How come they don't make selenium meters anymore?

Sirius Glass

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The selenium light meters were overly blue sensitive and frankly not very good.
 

MattKing

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benjiboy said:
It isn't a Selenium cell Ken, it's an Amorphous silicon photocel.
Click to expand...

Looks like Sekonic need to read their own website:

[TABLE="class: tab2, width: 501"]

Battery(Power):
Self-powered: Selenium photocell eliminates need for batteries

[/TABLE]
 

AgX

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I doubt that selenium cells are still made. Recently a british manufacturer stopped.
 

benjiboy

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Because the advantages of modern Silicon cell digital light meters, many of which run off a single AA battery you can get anywhere far outweigh the ones of the old selenium cell meters.
 

Ken Nadvornick

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benjiboy said:
It isn't a Selenium cell Ken, it's an Amorphous silicon photocel.
Click to expand...

Technically true, but functionally a wash. I was going by Sekonic's own marketing description of their product in the above provided link:

Battery Power Indicator Display: Battery Capacity Checker Button and Guide Needle
Battery(Power): Self-powered: Selenium photocell eliminates need for batteries ​

And regarding the protests by others...

* The selenium cells eventually die? Everything wears out and dies. But do they wear out and die abnormally quickly? Well, I've had my L-398 since buying it new in 1984 and it still works fine. That's 30 years ago. And at the base point "calibration" of Sunny-16, it still reads Sunny-16. My transparencies look fine.

* Making the selenium cells is unfriendly to the environment? So is the process of making the digital electronics inside any modern computerized silicon photodiode light meter. Or any other digital gadget, including digital cameras. Two wrongs don't make a right. But they are both still wrong, thus conferring advantage to neither.

* Selenium cells cannot measure flash. True dat. But then my Nikon F2 can't make movies either. It's the wrong tool for the job. If I want movies, I need to pick the right tool for the job.

* Reflected light meters using selenium cells have very wide angles of view to compensate for the cell's poor sensitivity? In Sekonic's product line-up the L-398A at 30o is the narrowest of the pack at reading reflected light without a dedicated or accessory spot attachment.

* Selenium meters don't work in low light? Another "true dat" moment. It's like claiming that magnesium is preferred for starting campfires because matches won't burn under water...



Ken

[Edit: For the record, I also own a very nice Konica Minolta Auto Meter VF, similar to Chris' but with the ability to choose shutter speeds down to a 1/3-stop resolution. This means I can directly compare with the L-398. And in those situations where both meters work equally well (i.e., they are both the appropriate tool), I still prefer the analog needle L-398.

Where the KM meter shines for me is when I am exposing transparencies using antique shutters, each true speed of which has been individually measured and noted. The KA allows internal correction settings down to 1/10 EV to be set and applied.

So if the Press Compur shutter speed of 1/100 is running slow and is overexposing by 0.723 stops, I can set +0.7 EV on the meter and have that correction automatically applied to each light reading. That's pretty handy dandy.]
 
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E. von Hoegh

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Sirius Glass said:
The selenium light meters were overly blue sensitive and frankly not very good.
Click to expand...

They're sensitive into UV too. I still like them; I detest battery dependent devices. And yes I carry spares - but not for the Westons.
To be strictly accurate, it's an "iron selenide photovoltaic cell".
 

benjiboy

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E. von Hoegh said:
They're sensitive into UV too. I still like them; I detest battery dependent devices. And yes I carry spares - but not for the Westons.
To be strictly accurate, it's an "iron selenide photovoltaic cell".
Click to expand...
Haven't you heard It's the 21st century ?
 

E. von Hoegh

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benjiboy said:
Haven't you heard It's the 21st century ?
Click to expand...

Of course. I do listen to the radio, but: I don't have a telephone. I use electronics with vacuum tubes. I hunt with a No.4 Mk1* Enfield made in 1944. I have cast iron skillets. I haven't had TV since 1988 or'89. I read books. I write with a fountain pen. I can sharpen (indeed make) my own knives. I never have and never will spend a cent at: Walmart, Starschmucks, Home Cheapo, or any of the other garbage merchants. I like simple reliable things that I can repair and maintain, like IBM Selectrics, marine chronometers, and Nikon Fs and F2s. I want as little to do with the 21st century as possible.
 

blockend

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iPhone light meter apps are very accurate now, and dirt cheap. They have re-invigorated a number of my older cameras that had dead or dying meters which weren't cost effective to repair.
 

Ken Nadvornick

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By choice I do not now, nor will I ever, own a cell/smart phone. For any reason. It's a lifestyle and sanity choice made long ago. And never regretted.

I don't make phone calls on my light meters either...

Ken
 

blockend

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Ken Nadvornick said:
By choice I do not now, nor will I ever, own a cell/smart phone. For any reason. It's a lifestyle and sanity choice made long ago. And never regretted.

I don't make phone calls on my light meters either...

Ken
Click to expand...
Your choice, clearly. It was one I shared for a long time, and even now making a phone call on my iPhone is a rarity. However I've come to view it as a digital Swiss Army Knife for the numerous things it enables in addition to making calls. FWIW I don't own a TV, rarely listen to the radio and never take a newspaper.
 

fotch

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Your computer uses vacuum tubes? That is old.
 

Roger Cole

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That's pretty much what it is. A highly portable, highly capable, always connected (almost, when within cell range anyway - had a long stretch of road in south Alabama coming back from Apalachicola where I didn't have cell coverage, but had a non-cell GPS too) multimedia computer, which just happens to have a very good and usable VoIP ap.

I admit I'm totally addicted to mine, and the cool thing about the lightmeter ap is that I ALWAYS have my iPhone, and very rarely do I let the battery get low. I also sometimes use the camera in it in much the same way a writer uses a notepad they often have with them, and will photograph an area or subject that catches my eye to come back to later. I can even tag it with GPS location.

I understand choosing not to have one, and that's a perfectly rational, sensible choice. But I'm a mix of old and new.
 

MattKing

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A "smart" phone with a non-active SIM card is essentially a useful pocket computer.

Sort of like an IPOD touch without the cachet.

Just ask around if anyone has a "smart" phone that they aren't using anymore because it is so "last year".
 

StoneNYC

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Ken Nadvornick said:
By choice I do not now, nor will I ever, own a cell/smart phone. For any reason. It's a lifestyle and sanity choice made long ago. And never regretted.

I don't make phone calls on my light meters either...

Ken
Click to expand...

Ken,

In effect, an iPhone is a computer, just like a Mac or Windows.

In effect the computer you use is also a phone, just like the phone you use can also be a data connection.

The second connection might be a little more far fetched, but the iPhone is just a computer and the "apps" are applications which are programs just like the browser you are using to access this website on your computer.

So whether you use Skype or Vonnage or an iPhone, it's all the same.

The reciprocity timer app is one of the best things to accompany my light meter. Which are separate things, that said, both need batteries and are electronic and could fail. My backup sekonic Studio Deluxe (original) also could fail.

Not being beholden to your phone and being able to escape from the internet connection is of course an amazing choice. But don't forget that you can always turn off the phone, and you can always turn off the Internet or data connection on the cell phone, and still use the amazing apps that are useful. AND you'll have a backup in case of an emergency and you need to make a call and no one is around who has a cell phone for you to use since pay phones don't exist anymore (some places but not many).

I deem the original question answered so thought this foray was acceptable.
 

Xmas

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The Weston rights IPR etc. were bought and manufacture and repair continued for a while but they went broke.

Too many cameras have built in meters.
Westons too reliable...
Electronic ones seem more attractive to some.

I checked my oldest is '46.

But the reason I use a Weston - It has a zone calculator that is allways right...

I still do sums with a slide rule.
 

E. von Hoegh

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Yes indeedy. With modern films there's a bit of safety margin there too.
 

E. von Hoegh

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I have a pair of these: http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/zenith_c845m_c_845_m_ch8c02_8_c.html
Neither show any signs of servicing beyond on or two non-Zenith tubes, and both have the original selenium rectifiers. Both are in regular use, both have had the alignment tweeked, both perform admirably. The original electrolytic filters are good, with very low leakage current therefore the rectifiers run cool. I think most failures can be traced to leaky filter capacitors.
Replacing a selenium with silicon can be fraught, the voltage drops are usually different
 
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BrianShaw

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In this contest to prove who is the most "regresive" I'm wondering who will be first to say that they deliver their posts to APUG using a passenger pigeon.
 
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