Sekonic Twinmate (L-208) in the cold

[froyd]

It's been chilly in my corner of the world, yet nothing too bad, with temperatures hovering near freezing. Still it seem that teh colder weather is affecting my Twinmate by magnetizing the green "reading" needle so that when the metering arm i activated it will position itself directly under the green pointer if that pointer is located within a stop or two of the actual light value.

I've gotten around this issue by swinging the green needle all the way right or left, pressing the button that activates the reading arm and then swinging the "reading needle" over the marked value. Of course, as the green needle approaches the measuring arm, it pulls the latter towards itself, so I have to memorize the location of the metering arm before rotating the needle that gives me the exposure reading (this is easy to do since I used the modified reading chart available here courtesy of Joakim Målare --HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!).

Is my Twinmate flawed, or is this common behavior in cold weather?

 

[VictorM.]

This happens to mine when I slide it into or out of a pocket. I think it's because of static electricity building up on the plastic case when the humidity is low.

 

[Highway 61]

Is my Twinmate flawed, or is this common behavior in cold weather?

Common behavior in cold, dry weather. Happens with many other needles meters too.

 

[froyd]

Good to know, thanks to both!

 

[sevo]

They do suffer from static - quite horribly so, if the weather is wrong. I now carry another meter (L-398 or Euromaster) in critical situations (cold, dry air and winter knitwear) - the old-school bakelite case selenium sensor meters seem to be immune to it...