what does clc metering mean and what is a cds meter

Recently inherited a Minolta Srt 201(?) and wondered if

someone could tell me what this CLC metering is about and

what a CDS cell is. Any info is appreciated and thanks in

advance,

http://www.pcisys.net/~rlsnpjs/minolta/clc.html

 

 

This is an excellent website by Dick Sullivan.

That link provides good info. In case you were wondering, CdS stands for Cadmium Sulfide.

FYI - CLC stands for "Contrast Light Compensation". This is a proprietary trademark Minolta used for their metering system. What it means is that the Minolta metering circuit was designed to give a little bit of bias toward calling for extra exposure when the reading in different parts of the frame varied widely - i.e. it's like an automatic backlight compensation circuit, but it's inherently simplistic in it's execution.

 

BTW, Minolta tended to shift away from this in their later cameras (from the XK and XE-series onward) toward more conventional center-weighting, but kept the CLC abbreviation in their promotional material.

I'm not sure Minolta really shifted away from the CLC metering, but more shifted toward a more intergrated center-weighted approach, allowed by newer technology light cells and electronics, averaging overlapping top and bottom halfs (with the center in both halfs). It's the same basic concept, and you should find a SRT will meter a scence very close to the same setting as a X-700.

 

As much as folks praise other metering methods, and yes spot metering has its advantages, Minolta's CLC and later versions with the X-series cameras, is quite good for a variety of scenes. And makes the camera a lot easier to use than newer matrix metering systems, at least knowing what the camera is reading. And you can always bracket shots.

 

Good luck.

 

--Scott--

I have heard that Minolta CLC metering is "bottom centerweighted". Near the bottom center of the viewfinder (camera is held horizontally)is a zone that is more sensitive than other parts of the viewfinder. Presumably, this prevents a bright sky from causing an underexposed foreground. If you compare a horizontal meter reading with a vertical meter reading, you may find that the readings differ.

In it's later, X-series instantiations, "CLC" was a conventional bottom-center-weighted metering system. Earlier on, it was effectively a backlight bias circuit on a center-weighted system.

AS everyone says CLC=Contrast Light Compensation....and it works well and will continue to do so even after a substantial period of use. I have both SRT 101 and XG2 for more than 20 years and apart from a recent service necessitated after a house fire they work well and consistently if taken care of.