I missed this out earlier...

[venta]

Some people might remember me grumbling last year that my light meter had packed in. My camera is sufficiently antique that it has no integral meter, I had a handy little one which had formerly belonged to my Dad.

So, my parents gave me a new one for my birthday. Not new to be fair, as they're hard to find these days at sensible prices, but a professional-standard second hand one. While I was in New Zealand, it stopped working too.

So, I've gone back to using the old one (works if you thump it) instead of the new one (needle solidly refuses to move).

Last week, wimble very kindly donated me his light meter, since he has an integral one in his camera. Despite resembling an electric razor, his meter has much the nicest interface of the three. (To change scales on the old one there was a series of two buttons which interacted strangely to switch between 3 scales, on the newer one you remove a screen in lower-light situations, and adjust the dial accordingly. On wimble's there is simply one long sliding scale, and you line up a set of cross-hairs for your reading. Dead simple.)

Only, only... the first time I take it out (to Mountfitchet), it stops working in exactly the same way as the other two did - ie the needle shoots of one end of the scale, and refuses to move. What am I doing to these meters ? They often seem to start working again if I leave them alone - does anyone think they might be affected by static ? (I'm notoriously static prone, and it's the only explanation I can think of.)

Anyone got any (sensible) ideas ?

Comments

Oi!

[wimble.livejournal.com]

No need to rant at my light meter!

Which end did the needle shoot to? The left or the right? If it's the left end, there's no light getting in. If it's the right end, there's way too much light. That seems unlikely.

Unless... you were holding it the wrong way around, with the lens facing into your hand. In which case I'd expect it to go very dark, and, since the meters reverse, the needle would go right.

Oi to you too!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I said I was static-prone, not stupid! No, I'm not covering the place the light goes in. The needle goes off the too-much-light end, and doesn't budge if you do cover over the lens and block out the light completely.

I cite [Unknown site tag] as a witness...

Shaking the meter dislodges the needle, but I'm not convinced the readings I'm getting out are right. And I'm reluctant to shake it too much as I don't want to damage it.

Oggie, Oggie

[wimble.livejournal.com]

[Unknown LJ tag] is davefish?

Drop it round (or I'll come and get it), and I'll check it against my SLR.

As to what you've done, I dunno, 'cept you're a girl, and we obviously shouldn't let you at electronics ;-)

Re: Oggie, Oggie

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it should have said davefish. We already checked the readings against his SLR - sometimes they were right, sometimes they weren't...

Re: Oggie, Oggie

[davefish.livejournal.com]

And when they were wrong they did tend to be very wrong.

Re: Oi to you too!

[augeas.livejournal.com]

Could these meters be of a vintage where too much light on too sensitive a scale fries them somewhat? You could always go to the Inner-Hebridean isle of Coll, and find the perfectly good Plusmeter I dropped near Hogh Bay. (It only had one scale.) I think I'd like to re-instate my meter-less old Practica, and retire the somewhat irritating metered Miranda. Working meters can sometimes be found cheaply on Ebay, as the nutters (collector scum) there care about the damn things being "in the original box". Never get a Western Master earlier than a Mark V, as it'll use the Western scale, rather than ASA.

Re: Oi to you too!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice - though I might skip the trip to Coll for now.

My camera is a Praktika. Dead simple to use - set the ASA value, set the shutter speed, set the f-stop and you're out of buttons that need twiddling :) I'm very fond of it.

Re: Oi to you too!

[augeas.livejournal.com]

I think I've already totaled one Ebayed light-meter in that way, and the Western-Master advice comes from bitter experience. Do you know any gullible idiots who'd like a Western Master II? Yeah, the Miranda's too clever by half. One's mean to half-press the shutter to use the meter, which tends to result in rather a lot of wasted film. Also, one can forget to turn it off and be left with a dead lump to carry. After I lost the Plusmeter, I just decided to wing it, and bracket the exposures. -I was fine.