Life expectancy of selenium meters?

[marke]

I'm curious what exactly makes a selenium light meter go bad. Is it accumulative exposure to light itself? ...air?...heat?

I have a 50+ year-old old Kalimar B-1 lightmeter that was my dad's. It seems to be functioning properly and even matches up with readings from my MP. It also has a 64x booster cell! 😱

How long do you think this thing will last?

 

[amoebahydra]

The built-in selenium meter of my Linhof Technika 70, Contarex Bull-eye, Contax IIIa and Kodak Retina IIIC are all working and accurate to +/- 1/2 stop. These cameras were all manufactured 30 years plus. However, I stored them in dry and dark place.

 

[maddoc]

Mark, that meter with booster cell looks great !! 😎

Selenium meters (the cells) slowly degrade from accumulated exposure to light since it is an irreversible photochemical process. However, there is a company in UK, who manufactures replacement selenium cells in different sizes and they offer to overhaul Weston light meters for example.

The selenium meter of my Rolleiflex 3.5E still works accurate in daylight (down to EV 9) but the cell of my Weston Master V is dead.

 

[Roger Hicks]

There seem to be two factors at work: exposure to light, and cell sealing (i.e. original manufacture quality resisting corrosion or maybe damp or both -- I don't know). I have Weston III meters that must be 50+ years old but still function perfectly, and later Westons that have gone bad, despite better storage for at least one of the later Westons, which I owned from new.

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[nikon_sam]

I have the Sekonic L-8 meter and it's the equivalent of the ones being shown here...I bought it second hand so don't know it's exact age...It does react to light still but I haven't compared it to my recently serviced Weston Master II...
It came in it's original box with all the parts but no manual...

OOPS...I spoke too soon...I just pulled it out of the closet...The needle's not reacting to light now...oh, well...for now it's not a top priority to get this one running again...
I connected the Light Amplifier or Booster and the needle moves so its the cell in the meter that's gone bad...

 

[imush]

The built-in meter on my Voigtlander Vitessa L still works, and seems as accurate as it ever was. So they can last more than 50 years.

 

[Luddite Frank]

I have some Weston 650 meters from the 1930's that are still active - bright sky on a clear day will peg the meter at the far-right end of the scale.

And I have a Leicameter II and a Koden knock-off, both from the 1950's, and both dead as the proverbial door-nail.

Dry, dark storage seems to help their longevity.


Luddite Frank

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Is anyone currently manufacturing a new selenium meter? You'd think no batteries would be quite appealing.

 

[Livesteamer]

The Sekonic L 398 is a classic selenium incident meter still available. I bought one several years ago and it's great. Joe

 

[ChrisPlatt]

I bought a Sekonic L-86 selenium meter in the late 1970's. It was their cheapest model.
Stored in the dark when not in use, today it is still just as sensitive and accurate as ever.

Chris

 

[jmcd]

I recently sent in a Weston IV meter to Quality Light Metric, along with an Ikophot. The Weston needed a new cell, but the Ikophot cell is working properly—very impressive. No idea how these were stored or used, as they are new to me.

edit/add Nice looking Kalimar, by the way.

 

[pete63uk]

At the end of the day, it's a great looking piece of kit which would look nice somewhere on the shelf of your collection display case. As it was your dad's, that makes it priceless to you. Nice piece of memorabilia.

 

[charjohncarter]

I keep mine in the dark, this one I've had for 40 years:

 

[Disaster_Area]

+1 for the Ikophot... I have three now... I just keep picking them up whenever I see them cheap because I've yet to find a dead one. I sure this is due to the fact they shipped with a leather case that is so much easier to leave on than take off... so 99% of them will only have seen as much daylight as they where exposed to to get a reading. All of mine are within half a stop of my 50D and my Pentax Spotmeter. The big plus is that one of mine has big numbers corrisponding to 100, 200, 400 etc etc with ticks in between... and the other has 160, 320, 640 etc etc which is great when I'm shooting odd ISO slide film which can be hard to dial in on some older meters

 

[Al Kaplan]

I had two Weston Master V meters rebuilt by Quality Light Metric last year. They're both good as new and give the exact same reading.

My dad's Weston, from the 1930's is dead and I won't get it fixed. I just keep it for sentimental reasons.

 

[sepiareverb]

The Sekonic L 398 is a classic selenium incident meter still available. I bought one several years ago and it's great. Joe

Not anymore:

Amorphous silicon photocell, but still available and still needs no batteries!

 

[marke]

Thanks for all the input, guys. My dad's old meter will probably be kept inside it's box for the most part, as I have a Gossen Luna Lux if I really need an external meter.

Since first posting this, I picked up a Leica MC-4 meter for my M3. I think I paid about $25 or so. I was surprized to discover that it reads right on with my Gossen and the meter in my MP. 😀

pete63uk:I don't have any kind of collection display case (yet), but when I finally get around to finding one, this will surely be included. 🙂