Manuals & Repairs


Firstly, is your meter working properly?

Inside in a dark room, close the rear baffle and hold your hand over the cell.  The needle should read 0.  If not, you may need to adjust the zero corrector on the rear of most models. Now, use the meter outside and make sure it adheres fairly accurately to the "sunny f16" rule. This says that with the shutter speed of the reciprocal of the ASA film speed, the aperture will be approximately f16 very sunny clear sky, f11 hazy sun, f8 bright cloudy, f5.6 dark cloud. If you can find a clear north cloudless sky and point the meter at it, it should read f16 or even f22. Cells often get "lazy" and with older meters will not get to f16  or anywhere near. If the needle doesn't move at all when exposed to bright light then most probably the cell is dead. If you wobble the meter around and the needle doesn't move at all then the galvanometer  may be stuck - see picture below. At your own risk, a little shaking and tapping against the palm of your hand may free it. This is the interior of a Weston II - other Masters have similar but not identical mechanisms.

interior


If the meter seems to work but does not give correct exposures, are you setting the film speeds right?


DIN    
ASA/ISO
GE        
WESTON
10
6
8
5
11



112
10
12
8
13



14
16
20
12
15



16



17
32
40
24
18
40
48
32
119
50
64
40
20
64
80
50
21
80
100
64
22
100
125
80
23
125
150
100
24
160
200
125
25



26
250
400
200
27
820
800
250

Up to the Master IV the scale is foot candles, now known as lumens. After that it was an arbitary scale.


Repairs

The most frequent questions we are asked are about repairs. Repairs are expensive if carried out professionally (£90 plus) and difficult if you do them yourself - you may want to think seriously about buying another meter on Ebay! Spare selenium cells are are not easily available and may well not fix the problem on their own. Our FAQ has a section on repairing.

In the UK, we would recommend Ian Partridge in Colchester. http://ian-partridge.com

In the US, Quality Light Metric - 6922 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 210, Hollywood, Calif. 90028 (323)467-226 is well thought of.

We have brought together as many Weston manuals and leaflets as we can find, in PDF form. If you have or know of any others, please let us know via the Guestbook so that we can add them to the site. (Last updated May 2012)

Many of these manuals are links to the excellent website run by Mike Butkus. I know Mike would appreciate a $3 donation via Paypal (button below) for the use of these manuals (even if not his) so that he can buy more for us all to benefit from, and I would encourage you to do that - either using the Paypal link below, or via his website.

These manuals are for your personal use only and must not be re-printed or otherwise distributed for sale. We will take-down within 10 days (but normally 24 hours) any manuals where we may have inadvertently used material to which you hold the copyright as interpreted under UK law - just leave a note in our guestbook.

 

Weston Illumination Meter Model 756

Weston Master Universal 650 (1936)

Weston Master Cine 720

Weston Master Cine Bolex 715

Weston Master Universal S74/715 - Thanks Malcolm!

A brief guide to the 650

650 Manual

853 Direct Reading

Weston Master II pt1 and pt2 or Alternative Version

Weston II Cine

Weston Master III

Weston Master IV pt1 and pt2 or as text only

Weston Master V or an alternative very clear version.

Weston Master Vl

Weston XM2

Euromaster

Euromaster 2

Ranger 9 pt1and pt2

819 Cine

Master 6

852 Cadet

Weston Exposure Indexes

Exposure Indexes for Master III 737 and Cadet 853

Weston Sangamo Ratings

Weston Photographic products and Film Ratings 1946

Film Speeds and Weston Dials

1944 Products Brochure

Model 715, 720 and 850 Brochure

Foot Candle Measurement

Weston Master Universal Invercone

Exposure Indexes

Weston Photo Products 1 and 2

 

 

 

 

 

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