«

On Jan 1, 10:23 am, Rita Ä Berkowitz <ritaberk2O04 @aol.com> wrote:
> tomm42 wrote:
> > Try to find a Gossen Pilot II light meter. Small, simple, ultra
> > portable.Nonsense! The only meter you will ever need in your lifetime is the world
> famous Pentax SpotmeterV.
>
> Rita

I understand, but you can't put it in a shirt pocket. Spot meters are
great, my 30 year old Soligar still works well. But they require some
care in use, I find reflected or incident metering to be easier.
Bracketing is always useful, spot or wide reflected, when you are
unsure of the lighting. If I'm at home I use an old Luna Pro, traveling
with the family the little Pilot works well. Too many folks think I'm
packing a gun with the Soligar on my belt.

Tom

> > Nonsense! The only meter you will ever need in your lifetime is the world
> > famous Pentax SpotmeterV.I don't know why it hasn't been mentioned already but I used to have
> (don't know where it is now so I'm in the market for another one now) a
> Weston Master. These are small and don't need batteries, the
> photo-electric cell takes care of that.
>
> I also own a Gossen Lunasix 3F which, compared to the Weston, is huge.
> And it takes a PP9 battery. Great though it is, when I want to travel
> light, it's too damn big and bulky.
>
> --
> Justin C, by the sea.

The problem with the Weston is the sensors dye (I have never seen one
working) they had stopped production in the 1960s before I was in
college (too long ago). Tried to buy one then, see above comment, they
were known for fragile sensors.

Tom

On 2 Jan 2007 07:21:44 -0800, "tomm42"
<> wrote:

>The problem with the Weston is the sensors dye (I have never seen one
>working) they had stopped production in the 1960s before I was in
>college (too long ago).

Stopped production in the 1960s? I don't think so. The
Euromaster 2 was still in production until quite recently
and earlier meters can still be serviced and repaired, see
http://www.megatron.co.uk/euromaster2/ .

I have the original Euromaster which still works perfectly
and is very accurate even with modern cameras that are fussy
about exposure. It's the best incident light meter I've ever
used apart from in poor light - a weak point of all selenium
meters. I've come across many with bad cells but they
probably died of old age rather than any defect.

--
John Bean

In article < .com>,
"tomm42" <> wrote:
>
> The problem with the Weston is the sensors dye (I have never seen one
> working) they had stopped production in the 1960s before I was in
> college (too long ago). Tried to buy one then, see above comment, they
> were known for fragile sensors.

Thanks for the heads-up Tom. I was unaware of that. I really shouldn't
have mis-placed the one I had, then, because it worked.

I'll still look out for one but if I see a Gossen Pilot I'll grab that.

I hate that we had the technology *so* long ago to build these devices
in such a pocket handy size, that didn't require batteries. And now,
we've got bigger devices *and* we've got to keep sticking batteries in
them... which adds weight.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

In article <>,
John Bean <> wrote:

> On 2 Jan 2007 07:21:44 -0800, "tomm42"
> <> wrote:
>
> >The problem with the Weston is the sensors dye (I have never seen one
> >working) they had stopped production in the 1960s before I was in
> >college (too long ago).
>
> Stopped production in the 1960s? I don't think so. The
> Euromaster 2 was still in production until quite recently
> and earlier meters can still be serviced and repaired, see
> http://www.megatron.co.uk/euromaster2/ .
>
> I have the original Euromaster which still works perfectly
> and is very accurate even with modern cameras that are fussy
> about exposure. It's the best incident light meter I've ever
> used apart from in poor light - a weak point of all selenium
> meters. I've come across many with bad cells but they
> probably died of old age rather than any defect.

I saw reference in an earlier post to these still being available. I
googled for it and, though they're no longer available, the price they
*were* selling it is still shown and what a price! ?264? ... $350US ...
or, in current GBP 177.

Absolute madness.

The repair prices quoted by megatron.co.uk seem, in comparison, quite
reasonable, so if I find a broken one it may be worth a purchase.

Alternatively, if one of these cheap Chinese light meters you can find
on Ebay was adapted to give an EV instead of just lux there might be
some photographic interest.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

In article <. com>,
"tomm42" <> wrote:

> On Jan 1, 10:23 am, Rita Ä Berkowitz <ritaberk2O04 @aol.com> wrote:
> > tomm42 wrote:
> > > Try to find a Gossen Pilot II light meter. Small, simple, ultra
> > > portable.Nonsense! The only meter you will ever need in your lifetime is
> > > the world
> > famous Pentax SpotmeterV.
> >
> > Rita
>
> I understand, but you can't put it in a shirt pocket. Spot meters are
> great, my 30 year old Soligar still works well. But they require some
> care in use, I find reflected or incident metering to be easier.
> Bracketing is always useful, spot or wide reflected, when you are
> unsure of the lighting. If I'm at home I use an old Luna Pro, traveling
> with the family the little Pilot works well. Too many folks think I'm
> packing a gun with the Soligar on my belt.

Your find reflected metering easier than what? Spot-metering? But that
*is* reflected, just from a much smaller part of the scene.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

On Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:58:44 +0000, Justin C wrote:

> In article < .com>,
> "tomm42" <> wrote:
>>
>> The problem with the Weston is the sensors dye (I have never seen one
>> working) they had stopped production in the 1960s before I was in
>> college (too long ago). Tried to buy one then, see above comment, they
>> were known for fragile sensors.
>
> Thanks for the heads-up Tom. I was unaware of that. I really shouldn't
> have mis-placed the one I had, then, because it worked.
>
> I'll still look out for one but if I see a Gossen Pilot I'll grab that.
>
> I hate that we had the technology *so* long ago to build these devices
> in such a pocket handy size, that didn't require batteries. And now,
> we've got bigger devices *and* we've got to keep sticking batteries in
> them... which adds weight.

The big problem is that to have enough market today to pay the overhead
without costing an exhorbitant amount they have to do something that the
in-camera meter can't do, which means loads of features. Sure, the folks
still using view cameras and the like need them, but they're a small
market and a meter that sold only into that market would be expensive due
to small production volume even if it was a relatively simple meter.

I do wonder though whether it's really the sensor that's dead on those
Westons and not the movement.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)