Repair sources for Pentax 1/21 meter

**lenser** · 2-Jun-2011, 20:03

I think I have Gremlins living in my Zone VI bag as my utterly reliable (for years) Pentax 1/21 analog spot meter seems to now be eating batteries like it's on "Man Versus Food". It uses three of the little 76 style button batteries.

I've always kept this in one of the adjustable bins in the Zone VI bag so no differences there. The bag pretty much lives in one of the drawers I built in the back of my SUV, so it isn't being knocked around or having any external pressure on any part of the bag's sides or top.

All of a sudden in the last three weeks, I've gone through two brand new sets of batteries after finding the meter dead at the start of an assignment.

Replaced those batteries and the meter returned to proper performance, then today, after only using it for just that that one assignment (for maybe five minutes total) about 20 days ago, I pull it out and again, no power....batteries totally gone!

Nothing else that might touch the switches goes in the bin with the meter and while it is snug due to lenses on one side and holders on the other, the battery test and on off switches are totally clear of any contact. The only thing that might be touching would be the internal light button switch, but that is protected by a small raised ring and does not seem to have any contact with the bin walls anyway.

So, if it happens again, I think it must be haunted and needs repair, but I have no sources.

Two questions: Obviously, who would you send it to for repair and has anyone had one of these devour batteries like this? If so, what was the cause?

**SW Rick** · 2-Jun-2011, 20:06

Quality Light Metric in L.A. is the place to go.

**Steve Goldstein** · 3-Jun-2011, 03:16

Richard Ritter, who is a member of this forum, also does repairs and calibration on Pentax meters. I've had fine experiences with both Richard and George Milton at Quality Light Metric.