leicameter behavior

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wasabean

Member
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2:16 PM
Joined
Feb 22, 2012
Messages
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i bought a leicameter MR off of another user on this forum not too long ago and i finally got a battery for this guy. after installing the battery and trying it out, the needle would fluctuate a lot. the needle will climb to a certain spot on the meter then it would bounce around. it would bounce between 1/2/3 stops then all of a sudden it would go back to 0, and bounce back to around the same position before. i know these are old meters, but i'm wondering if this is pretty much a bad meter or is this just a regular characteristic of these types of meters? thanks
 
Anybody had any luck resurrecting one of the old Leica MR selenium cell meters? I've got a drawer full of them from a recent sale. Any suggestions?
 
I don't think there is much hope for the selenium meters. The newer MR and MR-4 are usually pretty easy to repair. I've done a bunch of them and usually it's something simple (though it's been a long time since I've had one apart).

I think the MR-4 meter is vastly underrated. The meter has a balanced bridge so a silver oxide battery works fine, sometimes requiring zero adjustment with the screw by the hotshoe. Since it coupes with the speed dial and covers the area identical to the 90mm frame lines it can be very accurate. For street shooting you can point it the subject (while the camera is at waist level), set the aperture, pre-focus by DOF, then quickly bring it up to your eye and shoot.
 
Hi,

New cells can be made for old meters. I've a 1933 Weston Leicameter that I had checked and then fitted with a new cell. The old scale now has to be understood as working at f/11 for 21 DIN instead of f/6.3 and 23 Scheiner.

If you don't know; the scale reads in shutter speeds from 5 seconds to 1/1000th.

I've also had Weston Master II's and V's re-balanced and still use a Leica Meter on the M2 (a MC from memory). Probably silly but I like things that work, rather than things kept just for dusting.

Regards, David
 
good news, i think the needle has stablized a little bit. i think what happened was, i had just put a fresh battery in, and i read that these mercury batteries start to activate once you peel the backing seal from it. so i'm assuming allowing the battery to sit over night allowed the voltage to stablize. is this an accurate theory?
 
Another vote for Quality Light Metrics - Mr. Milton will be able to fix it, and resolve any issues with the battery.

Randy
 
Hi,

The ones with tabs on take about a half hour to stabilise and are not mercury but Zinc Oxide. Mercury ones are illegal but small adapters that stabilise the voltage of hearing aid ones are available for a price. There's also the Wein cell with a tab but just two holes for the air to get in.

Regards, David
 
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