Introduce us to your vintage exposure meter

I have an old Spectra that a friend let me have for about $25. It's a bit big, but it is a dream to use. Hold the button down and it reads out in F stops directly, with a big swinging needle. Probably one of the most sensibly designed meters I've used. I use a digital Polaris now, though, which is also nice, with the added benefit of doing flash. I also have a Sekonic Twinmate L-208 which is very handy. But really, that Spectra is a piece of work.
 
Half of my film-based equipment...:
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The other half is the perma-attached Industar-22 lens, and rolls of FP4+. 🙂
If only I could be bothered in getting the Weston 650 repaired.
 
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Three FSU classics

Three FSU classics

Hello: Three classics: a Leningrad 2 (left) , an Optek (center) and a Leningrad 4 (right). The Leningrad 4 is moribond,but there is another one on the way...
Regards
Joao
 

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I'm going to pick up a Gossen Luna Pro soon because I'm going to be shooting in some really, REALLY low light and I'm wanting to push some film well beyond the limit of rationality. I have a Sekonic that I use regularly when I can't quite figure the Sunny 16.
 
I have a couple that I use regularly- a Weston Ranger and a 1950's vintage Zeiss Ikon Ikophot selenium meter. The Weston has been overhauled by George Milton, and works great, while the Zeiss meter reads about one stop too low. I like the Weston a lot, but it is just huge.
 
I have an original bakelite Weston Master, the 1939 model. It still works perfectly having seen very little service for a few decades (damn these newfangled meters *on* cameras) and is very useful for low light shots when my FED-4's meter gives up.
 
Trusty Weston V

Trusty Weston V

I bought this Weston from its original owner over e-Bay at the end of last year. I often use it when metering flowers as I can get in close and get a good reading. I only wish my R-D1's shutter speeds were the same as on the meter but I usually choose the meter reading and the closest speed and I've never been let down.

Every serious photographer should have one of these superbly built, precision instruments, imho. Especially as you can usually pick them up on e-bay for a pittance.

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350D_user said:
I'm not sure what filmspeed this thing's configured to, but...

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It even has the "2/6" price scribbled on its packaging. 🙂
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Old enough to still be priced in shillings? 😉

Somewhere, I have two of the last (at least known to me) Kodak Pocket Guides made (the very last one with a tech-y silver/chrome cover, which I bought less than fifteen years ago) with several calculators within its pages. Well worth seeking out.


- Barrett
 
amateriat said:
Old enough to still be priced in shillings? 😉
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It is... I'm not. 😉

Reading that 1947 almanac, Johnsons have a several-page advert thing... the standard exposure calculator is listed in there.
amateriat said:
Somewhere, I have two of the last (at least known to me) Kodak Pocket Guides made (the very last one with a tech-y silver/chrome cover, which I bought less than fifteen years ago) with several calculators within its pages. Well worth seeking out.
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I'll keep a look out, thanks.
 
Thanks . .and a new question. .

Thanks . .and a new question. .

Biggles said:
There's a manual here: http://www.westonmaster.com/
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Been reading at the page a few times, and finally I think I got the meter, but it looks like its even older than i thought .. or they made the model for a long time 🙂
After clicking around i´v found the model , did not see it first because i did not think it was the first model they made.

Anyway it looks like I´v found a new source of GAS, I mean the Master V or the Euro master looks great, would be a excellent company for my Rolleiflex or M3ds 😀
Already found a few on e**y in UK.

Vidar.

Edit : I forgot the question, is the weston meters quite like the Sekonic L-398A III something , having a strong magnet inside ?, had one of those 5 years ago and killed a swatch watch by placing them in the bag together. After that the swatch lost 5 minutes a hour . ..
 
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Dexdog mentioned the Zeiss Ikon Ikophot - I like it for the simplicity of the dial and ease of use.

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My other favourite is the Pentax Spotmeter-V.

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OK, here is mine. I bought it new in 1971 and I'm not sure if you asked me what it was I could tell you. I use it all the time. It is still right on. Sorry about the image, I took it with my K10d on Anti-Shake at f2.0 at 1/4 second.
 

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charjohncarter said:
OK, here is mine. I bought it new in 1971 and I'm not sure if you asked me what it was I could tell you. I use it all the time. It is still right on. Sorry about the image, I took it with my K10d on Anti-Shake at f2.0 at 1/4 second.
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Not bad. The Weston V I have seems to be ok, but I can't tell if it's accurate as b+w exposure doesn't need to be an exact thing. http://www.megatron.co.uk seem to be able to supply replacement selenium cells in Weston meters, fwiw.

Apologising for a photo taken with "anti-shake" stuff as well... not bad at all. 😉
 
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