Almost catastrophie for my Pentax Analog Spot Meter

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Since last July I have been dealing with two bad shoulders. My right one finally gave up the ghost a couple of months ago and I get a new bionic shoulder (no restrictions), left is in better shape, but needs some work. I did pick up some climbing rope to tie off when I am in those precarious positions at the Canyon

So, I am at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at Cape Royal. I am setting up for sunset (first real outing in a year thanks to the bs going on) and as I am carrying my light meter and my dark cloth/filters, my right arm goes wonky on me, I bobble my light meter and then watch as it hits the ground and breaks into two pieces. Quite mad now. The dial was one piece, the meter itself was another.

It appeared to be functional, and I used it to meter the light, then use the now separate dial to determine shutter speed.

I got home, and was able to repair it. Luckily they are not that expensive as I really love this meter.

On another note, I have over 100 frames to develop now thanks to moving and the last year of lock downs.

[Old_Dick]

Well, that really bites. Been down so long looks up to me.

[Jody_S]

2 artificial shoulders here. When they do the surgery, they use crowbars to pull the tendons out of the path of the saw, essentially badly spraining every muscle in your shoulder (except the 1 they cut). This seems to cause permanent damage. I have more mobility but fatigue very quickly and some tasks are nearly impossible (like sheetrocking and plastering a ceiling). And I'm unusually young for these surgeries, largely due to plastering ceilings and other overhead work.

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[Steven Ruttenberg]

Me too. I am only 56. I Played hard for over 40 years in teh Marines, Deputy and Body Builder, along with outdoor stuff. Archery, long distance shooting. Doc tells me I have excellent range of motion, and everything seems intact except for the subscapular muscle (the most important one) He says I am the perfect candidate for a reverse (but don't they all say that?) He says the new shoulder will out live me. We shall see.

[Vaughn]

Decided to make one more stop before leaving Yosemite. As my 8x10 camera and 300mm/5.6 lens on top of the Reis started to fall into Cascade Creek, I instantly decided to abandon my Pentax Digital Spot in my hand to catch the camera. Once caught, my hand went into the creek and grabbed the meter before the current took it out of reach. Careful not to pull the trigger I took the batteries out, put the camera in the pack with the meter. It was a sign...I headed out of the Park and drove the 450 miles home. A few days later I finally put the battery back in and all was well. It still matched my Pentax SpotmeterV.

This was a while back -- now I would have bought a cheap package of white rice before I hit the Central Valley and had the meter in it.

I have one shoulder acting up after a recent kayak camp trip...not really 'bad' (I hope ), it's just being obnoxious. But I just developed ten 5x7 sheets of film (6 different images...still drying) from a backpack trip a few weeks ago. Carrying the pack in cured a pain I started with in my midback, but added one to my upperback. A few days later, the return hike down the creek and then up the hill seemed to balance things out for some nice reason. But it seemed silly to be hiking out with a 50 pound pack (20 pounds of camera gear in the pack, plus the 8lb of tripod in hand). I ate my 6 pounds of food, but I think I picked up a half pound of water on wet equipment. Got to keep moving! Only 67...

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Most definitely keep moving. I hate being couped up in the house for no reason. I am on my way to Crested Butte for Fall Colors, I hope they have started to change. Last year I went end of October and the season was all but done. Gonna hike to the flour mill out there.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti..._Colorado.html

[Drew Wiley]

My first Pentax digital spotmeter, now 45 years old, is held together with black electrical tape. It's been put away in storage, battery removed, just in case I ever need it again. Meanwhile, I use two newer ones. One of those has been accidentally dunked in mountain snowmelt twice, and had to be desiccated, and once sent in for disassembly and internal cleaning. Ever since those acts of stupidity, I've installed tight closing clips or hooks on my tripods so a meter can't fall off during short carries outside he pack. But I hope that between those two relatively clean newer meters, I'll be set for the remainder of my life.

I've got one twitchy shoulder muscle due to an exceptionally bad round of bursitis last winter. It doesn't help that I've gained at least 15 extra lbs weight due to unexpected diminished activity the last two years, more due to all the ongoing terrible forest fire activity and smoke than the covid lockdown itself. I got a fair uphill workout two weeks ago, but last week got over-tempted with an especially photogenic location near the start of the trail and wasted the whole afternoon there. I'll see what happens this week. One thing about "staycations" locally is that I am taking time to re-discover all kinds of wonderful locations that in past summers I didn't have time to spend quality time with, photographically, because I was so into the necessary routine of trying to stay in serious shape for sake of upcoming strenuous backpacking trips. That routine, ongoing for over 40 years, has now been interrupted, and not at a good time in my life. Getting back into a semblance of the same kind of physical shape at 72 is proving a challenge. But at least I'm getting in some decent day hikes, and the smoke here hasn't been nearly as bad as last year, even though it is generally worse inland where I typically backpack in summer and fall. I'll take whatever I can get. No sense in complaining.

[Doremus Scudder]

To address the problem:

My meter is on a lanyard that attaches to my jacket or vest. I allows me to comfortably get the meter to my eye, but keeps it from hitting the ground if I drop it (except when I'm kneeling...). So are my loupe and my viewing filter.

Best,

Doremus

[Steven Ruttenberg]

My loupe is on a lanyard, I need to do that for my light meter. Usually my pack is next to my tripod so the lanyard wouldn't help much, but can't hurt. Good idea.

[Drew Wiley]

You always want the ability to tether things, even if the lanyard consists only a loop of decent monofilament fishing line. There's nothing quite as annoying as having to scramble down a cliff and try to fetch a loupe out of a deep crack somewhere down there. Now I always have a smaller spare in my pack; but both have lanyards.