Thanks for this, I bought a Pentax off eBay, seller didn't know the light meter was broken, I had a Weston kicking about and didn't know how to use it until I watched this, so thanks for making this mate
Great video, my dad had one when I was a kid, spotted one this morning at a car boot sale for £5! It works just as expected, if I bought a new light meter today I bet it wouldn’t last this long 🤷♂️
I had one of these meters when I was a teenager in the 80's and even then it was a relic from a bygone age but the thing is it worked and my photos always were well exposed. Getting back into analogue photography I just bought a Weston Master V meter and invercone and am excited about exploring film photography again.
Stick with that meter. I just started to use mine the other day after 40 years. It wrks a treat. And if you know one shutter speed/aperture, combination, you know them a without looking.
Just to fill in a few points. I bought my Master V in 1966 and it works perfectly. The reflective function is as you did. With the invercone it does incident light reading which is the way to go. In most cases incident lighting gives much more accurate exposures. I use mine these days with the Canon EOS 80D. In 1966 I had a Yashica JP, a totally manual film SLR. The only thing it can't do is measure incident flash. An excellent piece of kit and, as you , not at silly money!
I lost mine on a photo shoot in a remote French town and now I have to carry round my DSLR to do light readings for my big Mamiya RB67. Not ideal! I really miss it
Selenium cell meters like the Weston V are generally more accurate when reading subjects of various colors, as the later cells in battery powered meters tend to be partly colorblind, one example being the popular Pentax Digital Spot meter. The later meters commonly have color filters inside to adjust for this problem to some degree. Unhappily, even the well made Weston meters have reached an age where many (most?) have failing cells, which are becoming very hard to get repaired. If you buy one of these, get it from a dealer, not on ebay - nearly all of the ebay items will be faulty. Anyone know of a British source for repairs of these meters? I've got three, and I'd like to get one working.
Thank you Joe. Very nicely done video. I've been considering which light meter to purchase to use with my new Mamiya twin lens camera. Now I believe you've helped me to make up my mind.
I used to use one of those when I was your age and it was an old meter then. I've been using a Sekonic L-308B for the last few years. I would definitely recommend that you get an invercone for yours, so that you can take incident readings.
I was given one of these in mint condition around 1970 when I was in my teens and expressed an interest in photography, but no-one explained to me how it worked so in the bag it stayed. I've kept it all these years and now that I'm retired (time certainly flies!) the DSLR is my go-to camera. Your video has finally de-mystified my Master V, and I am using the M setting with confidence! Thank you.
I explained how to use this style of light meter. If you don't understand how to read f stops and exposure, that's a whole other topic that requires a different video. You can either search TH-cam for this or I'd be happy to make a video about understanding exposure.
Thanks for this, I bought a Pentax off eBay, seller didn't know the light meter was broken, I had a Weston kicking about and didn't know how to use it until I watched this, so thanks for making this mate
Nice Joe ... I have one I bought 45 years ago, it still works just fine.
Just proves that things can be made to last. Not like phones and cars these days
That white thing is called an invercone attachment. They always got lost but we're very handy.
We used to take readings off our hand.
Excellent video very informative.
Thank you
Great video, my dad had one when I was a kid, spotted one this morning at a car boot sale for £5! It works just as expected, if I bought a new light meter today I bet it wouldn’t last this long 🤷♂️
I had one of these meters when I was a teenager in the 80's and even then it was a relic from a bygone age but the thing is it worked and my photos always were well exposed.
Getting back into analogue photography I just bought a Weston Master V meter and invercone and am excited about exploring film photography again.
Stick with that meter. I just started to use mine the other day after 40 years. It wrks a treat. And if you know one shutter speed/aperture, combination, you know them a without looking.
Dude I recently lost it. I legit cried.
Wow-what a shame. Hopefully you can find another soon. :-)
Just to fill in a few points. I bought my Master V in 1966 and it works perfectly. The reflective function is as you did. With the invercone it does incident light reading which is the way to go. In most cases incident lighting gives much more accurate exposures. I use mine these days with the Canon EOS 80D. In 1966 I had a Yashica JP, a totally manual film SLR. The only thing it can't do is measure incident flash. An excellent piece of kit and, as you , not at silly money!
I lost mine on a photo shoot in a remote French town and now I have to carry round my DSLR to do light readings for my big Mamiya RB67. Not ideal! I really miss it
Great description Thanks for your great presentation and description
Philip MacKenzie thank you for your kind words :)
Selenium cell meters like the Weston V are generally more accurate when reading subjects of various colors, as the later cells in battery powered meters tend to be partly colorblind, one example being the popular Pentax Digital Spot meter. The later meters commonly have color filters inside to adjust for this problem to some degree. Unhappily, even the well made Weston meters have reached an age where many (most?) have failing cells, which are becoming very hard to get repaired. If you buy one of these, get it from a dealer, not on ebay - nearly all of the ebay items will be faulty. Anyone know of a British source for repairs of these meters? I've got three, and I'd like to get one working.
look at Ian-Partridge.com.......it ain't cheap but he will do a full refurbishment and it comes back to you like brand new and fully calibrated.
If my camera exposure is wrong, I will blame the cat hahaha. Thanks for a good video 🙂
Thank you Joe. Very nicely done video. I've been considering which light meter to purchase to use with my new Mamiya twin lens camera. Now I believe you've helped me to make up my mind.
Scott Lacey Sorry, but pretty dreadful, and so much just plain wrong.
I have one. Works a treat even after 40 years. :-)
Do you not have the invercone for incident light metering ?
I used to use one of those when I was your age and it was an old meter then. I've been using a Sekonic L-308B for the last few years. I would definitely recommend that you get an invercone for yours, so that you can take incident readings.
I was given one of these in mint condition around 1970 when I was in my teens and expressed an interest in photography, but no-one explained to me how it worked so in the bag it stayed. I've kept it all these years and now that I'm retired (time certainly flies!) the DSLR is my go-to camera. Your video has finally de-mystified my Master V, and I am using the M setting with confidence! Thank you.
This makes me very happy! Glad I could help :)
Thanks for NOT showing us how to ACTUALLY read the fSTOP and exposure timings on the meter (sigh)
I explained how to use this style of light meter. If you don't understand how to read f stops and exposure, that's a whole other topic that requires a different video. You can either search TH-cam for this or I'd be happy to make a video about understanding exposure.
Could have been a great video but..."electrons"???
That's when I lost interest.