Norwood Director

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The Director is a series of hand-held light meters created by Donald W. Norwood and cinematographer Karl Freund. Sekonic of Japan acquired the rights to manufacture them starting with the Director S / Sekonic Studio S in 1957. A very similar meter is still marketed, as the Sekonic Studio Deluxe.

Model A

The Norwood Exposure Meter was manufactured by Photo Research. It was a unique meter that utilized Norwood's patented photo sphere for 3D light measurement. Its pivoting head design allowed the user to take measurement from multiple angles and continue to read the meter. The rights for this model remained with Photo Research after the release of the Model B.

Photo Research started a line of meters called Spectra based on the Model A and continued to manufacture updated variation of the Model A as the Spectra Pro, Combi 500 and Combi II.


Model B and C

The Model B, released in 1948, was manufactured by America Bolex, owned by the Brockway family. It features a complete redesign of the exterior shell. The back of the meter now has a handy slide holder. Paillard of Switzerland started distributing Bolex cameras in the US, and American Bolex Corporation was no longer needed. The company was renamed Director Products.

The Model C is the same as the Model B, except for a new back plate, but Color-Matic variations have the red f-stop scales of later models.


Model D and M2

The Model D added ASA 10 to the scale as well as an easier to view red F-stop scale. This model is called Color-Matic. The front face of the meter no longer mentions "Norwood Director" but instead "Director Products Corp". The Model M2 is the same as the Model D but has a new company faceplate: Brockway instead of Director Products Corp.


Model S / Type S

The Japanese company Sekonic started to manufacture a revised M2 model, now labeled on its face as Brockway. The notable new features includes a Polaroid scale as well as LVS scale. It is often called the Director Model S or Type S. There is often no mention of Director or Norwood on the front or back plate of this meter. Printed on the back is Sekonic Studio S. It was made with a silver calculator dial, with black printing. The scale on the needle area is silver with black printing. It was simultaneously available in the Japanese market as the Sekonic L-28 Studio S with a more traditional black with white printing, but the calculator dial remained silver. The black versions are usually easier to read. The Brockway name was dropped after several mergers, which led to Sekonic becoming the sole manufacturer and distributor.


Miscellaneous

M3

The Director M3 is a basic direct reading meter.

Super Director

The Super Director from Helio-Tech was manufactured by Walz of Japan.

Links