I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

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bikepacker
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by bikepacker »

The first Weston I used was the 3 back in 1957 when my Saturday job was helping a wedding photographer. I used it when I took my first wedding photo using a 5x4 Speed Graphic camera. The first one I owned was a 5 which I used for a few years until the Euromaster came along. Somewhere up in the loft is a box that hasn't been opened in 25 years with two of those along with some other items. Perhaps someone will find them when I am gone.

When using the Weston with a Hasselblad if you added 1 to the EV scale you could set the Planar lens EV scale for the correct 100asa exposure. The aperture and shutter speed then locked together which meant when working quick on a wedding you didn't have to keep looking a dials.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Plus One for tradition
Photography was a popular hobby when it was expensive but now it is ubiquitous, plusminus?
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Stradageek
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Stradageek »

I have an old Weston light meter, picked up at a jumble sale for £5. Unfortunately, the germanium photocell degrades with time so the calibration is now a bit wide of the mark.

I still have a full B&W darkroom, stocks of paper and 35mm B&W film but it is rarely used.

I thought initially it was because of all the extra work compared to digital but I find with advancing years I take fewer and fewer photos by whatever means.

I think that enjoying the day/view/person now takes priority over recording (and often interrupting) the event - anyone found the same?
Cyril Haearn
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Both are true
I once climbed a Mynydd by Snowdon Ranger, my SLR had broken, I think I took more notice of the views
It was a long time ago, mind, I am remembering the memory
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
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mercalia
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by mercalia »

fausto copy wrote:Here's my Zorki.
Zorki 4.jpg
Yes, they were a Ruski rip-off of the classic Leica rangefinder camera and at probably a tenth of the price.
Now though, they're probably worth about a thousandth. :lol:



I assume you have taken pictures with it? how is the lens?

This is the Zenit E I had

https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Zenit-E
merseymouth
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by merseymouth »

Wow Guys, You're taking me back a bit!
I worked in a branch of Vines Cameras, who had taken over from Dolland & Aitchison. The camera of the day that they were plugging hard was the "Kodak Instamatic", for which we had a demonstration film cassette. So to demonstrate the drop in cartridge, which made all of the other film loading methods seem stone age, you dropped it in, wound on the thumb lever, tripped the shutter, so the customer could get a feel of the process without wasting expensive film. The wind on process tensioned the cartridge as well as the shutter, so when you opened the back of the camera the cartridge wound itself back to frame one.
Bear in mind that not much earlier the Leicas employed specific film cassettes, so one had to load your own spool from stock film, the regular 35mm spool could not be used. The birth of the Leica M series brought about standard spool use.
Question for the nerds - What was the first camera to allow data recording on the negative?
IGICB MM
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Audax67
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Audax67 »

This is possibly the pride of our camera collection:

Image

but I'm very fond of this little beauty:

Image
1936 Kodak Retina, Stuttgart

For an exposure meter to go with it, this would have been the bee's knees:

Image
Lios Ultra extinction meter, 1928. Exposures from 24 minutes to 1/500 sec, f/1.4 to f/64, emulsion speed 2° to 27.5° Scheiner or 8° to 4000° Hurter & Driffield.

I don't do much photography these days, though, mostly the odd snap with a waterproof Panny when I'm out for a ride.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
merseymouth
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by merseymouth »

Hi Audax67, Do you remember the "Reid", British made with Taylor-Taylor Hobson lenses? Great hooby collecting elderly cameras. TTFN MM
mercalia
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by mercalia »

Audax67 wrote:This is possibly the pride of our camera collection:

Image

but I'm very fond of this little beauty:

Image
1936 Kodak Retina, Stuttgart

For an exposure meter to go with it, this would have been the bee's knees:

Image
Lios Ultra extinction meter, 1928. Exposures from 24 minutes to 1/500 sec, f/1.4 to f/64, emulsion speed 2° to 27.5° Scheiner or 8° to 4000° Hurter & Driffield.

I don't do much photography these days, though, mostly the odd snap with a waterproof Panny when I'm out for a ride.


Two very nice Zorki copies you have there :wink:
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bigjim
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by bigjim »

I have two of those exposure meters somewhere. Plus Mamiyaflex C200 and C300 TLR series with wide angle and telephoto lens. Rollieflex TLR 3.5 planar lens and accessories. A host of 35mm camera and full Studio equipment. I once had a Lubital TLR. Had some prints from it featured in an exhibition back in the day. Most of my darkroom stuff is gone.
I rarely used the Weston meter when I was photographing weddings. I did so many, often two or three in one day. I could just look at the sky and knew instantly the speed/aperture settings. Half a stop either way was often enough. Church interiors were almost always 4/4. No flash. Tripod mount.
I rarely take pictures these days. Even on tour or holidays. We are bombarded by pictures now, I think we have lost something somewhere, but I don't know what it is. Phone cameras are brilliant and I sometimes wish we had digital in my day but when I see wedding photogs churn out 500 pics and are in peoples faces all day, I wouldn't want to work like that. Technically the quality they turn out is brilliant but there, IMO, doesn't seem to be the soul, romance or feeling, captured that I used to produce.
But I'm old so what do I know? :)
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fausto copy
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by fausto copy »

I did the odd wedding years ago but found it too stressful and discovered I could earn more working Saturday overtime once out of my apprenticeship.
I'm amazed at the amount of photos taken at weddings these days, two or even three camera(wo)men and hundreds of photos taken outside of the ceremony itself.
The eldest daughter of friends of ours got married last year and a similar thing happened.
A few weeks later we visited them and were shown the photos (on an iPad obviously) and after a while my mate started complaining that some of the photos were taken in black and white.
As he turned to me for an opinion, he noticed I was in tears.
One shot was taken of him glancing at his daughter as he realised she was now a full-grown woman being married off.
It was one of the most moving photographs I've ever seen, so at least there's someone still able to capture some emotion.
mercalia
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by mercalia »

fausto copy wrote:I did the odd wedding years ago but found it too stressful and discovered I could earn more working Saturday overtime once out of my apprenticeship.
I'm amazed at the amount of photos taken at weddings these days, two or even three camera(wo)men and hundreds of photos taken outside of the ceremony itself.
The eldest daughter of friends of ours got married last year and a similar thing happened.
A few weeks later we visited them and were shown the photos (on an iPad obviously) and after a while my mate started complaining that some of the photos were taken in black and white.
As he turned to me for an opinion, he noticed I was in tears.
One shot was taken of him glancing at his daughter as he realised she was now a full-grown woman being married off.
It was one of the most moving photographs I've ever seen, so at least there's someone still able to capture some emotion.


You mean a very very happy look?
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Audax67
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Audax67 »

bigjim wrote:I rarely take pictures these days. Even on tour or holidays. We are bombarded by pictures now, I think we have lost something somewhere, but I don't know what it is. Phone cameras are brilliant and I sometimes wish we had digital in my day but when I see wedding photogs churn out 500 pics and are in peoples faces all day, I wouldn't want to work like that. Technically the quality they turn out is brilliant but there, IMO, doesn't seem to be the soul, romance or feeling, captured that I used to produce.
But I'm old so what do I know? :)


I can sympathize with that: last wedding I was at the flashes hardly ceased, and the way the photogs barged right up to the couple in the middle of the ceremony was disgusting - and that was in 2002.

I got caught up in photographing events for our regional cycling committee for a few years - you could get some great candids, particularly of kids (and the entry forms always included a release). There, too, 500 pics wasn't so bad because everyone wanted one of themselves. I even upgraded my main SLR a couple of times just for that, but when I left the committee it seemed just too much hassle to lug the kit around and shoot anything else. Getting too old, I guess - nowadays it's even too much hassle to take a Fuji X100 into town to do a bit of street.
Have we got time for another cuppa?
bikepacker
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by bikepacker »

bigjim wrote:I rarely take pictures these days. Even on tour or holidays. We are bombarded by pictures now, I think we have lost something somewhere, but I don't know what it is. Phone cameras are brilliant and I sometimes wish we had digital in my day but when I see wedding photogs churn out 500 pics and are in peoples faces all day, I wouldn't want to work like that. Technically the quality they turn out is brilliant but there, IMO, doesn't seem to be the soul, romance or feeling, captured that I used to produce.
But I'm old so what do I know? :)


+1 I rarely take pictures even on tour, in fact when I finally sold our last studio I did not even pick up a camera for seven years. Most I have taken since have been at the request of my wife, I think she wants proof of where I have been. :D

How would some of the modern day photographers manage if the had to take a wedding with 3 rolls of 120 and make every exposure count? Or like my first teacher take 24 pictures on 12 DD slides then proof them back to the reception.
There is your way. There is my way. But there is no "the way".
Cyril Haearn
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Re: I bought this lightmeter when it first came out

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Just picked up a French art magazine with all sorts of queer fascinating pictures

Painting is more interesting and varied than photography I think
Entertainer, juvenile, curmudgeon, PoB, 30120
Cycling-of course, but it is far better on a Gillott
We love safety cameras, we hate bullies
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