erinrooney

While browsing the web the other day I came across National Geographic's Photography Workshops and

Expeditions and was wondering if any of you have taken part in this or anything similar. I'm a college student looking

to travel after graduation or possibly over one of my breaks and this really caught my eye, but I'm not sure if it would

be worth it or better to try to plan something on my own. Any thoughts?

I am currently enrolled in a Black and White Photography course and I am using a

camera I borrowed from my Pop-Pop. The camera is a Mamiya/Sekor MSX 500 and he

probably purchased it sometime in the 70's. I have been unable to find a users

manual for this camera and since I'm still pretty new to film photography, I'm

still looking for tips on how to use specific features on my camera.

One thing specifically I know my camera is capable of doing is spot metering

with the light meter. According to an e-mail from my Pop Pop: "When the film

advance lever is 'out' you can push it in toward the camera body with your right

thumb and the metering changes from over all to spot meter -- it meters just the

dark spot in the viewfinder, or possibly it is the other way around, it's been a

long time."

Since he wasn't 100% sure if he was explaining it to me correctly, I was

wondering if anyone else had cameras with similar features that worked this way

as well. If anyone has any other interesting tricks I might not be aware of as

well, please let me know!<div></div>