Faulty light meter

bmorrisdavies · Sep 8, 2010

Hi, I'm completely new to film, although i've been doing serious slr photography in digital for about a year and a half. I very recently bought a second hand pentax k1000 on ebay, and I'm unsure wheather the light meter on it is ok. When i shine a light into it, it goes right up, and if its dark and i go outside it goes right down. But it seems much, much less sensitive than the light meter on my digital slr (canon eos 1000D), for example, i have the camera set to f2.8, iso 200 and shutter speed 250, and the needle is in the center, but when i increas shutter speed to 1000, the needle on the light meter doesn't move at all! And if I'm outdoors and I move indoors where its much darker, the light meter barely moves at all/ doesn't move. With my dslr the light meter is much more sensitive than this. Is this difference between a pentax film camera and a canon digital camera normal?

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MarkF48 · Sep 8, 2010

First off......... have you changed the battery that operates the lightmeter to a fresh one?

J.Kendall · Sep 8, 2010

When i got my k1000, it hadn't been used in 20 some years, and a fresh battery made it work like it was brand new

bmorrisdavies · Sep 9, 2010

I haven't yet, no. I'll get one tonight an let you know how it works. That's the little button battery on the bottom of the camera right?

Torus34 · Sep 9, 2010

You can check a light meter by observing its reading of a gray card in full sunlight. Compare the reading to the manufacturer's recommendation for exposure in full sunlight. A reading which falls within +/- 1/2 stop is essentially 'on the money'.

bmorrisdavies · Sep 9, 2010

Replaced the battery and it works fine

Thanks for the tip! Anyone know how often I should replace the battery?

compur · Sep 9, 2010

It should last a year or more if you keep the lens capped when not in use.

Early · Sep 10, 2010

The k1000 more than likely has a CDS light meter, which will respond much slower than a SPD meter when going from a light area to dark. They are both equally accurate, so you just have to get used to it and remember.