It's possible that George at Quality Light Metric can resurrect your Weston. He brought my Master IV back to life a few years ago for around $50.
It's possible that George at Quality Light Metric can resurrect your Weston. He brought my Master IV back to life a few years ago for around $50.
Well other than the fact that I took it apart and trashed it looking at how the thing worked and why it had stopped working, $50 to fix it would have been excessive considering they are around $10 on ebay (caveats about condition not withstanding).
Greg Lockrey
Wealth is a state of mind.
Money is just a tool.
Happiness is pedaling +25mph on a smooth road.
I bought a Primostar light meter for fun out of the odds and ends bin at Camtech. A selenium meter, probably 1960's or 70's for 5$. Close up it is accurate, for away don't point it at the sky. It's a bit bigger than a Match box.
Funny enough here's one right now (sort of)
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source...pczFsfo9qDxyNA
I'm pretty sure that the Gossen Luna Pro has always been a cds meter, hence requires batteries. The Luna Pro SBC uses a silicon blue cel, but still needs a battery and is some bigger than the Luna Pro (or your Weston).
Sekonic still makes the L-398, which is the Norwood reincarnate.
Very reliable, will do incident and reflected, and can be a direct reading meter with the accessory slide kit. Its about the same size as the Weston although they are shaped differently. So you may or may not find it pocketable.
However, like any selenium cell meter it doesn't read low light levels very well. You can read the specs on the Mamiya America web site.
Although it does require a battery, the Gossen Digisix/Digiflash meter(s) are very compact, accurate and read well in reasonably low light. The battery in mine lasts for years.
JD
Get a Weston Master IV or V on ebay and send it to quality light metric. The new cell should be good for at least 10 years. They are excellent meters, in a sense already "zoned," but you can stick on zone numbers easily. Pick up the invercone (sp?) and you have an incident meter too. I have a Pentax digital spot meter but always take the Weston along too.
For most of my large format career, I used a Gossen Luna Pro SBC. I loved that meter. It could do anything you needed, It had two different "spot" metering attachments. The 7.5/15 degree attachment (the one had) was small and relatively inexpensive. The 1 degree attachment was bulky and cost more than a Pentax Spotmeter V. So, I passed on that one.
On this, I agree 100%. When I was looking for a smaller, lighter meter for my backpacking kit, I purchased one of these little gems. It does both direct and incident metering. The angle and response of the meter was a good match for the larger more expensive Luna Pro SBC. Plus, like any good piece of backpacking gear, it served multiple functions (watch, alarm clock, timer, thermometer). It takes the commonly available and inexpensive CR2032 lithium coin cell batteries. Granted, the battery life isn't as long as a 9-volt battery, but these cells are so lightweight and have such a long shelf life, carrying a spare isn't a big deal.
The best thing about the Digisix is the tiny size and lightweight (40g, or 1.4 oz., including battery).
About the only drawback to this meter (other than the new price) is that the minimum f-stop on the dial is f32. If you need to shoot at smaller stops, you'll have to mentally convert the shutter speeds for anything smaller than f32.
Kerry
+1 on the Gossen Pilot, It's about the same size as the Digiflash/six meter. With the advantage of being inexpensive and battery less.
Some really great recommendations guys, thanks a lot.
I ended up snagging a Weston Master III for $5 to my door (!), and I think I might try to pick up a little Gossen Pilot for cheap too as a backup so I'm not stuck meterless again as I am now if I break another one (knock on wood).
I also sniped a Pentax Spotmeter V for less than $150 so I'm set on meters
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