jay_frazier Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Hello there Ladies and Gents.Iwas given anold Tower exposure meter where can I find some info on this little gizmo seems to respond to light.Any info would help P.S great site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin carron Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Tower was a trade name of Sears Roebuck & Co who sold cameras and accessories made by others. They did not make cameras themselves. Your Tower meter might be a US made selenium shoe mount meter with an ASA range of 10-200 or a West German made meter. Unfortunately like most meters even in fully working condition they do not fetch much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_frazier Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I was wandering if there is a manual I could find on the web to see if this gizmo works P.S Thanks Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike_gillespie Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 You dont need one, they pretty much all work the same way, dial in the asa or din number and match the needle on the meter to a mark, then read off the shutter speed against the aperture, if the meter doesnt respond to light when aimed at the sky in daytime, throw it away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim_huggins Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 http://www.butkus.org/chinon/flashes_meters.htm That guy is performing a unique and invaluable service for camera collectors. If you find your model there, be sure to send him a donation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick j dempsey Posted February 13, 2008 Share Posted February 13, 2008 If it does not work, do not throw it away as Mike suggests... about 6 months ago someone posted a report here on how to repair one of these old selenium meters by removing corrosion between the contacts and the cell itself. He claims to have a high success rate, although I have not tried it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary_watson Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Cool old meters are usually inaccurate, non-linear paper weights. Unless your film, processing, and printing are free, an iffy old meter will cost you more than a new "old" Sekonic selenium meter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverscape Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 I was so glad to see this thread! I bought an old Weston light meter at an antique shop a while back. I'm just getting into photography with vintage 35mm cameras (I was using mostly digital before). So when I saw the meter, I thought it would come in handy. I tested the meter in the shop, just to see if it responded to light, although I had no idea how to use it. The needle moved when I brought it near a lamp. I've also tested it outside during sunny and on cloudy days, and it seems to respond. I think I just figured out how to use it today. On a cloudy day at about 2:00pm, I faced it north and the needle was showing about 50-100...although I don't know what that measurement indicates. I think I finally figured out the exposure calculator, and with that measurement from the needle, it was showing I could use a shutter speed of 1/125 at f8 or f11 for 200 ISO film. Does that sound about right? Do guys think the meter is working right? I'll have to test it again, because I might not be remembering the numbers exactly right. I'm not at home right now and I don't have the meter with me. But how are Weston meters...do they usually stay fairly accurate? I have no idea how old this one is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_e Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Depends on what "cloudy" means, but the reading is close if not on-target. Test it with some photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverscape Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Don..."cloudy" as in it's been raining most of the week, and it was drizzling today. :) It was a day I normally wouldn't even bother trying to take pictures. But I just wanted to test the meter, since I thought I had figured out how it worked. I just noticed there's a manual for my meter on Mike Butkus' website. The meter is a Weston Master III. I'm downloading it right now. I'll definitely send him a donation! That was a big help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_e Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Chris, are you familiar with 'sunny 16'? For daylight it works very well and you can check your meter against it. On a bright sunny day f/16 and a shutter speed close to the speed of the film is near the proper exposure. Look at the shadows when you test again in order to specify 'cloudy'. So... f/16 Sunny Distinct Shadows f/11 Slight Overcast Soft around edges f/8 Overcast Barely visible f/5.6 Heavy Overcast No shadows If the day was heavy overcast and there were no shadows at all, sunny 16 suggests with iso 200, 1/250 at f/5.6 -- or, 1/125 at f/8. That's why I think your meter is probably accurate. See this site for more: http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverscape Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks Don. Yeah, I'm somewhat familiar with the "Sunny 16" rule, and normally that's what I would use. I live in southern California, so on most days, I usually set the aperture to f16 and the shutter speed to the same as the ISO number of the film. In the shade or on a hazy day, I might open it to f11. I'm using an Argus C3 camera, by the way. It takes great pictures! I thought the light meter might help in those situations where the lighting is kind of weird and it's it's hard for me to "guesstimate" on the exposure. Sometimes, I feel like I'm just making a total guess. Usually, the pictures still come out fine, but there have been a few times where it might have been a little over or under exposed. I think I tend to overexpose a little bit where there might be a lot of reflected light, like around sidewalks and light-colored buildings. I've been lucky though. I would say that I've been really happy with like 90 percent of the pictures I've taken with that camera. Actually, it's not the camera's fault. Sometimes I still don't get the exposure quite right. But when I do, it takes awesome pictures...even better than my digital camera. I'm amazed at how sharp the pictures are. All the cheapy modern 35mm cameras I used before always had problems with color fringing and things in the background not being in focus. And here is an antique camera that just blows me away with the pictures it can take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don_e Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Generally, meters are not so useful in low light. For complex lighting, a spot meter can work well. Average out 3 readings, shadows, highlights, and midtones (if your digital camera has spotmetering, use that). Search the Kodak website for a pdf on "existing light". It has tables for exposures for very low light. I think the info is summarized in the Kodak Pocket Guide To 35mm Photography -- worth owning. It's small and easy to carry around. I've seen them for sale on Amazon, used. The link in my previous covers it, too. If you are shooting print film, a bit of overexposure is ok. Avoid underexposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now