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- Oct 26, 2015
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Grey is usually accompanied by cold wind and snow. But you're right about shadows, only the groundhog sees it.
You're fortunate. It's usually sunny here in so-cal, which means harsh shadows that are a pain. Washed out/grey means you can print at grade 3 or 4 with good results.
Not at all: Minolta-16 cameras all had fixed focus lenses, as did some not-cheap panoramic cameras, while Minox and some medium format folding cameras had red-dot markings indicating where focus could be set-and-forgotten. Meanwhile, period emulsions tended to be grainier, and unless you were projecting slides, final output was probably a print smaller than my 640 x 480 JPEGs. These little compromises can work better than you'd think.How weird to put a lens as fast as 2.8 on it and then not provide a way to even zone focus it.
Not at all: Minolta-16 cameras all had fixed focus lenses,
Original selenium photovoltaic cell was toast, so I replaced with modern silicon photovoltaic cell. Because the modern part has much higher output, I could get away with using a much smaller replacement. And by the time I placed this behind the plastic lens array and honeycomb grid, I was getting readings which looked decently close to what my handheld meter was indicating.
I cut a crystalline silicon solar cell to roughly the correct size using a diamond-tipped glass cutter (~7 USD). Took me a number of tries before I got something usable, as the cells are hard and very brittle. New cell is quite a bit smaller than the original.Hey, OP! I just got an Auto Half and I’d be interested to know what kind/size of cell you swapped the old one for and what the process looks like?
I cut a crystalline silicon solar cell to roughly the correct size using a diamond-tipped glass cutter (~7 USD). Took me a number of tries before I got something usable, as the cells are hard and very brittle. New cell is quite a bit smaller than the original.
Both + and - are needed, but the metallic chassis of the device might be serving as a substitute for a second soldered wire.Do I simply attach the correct polarities? Why do some meters only need one?
Regarding the size, I figure that either I'll "dim" the cell with window film or try some resistors.
Will ordinary solder hurt a silicon solar cell? I got some "wire glue" just in case.
HiI just shot a roll of Color Plus with the Ricoh despite my suspicions about the meter, reasoning that even if exposure is somewhat off (in Germany, f22 at 1/125 would be a very bright winter day indeed) most film provides enough latitude to compensate. I just dropped off the roll, hopefully we'll know more in a couple of days.
Hi
I just bought a Ricoh Auto Half recently, the light meter is broken, and I am interested in replacing the solar battery. What kind of solar battery did you replace? How small is the cutting size? Have a related article or video?
Mine is a bit tired too, a handful of half-turns only result in enough tension for maybe 5-6 pictures.
@4season: how do you keep the shutter open?
Incidentally, I just shot my first roll of Kentmere 100 on the cute little Ricoh Auto Half. Overall very good experience, and even the exposure is reasonably correct. The lens can be very sharp, but do suffer some glare in extreme highlights. Maybe I should try to clean it, if there is any haze. Or it could be the less effective anti-halation layer on Kentmere 100 film. I will try different film, as well as trying to clean the lens. @4season : how do you keep the shutter open?
Ricoh_AutoHalf_Kentmere100_036_R by Zheng, on Flickr
Ricoh_AutoHalf_Kentmere100_004_R by Zheng, on Flickr
There are some situations, and your first photo here is one of them, where I actually like some lens flare. I think it gives it a luminous quality that's very appealing.
Do you mean that you want to replace the selenium metering cell? Except for the Auto Half EF & EF 2 (which had built-in electronic flashes), and the Auto Half SL (which had a CdS metering cell) -- the Auto Half cameras did not use batteries.
If you mean the selenium cell, there are a few places that sell cells, but It sounds like a difficult road.
First make sure that the galvanometer (aka meter movement) is functional! I test these by connecting a weak camera battery and seeing if there is any movement. 0.5 volts @ very low current, in the microamp range, ought to suffice, but I just use an old LR44 cell.
Fortunately, the gavanometer in my camera tested fine, but the selenium solar cell was dead. I purchased a number of small bare silicon solar cells and cut them to size in this manner:
The cells are extremely fragile, and I needed several tries before I got something usable, and it was not so neat-looking, but it worked! Only maybe 1/4 the size of the original, but this is also fine, because crystalline solar cells are orders of magnitude more efficient than legacy selenium cells. Maximum voltage for either is about the same: 0.5 volts. But silicon produces a lot more amperage (which is no problem at all in this application).
It would have been much easier if I had used some sort of flexible photovoltaic cell, some of which can be cut with an ordinary pair of scissors. But I like old fashioned crystalline cells because they don't degrade much over time.
Thanks for the battery specs and electrical expertise, I don't know anything about these, but I'll look into it and hopefully find the battery material and replacement
Thank you
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