The Watkins Bee Meter - Early 1900s Photographic Exposure Meter

I was recently given a Watkins Bee Meter as a present (I'd been looking for one for a while), and it's such a cool gadget I thought I'd do a video about it.
The Bee Meter was invented by Alfred Watkins in the late 1800s, and continued in production until electronic meters took over. The Bee Meter uses light sensitive paper to measure the strength of the light - even in bright sunlight it will take a few seconds to darken to the same shade as a control strip next to the test strip in the measuring window - by counting how many seconds it takes and applying that figure to the exposure calculation dials, you can quickly (well relatively quickly for the time anyway) and accurately measure the correct shutter speed to set on your camera.
Start 00:00
History and Documentation 00:09
General Overview 01:12
How to use the Bee Meter 03:41
Reading the Meter 05:15
Low Light Readings 06:26
Additional Info 07:22
Outro 08:07
You can see a previous video where I looked at a Sekonic Marine Meter here:
• Sekonic Marine Meter I...
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Outro Music
"As Yet Untitled"
by GrumpyTim (available to download from GrumpyTim's Bandcamp page)
grumpytim.bandcamp.com/
www.grumpytim.com

[@ohjajohh]

When I saw the title of this video I really assumed it had something to do with bee's :)
A very interesting exposure meter. Not really easy by today's standards, but nice to see how this 100+ years old exposure meter works.

[@GrumpyTim]

I thought exactly the same thing when I first saw one of these - I was looking for an unusual present for a family member who is a beekeeper - once I'd figured out that the Bee Meter was an exposure meter and not something to do with bees, I just put it back on the stallholders table because it wasn't quite the present I was looking for at the time. Then some time later, my brother had the same idea and gave them one of the Bee Meters as an unusual present, and once I'd had a better look at it I really wanted one for myself to go with all my vintage photographic stuff - yet again my brother came to the rescue and got me one for my collection.

[@BensWorkshop]

That is a curious thing! ell done for finding one!

[@GrumpyTim]

Cheers Ben, it's a gorgeous little gadget from the past, and I love the fact that the light sensitive paper inside is still light sensitive, albeit not as sensitive as it once was.

[@BensWorkshop]

@@GrumpyTim Absolutely. Interesting solution to a problem. Wonder if there is a way of getting or making a fresh supply.

[@enginelover1]

wow I admire you for knowing that. I had no idea that something like this exists! Btw in June I will be over in Manchester. Is that close to you. Primarily I will be visiting the Tractor show and rallying an engine there too. No mine but my friends engine.

[@GrumpyTim]

I had to read the instructions a few times to figure out exactly how I was supposed to use the meter Joseph - it all seemed quite alien when I first looked at it. Manchester isn't particularly close, but I'll speak to you closer to the time in case there's any possibility of meeting up.

[@enginelover1]

@GrumpyTim when you are into something instructions will always make sense eventually. I just told you to let you know just in case you happened to visit that show. Dont want knowing afterwards that some people I know was actually there amd we have not bumped.

[@GrumpyTim]

Cheers Joseph, very good thinking, it would be a shame if you were at one of the shows that I usually attend and we didn't get the chance to say "hi".

[@enginelover1]

@@GrumpyTim a big shame and dont want to let that happen to every one I know from UK just in case its down the road for him.