Woot! Scored!

[duhast]

Just scored a pristine Weston Master II meter and this book. Meter was VERY cheap, and the book is what I used in college 40 years ago. The book is used, new, unused condition for $10.

 

[tirediron]

Nice! That book should be required reading for EVERYONE who's considering buying a camera.

 

[duhast]

One of the things I have to do is make a conversion chart for the emulsion speeds. On the Master II's, the numbers are Weston values, not ASA. Also, the meter is more than 65 years old, and a preliminary check shows I thing 4 stops difference between the meter and my camera. So, I'm going to read my 18% gray card with my camera and meter then rotate the Weston speed dial to match the aperture/shutter numbers and make a chart for ASA settings for the meter.

 

[tirediron]

Does the meter have a calibration scew on the back?

 

[duhast]

Yes, just a zero adjust.

 

[tirediron]

Cool - that way you can dial it right in.

 

[Derrel]

Way cool! The Weston Master II was my very first exposure meter!!! I absolutely LOVE its fantastic scale and the Zone System markings. I got mine 35+ years ago, in a small box, with either a pamphlet manual or perhaps it was a tiny, stapled book instruction manual. That Minor White book with the yellow cover--I have not seen that edition. I was pretty sad when my Master II quit working...I bought a similar but not nearly so good General Electric to replace it.

Somewhere around here I have a couple decent scans of the dial of the old Master II. I think if every beginner were to be exposed to the Weston Master II's ANALOG dial-and-pointer system,there would be utterly NO NEED for entire books discussing the "exposure triangle" concept.

 

[duhast]

Look at ebay, Derrel, there are a ton of Westons to choose from. Shop carefully, because some are paperweights, but there's good ones out there.

I'm pretty excited about getting the meter, as I mentioned, I'm trying to re-create the whole 'old school' thought process but with a digital camera. It's nice to not have to soup rolls of film, but i really like trying to do the whole pre-visualization thing...

 

[Derrel]

I was wrong...I have some old, coarsely sharpened .JPG reductions of my Master II. I JUST got a free light meter application for my iPhone last week...in limited testing, it's pretty accurate WRT to setting exposure levels on my Nikon. Unlike the old analogue display of the Master II, the new digital meter reads out just THREE data points: shutter, f/stop, and ISO value...it does not offer a bazillion equivalent shutter speed and f/stop combinations...it many ways, the old-style analogue displays are just...better!

Here are the three pics I found...these are about 10 years old give or take.

 

[duhast]

Looks nice. Is it black or charcoal gray? Mine's black and in the same condition.