . . this meter is now offered as an important tool for all serious photographers." Buried in the text of some advertisements mentioned two different models, a Universal Model 121 for still cameras, and a Cine Model 122 especially for movies. (I have not yet determined how they differed.)
A few other features to note: there were three interchangable covers for the photocell: a "Photosphere," which was a diffusing hemisphere--the key component of the original Norwood patent; plus a flat disk diffuser ("Photodisk"), and the "Photogrid", which changed the meter from measuring incident light to reflected light. Lastly: the meter read directly in footcandles—another feature that would be appreciated by professionals.
The Photo Research era was brief, because in 1947, another company would take over.
