light-metering with Gossen Lunasix F?

[Florian1234]

Last week I bought myself a used but near mint Gossen Lunasix F light-meter.
But now there's the question: How to read it.
I know what I have to do to get the needle to go on the mark fro metering.
But then: Do I have to turn the ring to bring the needle to zero after metering to get the aperture/speed combination or what?

Could you please help me?

 

[Ronald_H]

Google a bit, there are manuals for this meter on-line.

It's a bit hard to explain, but on my Lunasix the meter reads an absolute value that has to be translated by turning the dials. The meter needle is locked into place until you make a new reading, don't worry about that.

Make sure your ISO is set correctly and make a reading. Let's say the value is '8'. On my Lunasix the 'value bar' is yellow.

Turn the dial to '8' on the corresponding dial (also yellow). You can now read which aperture you should use with a corresponding shutter speed.

Sounds complicated, but it's actually very easy. But try to get that manual!

Another word of advice, your meter probaly uses obsolete mercury batteries. They are not sold anymore. You'll need an adapter to use silver oxide batteries. I'm at work now, don't have the link.

If you figure it out and use the correct batteries you will have a great meter!

 

[Florian1234]

Ronald,

thanks for the reply. I already downloaded the manual from the Gossen website. But it does not state if I should turn the ring until the needle (after reading) should be turned to "0" to see the recommended combination.

In addition: It is a Lunasix F which uses a regular 9V block battery. No mercury involved. 🙂

 

[Carlo]

Yes, you have to turn the large dial till the needle is in the middle display position. Then you can read the aperture/speed combination. Make sure to have selected the film speed correctly by turning the inner dial before.

 

[joachim]

Yes, you have to turn the large dial till the needle is in the middle display position. Then you can read the aperture/speed combination. Make sure to have selected the film speed correctly by turning the inner dial before.

And the exposure compensation (middle dial) to zero (no red visible). If you have zeroed it, you can then make easy measurements of the contrast, the meter will show you on a +/-3 scale how much brighter and darker things are. Typically you need to walk up to something (e.g a detail of your image), making sure all the meter is seeing is its brightness.

It is a nice meter. I have it for over 20 years.

 

[Ronald_H]

Ok, my meter obviously is an older type that works differently. Good luck trying to figure yours out!

Btw, my Lunasix is a great companion for my Leica M2!