VALOO Lens shade (Elmar 50) - early version ?

[Luddite Frank]

Gaze lovingly at the dial on an older Weston Meter (try IV) and all will be revealed....

Michael
...half a stop here...half a stop there...

Hi Michael,

Thanks for this suggestion... I have a plastic shoe-box full of old meters, so I dug out not only my Weston Master II, but also my two Weston 650s ('30s? ), and a couple of old Sekonics....


As you said, "all was indeed revealed". The calculator dials on the old Westons seem to have every conceivable f/ stop # and shutter speed! 😱
(Mighty "dense" to read too !)

The older Sekonics (older, black, looks like a copy of a Master) also have the more complete listing of stops...

"Seeing" it in front of me helped it finally get through my thick noggin ! 🙄

Alas, now that I've exhumed those two Weston 650s, and find that they still respond to light, I will want to use them !!!


Thanks for your input.


Frank 😎

 

[David Hughes]

Hi David,

Good point... now that you'ved mentioned this, I recall having some pre-Depression folding Kodaks (like a 3-A Autographic) that had the "older" f-scale: 4.5, 6.3, 9, etc... these cameras were American-built, with Bauch & Lomb or Kodak shutters, as opposed to the Kodak-Nagel cameras of the '30s.

Somewhere in the '50s (?) wasn't there a "standardization" on scales for both shutter speeds and aperture scale ?

I have some black Leicas (II s/n 77xxx, III) s/n 117xxx) whose shutter speeds run: Z-20-40-60-100-200-500, (add 1/30 & 1/1000 for my III-f BD)


and f-scales run: 2- 2,2 - 3,2 - 4,5 - 6,3 - 9 - 12,5 (Summar , "feet"s/n 3121xx)

3,5 - 4,5 - 6,3 - 9 - 12,5 - 18 ( Elmar 5cm, "mtr", 999xx)


Moving up to 1953, my Contax IIIa BD (s/n A 606xx) has the following:

shutter: 1 - 2 - 5- 10 - 25 - 50 - 100 -250- 500 - 1250

lens: f: 2 - 2,8 - 4 - 5,6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22 (f 2 Sonnar 14496xx)


My 1955 Exatka VX (sorry - "Evil SLR Alert!" 😎)

shutter: B - T - 25 - 50 - 100 - 250 - 500 - 1000

lens: f: 2,8 - 4 - 5,6 - 8 - 11 - 16 ( CZJ Flektogon 2,8 /35 s/n 45709xx)

My 1955-56 V-lander Prominent I ( s/n 80153xx)

shutter: B - 1 - 2 - 5 - 10 - 25 - 50 - 100 - 250 - 500 (Synchro-Compur)

lens: f: 1.5 - 2 - 2,8 - 4 - 5,6 - 8 - 11 - 16 ( Nokton 1,5 / 50 )


Additionally, I have a pre-War (?) Retina I (s/n ?)

shutter: B - 1 - 2 - 5 - 10 - 25 - 50 - 100 - 250 - 500 ( Compur-Rapid )

lens: f: 3,5 - 4,5 - 5,6 - 8 - 11 - 16 (Kodak anast. Ektar 5cm #15628xx)


My "benchmark" user meter is a Gossen Luna-Six, s/n 1039xx (1960's?), whose aperture scale is marked:

f: 1 -1,4 - 2 - 2,8 - 4 - 5,6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22 - 32 - 45 - 64 - 90
(with " tick-marks" in between for the "older" stops ?)

Shutter speeds: '2 - '4 - '8 - '15 - '30 - '60 - '125 - '250 - '500 - '1000 - '2000


Wow - I've really gone off into the trees here...

So, are the shutter / aperture markings on the Luna-Six indicative of the "modern", "Universal" systerm for exposure ?


AND, was there ever a VALOO marked with the "old" 3,5 - 4,5 - 6,3 - 9 - 12,5 scale ?


Sorry to be so tedious... 😱


LF

Sorry I couldn't answer sooner but we went away fora short break. I thought I had something about how they sorted out the "standard" shutter speeds and apertures but just can't find it. I vaguely think it was on Christoph Ozdoba's website, which is long gone, alas!

Looking at cameras and trying to pin it down gets me nowhere as I think they all started from wide open and then jumped up in thirds or halves or whatever. Except Kodak who went 1, 2, 3 and so on at one point.

Sorry I can't help further.

Regards, David

 

[David Hughes]

Looking at old meters, the best is, of course, the original 1933 "Leicameter" with all the stops and speeds imaginable - but you need a magnifier at times as they are impossible to see. I've just been using one I had restored to working condition with a new cell and they are fun, fun, fun...

Trouble is the new cells are far more efficient and so the thing reads speeds on the dial for f/16 at 21° instead of at f/6·3 as marked.

It looks like this and I'll warn you all that they cost a fortune broken or working and add that the Weston Master II is superior, imo.

And if I knew how the picture would be a lot bigger...

Regards, David

 

[Luddite Frank]

Hi David,

Thanks for your comments... Indeed, the old Westons are a sort of "Rosetta Stone" for sorting-out my "f-stop mental block".

The main principle I've finally grasped is that " f is f is f. " 😉
- a non-dimensional number that expresses the ratio of iris opening to the Focal-legnth of a given lens.

The numerals applied to the aperture adjusting dial were a somewhat arbitrary convention, depending on where the camera / lens-shutter combo was made.

I have also noticed some folks referring to the "European" f-scale as "Continental" ( 3,5 - 4,5 - 6,3 - 9 - 12,5 - 18 ,etc) and the "new"scale as the "International" f-scale ( 1.4 - 2 - 2.8 - 4 - 5.6 - 8 - 11 - 16 - 22, etc).

I do have one of those Kodaks with the " 1 - 2 - 3" aperture scale... it's a
c. 1910 #1 Brownie.


I have three of the old Weston model 650... As far as I can tell, except for variations in the meter scale, which appear to be a running change, the only feature that elevates the 650 to a "Leica Meter" is the special calculator dial with the "LeicaMeter" script... tends to drive the price WAY up... 🙄

But I still want one that's badged "Leicameter" ...would go so very well with my Leica D (s/n 77xxx) w/ nickel Elmar (s/n 99xxx , 11 o'clock Inf. Lock.)

Two of my 650's are still very active (sunlight will peg the needle at the far-right end of the dial), but the needle will not return all the way to Zero when you mask the cell and twiddle the Zero-Adjust.
I'm going to dissasemble one and see if I can shift the zero adj. mechanism to bring the needle below Zero, then see if I can get it dialed-in with my Luna-Pro.

Also, prior to WW II, Apparently Weston film speed ratings ran about one-notch below ASA ratings, according to some postwar meter manuals I've been reading, so if you're using ASA 200 film with an original pre-War Weston, you may need to set the film-speed dial at 160....

And back to the VALOO lens hood... I am waiting on a Corfield version of the VALOO, which is marked with both the "Continental" and "International" f-scales, coming from Camera House, Ltd. (Thanks, FP John!)

Regards,

LF 🙂

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Yes, I know what you mean about the old Westons. Allthough they often go for pennies on ebay. I've several that I had restored to working and talking to the repairers I came to the conclusion that the coils get over-lapped on the meters. I hope that's some help with yours when you start work on them.

Iteresting that you've heard of "Continental " and "European" as I'd assumed that "Continental " was a unique English expression to avoid accepting that the UK, GB or whatever was part of Europe. It's not a problem we have in Wales or Scotland.

Strange co-incidence dept; I've just taken a film out of the II (which is what I call a "D" - a name that bafffled me until I looked it up) and I'd spent the week with it and a "Leicameter" with the Weston Master II as back up. My II being a youngster (S No: 160 xxx) but the meter has a three digit serial number.

As for Weston speeds, I've a label there to remind me that Weston 160 is ASA/ISO 200 and so on. It gets baffling at times.

As for the Corfield, it was my first serious camera. I've found a picture of me with it that I'm trying to restore from the late fifties and then I'll use it as a signature or whatever we call them this week. (The thumbnail under our name... )

Regards, David