Vintage light meter ideas please

BADGER.BRAD · Jul 10, 2017

Hello All,

I'm looking for a battery powered vintage light meter to match some of my 1960's /1970's cameras, British or Russian and the ability to set ASA and Aperture to give exposure time (not sure if they all do this anyway !)

Thanks all for your ideas

Peltigera · Jul 10, 2017

I have never used a battery powered meter but I really like my Zeiss Ikon Ikophot meter. It is excellent except in very poor light.

R.Gould · Jul 10, 2017

I use Weston's, either a mater 5 or euromaster, they suit my classic and vintage cameras, both English and German, which I use all the time, they are accurate and work well, no battery's, but at least I do not need to worry about the battery giving out or having to carry spares, and the Euromaster 2 was still being made up till a few years ago by Megatron, so they are not all that old, certainly worth a look. any Weston master 4,5 or Euromaster should work fine as an every day meter
Richard

Ian Grant · Jul 10, 2017

Why battery powered ? Get a Leningrad 4. I have a couple and they are good meters I use mine as a back up for my Spotmeters or Lunasix/LunaPros.

I'm in Dudley tomorrow as at a Photographic aiction

Ian

Jim Noel · Jul 10, 2017

Weston Master II with ASA, NOT Weston scale works perfectly with old or new cameras

BADGER.BRAD · Jul 10, 2017

I was worried about using a selenium meter as I've been told older ones can lose their accuracy ( I have one which reads what ever it fancies ,it may just be the case it is broke) Wheres your Auction Ian ?

Michael L. · Jul 10, 2017

I am very happy with my old (GDR) Weimarlux. It is a CdS meter with settings for both DIN and ASA.
Please see my post at (there was a url link here which no longer exists).

Gerald C Koch · Jul 10, 2017

Ian Grant said:
Why battery powered ? Get a Leningrad 4. I have a couple and they are good meters I use mine as a back up for my Spotmeters or Lunasix/LunaPros.

I'm in Dudley tomorrow as at a Photographic aiction

Ian

+1

I'm glad that Ian mentioned the Leningrad as the name had escaped me for the moment

R.Gould · Jul 10, 2017

Ian Grant said:
Why battery powered ? Get a Leningrad 4. I have a couple and they are good meters I use mine as a back up for my Spotmeters or Lunasix/LunaPros.

I'm in Dudley tomorrow as at a Photographic aiction

Ian

I also have an old Leniingrad 4 meter, I have had it for years, it sits in the pocket of one of my camera bags as backup for one of the three Weston,s I have, and works fine, good meters, and cheap to buy,
Richard

Paul Howell · Jul 10, 2017

For battery powered, Weston Ranger 9 or Luna Pro, both need a battery converter to use with modern batteries. For models without a batter +1 for Weston 4 or 5, if you can find one with an inversion cone for incident metering even better. Other meter that although somewhat fussy to use, the GE with removable hood for low light.

removed account4 · Jul 10, 2017

get an instinction meter, much cooler than any other thing going.
sunny 16 is a good "add on" to use with this meter, especially in lowish light

Dan Fromm · Jul 10, 2017

Many listed here: http://www.jollinger.com/photo/meters/

Long story, but in the mid-'50s I had the use of a GE PR-1. Now there was a usable tool.

AgX · Jul 10, 2017

For a 60s camera an non-battery meter would generally be the better fit.

Jim Jones · Jul 10, 2017

My favorite meter over the past many decades is the Weston Master II. Other Westons are also good. The GE PR1, DW48, DW58, and DW68 have the advantage of the meter movement axis being vertical. Unlike the Weston or Norwood, if it gets out of balance it can still give accurate readings.

Bill Burk · Jul 10, 2017

I particularly like the Weston Master III, which is the first with ASA index vs. Weston scale. I consider it a must to have a Zone System scale pasted to the dial. I admit my addiction to Zone System makes me feel lost when the Zone Dial falls off. I usually find the scale in the case or my pocket, lick it and stick it back on.

The meters are accurate when working but some fail. When I get one that's not working I will try and fix it. I have had only two Weston meters fail on me. One due to a scratched coil (scratch which severed a wire) and another that had a dead selenium cell. Generally the Weston and GE meters have well-sealed cells.

An issue of calibration though. Older meters were calibrated to tungsten while modern meters are calibrated to a standard closer to daylight. This means you really shouldn't condemn an old meter for not agreeing with a modern meter.

jwd722 · Jul 10, 2017

BADGER.BRAD said:
I was worried about using a selenium meter as I've been told older ones can lose their accuracy ( I have one which reads what ever it fancies ,it may just be the case it is broke) Wheres your Auction Ian ?

Your talk of a selenium cell losing it's accuracy stirred a few brain cells and I remembered reading the following...might be worth a try.
http://elekm.net/zeiss-ikon/repair/meter-repair/

MartinCrabtree · Jul 10, 2017

I have a Weston Master II w/Invercone that was rebuilt my George Milton. It is a great unit other than the low light problem all selenium meter suffer.

AgX · Jul 11, 2017

I do not know of the situation in Britain, but here I have not come across as Weston meter so far.

R.Gould · Jul 11, 2017

Weston meters are widely available here, the later ones.(Euromaster) were made in britain by Megatron until the owner retired and they closed down around ten years ago, although they could not be called weston for trade reasons, they were westons in all but name,
Richard

Ian Grant · Jul 11, 2017

BADGER.BRAD said:
I was worried about using a selenium meter as I've been told older ones can lose their accuracy ( I have one which reads what ever it fancies ,it may just be the case it is broke) Wheres your Auction Ian ?

You have to be careful a great many Weston meters have Selenium cells that have deteriorated and no long give a proper response. They could be refurbished but the last person offering this service stopped offering this service a year or so ago.

The auction is Aston's, Baylies Hall, but after going through the catalogue I think I'll give it a miss - I've no spare cash

Ian

schyter · Jul 11, 2017

I use two types of light meters Soviets.
The outstanding "Rapri E201" (РАПРИ Э201 ) for Zone System, spotmeter 0,8° !! (10$)

The excellent "Sverdlovsk-4" for incident and reflected light. (15$)

BrianShaw · Jul 11, 2017

jnanian said:
get an instinction meter, much cooler than any other thing going.
sunny 16 is a good "add on" to use with this meter, especially in lowish light

WARNING... I'm going to pick on you, John:

"Instinction" meter??? Isn't that the same as Sunny-16????

APOLOGY... sorry, John, I just couldn't resist.

But one of these (as you said, would be VERY cool:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extinction meter

guangong · Jul 11, 2017

Badger Brad must realized after reading the above that there is no one meter preferred by everyone. All depends on personal preference. Currently using Weston Ranger 9 and happy with results. Recently shot roll of color reversal and every frame was perfectly exposed. For incident readings for movies I use one of the Norwood clones made by Sekonic...Sekonic seems to offer the same meter with a variety of model numbers...theses meters are frequently available as new old stock.
However, for reflective meters I have no loyalties and over time I use several different ones from time to time. When using LF sometimes use a Pentax spot meters (a Gossen Ultra Spot gives a lot of info n finder but meter itself can also serve as a defensive club).

R.Gould · Jul 11, 2017

Ian Grant said:
You have to be careful a great many Weston meters have Selenium cells that have deteriorated and no long give a proper response. They could be refurbished but the last person offering this service stopped offering this service a year or so ago.

The auction is Aston's, Baylies Hall, but after going through the catalogue I think I'll give it a miss - I've no spare cash

Ian

There is still someone refurbishing Westons, and selling refurbished Westons, Ian Partridge .com is still doing them, his website states available today, July 2017, and he does a good job, I dropped a 5 a while ago, cracked the glass and the meter stoped working, I sent the meter to him to see if anything could be done and got back a virtual new meter, he is expensive but worth a look,
Richard

E. von Hoegh · Jul 11, 2017

Jim Noel said:
Weston Master II with ASA, NOT Weston scale works perfectly with old or new cameras

The Master III is the one with ASA, not the II.

http://www.jollinger.com/photo/meters/meters/weston_737-m3.html

Vintage light meter ideas please

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