Weston Master V selenium hand exposure meter (photo copyrighted by JD esq, used with permission)

This is a selenium hand exposure meter made in the U.S. in ca. 1965. I bought mine used (but like new, and with a new selenium cell) in winter 2000.

The history of Weston Master selenium hand exposure meters began already in the 1930s. In the 1970s, the Weston brand vanished, but since the 1980s basically the same tool is being manufactured again: under the name Euro-Master in Great Britain.

The Megatron Euro-Master II, the Sekonic L-398M Studio Deluxe II, and the Gossen BIX 3 are the only currently manufactured hand exposure meters which work with a selenium cell and are thus battery independent, ensuring light metering even at very low temperatures. The disadvantage of selenium-based exposure meters is that they are not suitable for very low light situations (more about that soon), and that the selenium cell is subject to ageing and will usually need to be replaced after a few decades (more about that also later on).

I often use my hand as a grey card (caucasian skin is about one stop brighter than an 18% grey card), which didn't ever let me down (with some experience this technique is exact enough to wonderfully expose 4x5" Velvia sheets).

The Weston Master V is a joy to use. Contrary to some other meters, the scale locks in place when the measuring button is released, there are click stops for each and every film speed setting from 0.1 ASA (!) to 16,000 ASA (!), the meter always also displays the corresponding exposure value (EV), there is a calibration knob on the back of the meter to re-set the zero position, and the scales for aperture and shutter time cover a large range: f/1 to f/32 (with all 1/3 steps marked) and 90 sec. to 1/1200 sec. (again with all 1/3 steps marked), respectively. It doesn't include any cine information, but if you know which shutter time your cine camera uses for which fps setting, then you can of course still use the Weston Master V.

There are two scales, one from 0 to 10, and one from 10 to 16 (these values are equivalent to the same EVs when using 40 ASA film). The upper scale the default; to access the lower scale, one has to fold out the "filter" on the back of the meter which covers the selenium cell. This "filter" always locks in place very positively, for both scales. It's hardly possible to read precise measurements lower than 3 since the scale becomes very crammed at the lower end and doesn't include any half-steps lower than 3. On the Weston Master V, 3 corresponds to 1 sec. @ f/4.5 when using 100 ASA film, or EV 4.33. In other words the meter, as all selenium meters, is not suitable for very low light situations, but for normal indoor scenes the Weston Master V can be used without any problems.

One very positive aspect of all Weston Masters and Euro-Masters is that Megatron, the manufacturer of the Euro-Master II, services all of them. Fitting a new selenium cell and recalibrating any Weston Master or Euro-Master costs £42 as of December 2005, including VAT and UK postage (approx. 70 US dollars at the current exchange rate).

This aspect now really pays off since my Weston Master V has given up recently -- the selenium cell gives crazy readings. I'll send it to Megatron in London asap to have it serviced.

Links

• Weston Master V manual download from orphancameras.com (PDF format)
• web site of the Euro-Master II distributor John D. esq
• web site of the Euro-Master II manufacturer Megatron