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  #1  
Old 29th August 2017, 10:23 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Default Hanimex CdS PR-65 Light Meter - Help Needed

I have obtained the above secondhand meter. I got it off a stall holder at an antiques fair who knew little about it and there were no instructions. Here's what I know.

It is a CdS meter with High(H) and Low (L) buttons. I tried it before I bought and in sunny early afternoon conditions I pressed the H button and the needle moved to between 12 and 13 on the almost straight set of figures at the top of the meter. When you move the fixed black pointer on the round dial to almost the square labelled 13 you get an EV reading of nearly 15 in the opening on the rim of the dial. This is the classic sunny day EV reading so I am reasonably confident that it works pretty well as it should. I'll qualify "pretty well" in a moment.

There are ISA figures on the opposite edge of the fixed metal dial which is attached to a movable clear dial which has the black arrow and against ISA 100 there is a red dot. Reading the shutter speed against this red dot gives you the shutter speed required for f16 for that EV value. So if you have a 100 speed film and use f16 then things are simple. Even if you decide to shoot at other apertures things remain simple as the other f numbers give the shutter speed for those numbers.

The other ISA numbers are slightly cramped so reading the correct shutter speed for say a 400 speed film is a little more difficult but possible. If you use a film speed other than 100 and an aperture other than f16 then some metal gymnastics are required or you can set the red dot corresponding to f16 against the new speed and then read off the new shutter speeds against the the other aperture numbers.

So I think I have worked out how the meter works and how to decide on the correct shutter speed and aperture for the film speed being used

If you have followed all of the above so far, well done, because I am looking for confirmation that my interpretation of how this meter works is correct.

Secondly I need to come back to my phrase "pretty well" in terms of where the needle ends up on the light scale after you press either the H or L button. I have noted that if neither button is pressed the needle sits a little to the left of the 0 EV and does not sit on the zero. However on the back of the meter there is a screw with the word "zero " above it.

I assume that this is a calibration screw. If I am right then the question is: Should it be set so that the needle remains at zero on the scale when neither button is pressed and NOT as at present to the left of the zero? I presume that if this is the case, then when either button is pressed the needle for any given light level will rise to a slightly higher level and this will give a more accurate reading.

Finally there is a large screw on the back which looks as if it is designed to be unscrewed by a small coin. I assume that underneath this screw is a compartment for a button type battery which powers the CdS meter? Is this the case and can the right size and power of button battery still be obtained?

Of course most of this lengthy thread would probably be unnecessary if anyone has the instructions for the meter. Here's hoping


Thanks for your perseverance in following my thread

Mike
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  #2  
Old 30th August 2017, 10:15 AM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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Hi Mike. The zero setting on Gossen analogue meters is done with the instrument sitting level, and the cell covered to exclude light. You need a hole in the table to get the screwdriver in!! I think the needle may sit off the zero, however, when there is no power to the meter (no button pressed). I would try blacking out the cell, then pressing one of the buttons to see if the needle moves to zero. If not, you may need to adjust it. The other screw cover will be the battery housing. Open it with a coin to see what cells are inside. Some use the now obsolete mercury cells, but there's usually an alternative if that's the case. I think the Hanimex meters are likely to be the product of a specialist like Seckonic, or Gossen. It might be worth posting a picture here to see if anyone recognised it, or looking at meters on eBay to see if it looks like one from the other meter manufacturers. That way it might be easier to get instructions.
Alex


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Old 30th August 2017, 01:22 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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oldtimermanuals.com list the relevant manual
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Old 30th August 2017, 02:04 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Mike, from looking at a few images of the PR65 on the web, the operation of this meter seems pretty straightforward.

Re. the red dot index mark for the ASA scale, there must be a way of moving this index to another position along the scale. If you look at various images on the web of this meter, the red mark is in a different spot on each, which means it must be moveable.

Check out these images and you'll see what I'm talking about:
http://www.foto-sandor.de/item/image...0/IMG-0131.JPG

http://i1.imged.pl/swiatlomierz-hani...65-1368737.jpg

If you can figure out how to line up that little red mark, then mental gymnastics will be unnecessary and you're all set.

Otherwise, operation seems pretty standard, and follows the method for other meters of this type (Gossen, Sekonic, etc.). The trick will be to find a battery that fits, if the old one is a mercury cell. There are lots of options out there, and there's been a recent thread here about this topic.

Good luck!
Svend

Last edited by Svend; 30th August 2017 at 02:18 PM.
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Old 30th August 2017, 02:02 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Might be worth looking at the Butkess site, he might have a manual, he has often surprised me on the manuals he has there for Cameras, meters and flash equipment
Richard
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Old 30th August 2017, 07:18 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks for all the replies.

SvendN Thanks. Seeing your images made me try and turn the smaller metal disc by the two raised knobs and it turned, albeit a little stiffly. It has probably not be turned in a long time.

Alex. Thanks for the info on how to "zero" the needle. When I placed my finger over the window and then pressed the button nothing seemed to happen but after taking a reading first and then blocking the light the needle swung back to only a little less than zero so maybe the calibration is only a little way off and not worth trying to alter. The current meter readings on a bright sunny day gives a reading of not quite EV 15 which may equate more closely with the Sunny f11 rule rather than Sunny f16 which may be more accurate for these latitudes and especially so, as we move into autumn.

Michael and Richard The Butkus site doesn't seem to have the manual for the PR-65 which is a pity. Oldtimers does have it but they want about £12.50 including postage and I now have most of the answers. I suppose the site isn't set up to allow a PDF download to prevent re-sale although if that were one's intention it would be easy enough to scan the printed copy Oldtimers send and then sell

It leaves the question of which battery is it but I can find this out by unscrewing the back.

It leaves the question of how does the battery exhibit signs of exhaustion. If it is a very slow gradual loss of the correct reading that might give problems of recognition. On the other hand a quick and clear loss should be more obvious.

Does anyone with a CdS meter know how obvious the loss of power is?

Mike
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Old 30th August 2017, 08:43 PM
Svend Svend is offline
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Mike - do you have a voltmeter/multitester? You could just measure the voltage of the batteries to check how healthy they are.
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Old 30th August 2017, 10:45 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SvendN View Post
Mike - do you have a voltmeter/multitester? You could just measure the voltage of the batteries to check how healthy they are.
Unfortunately not. I tried the L button tonight in what I believe to be, at best, medium intensity artificial light and I got about 1/45th at film speed 3,200 at f5.6. I checked this against my P645N MF camera and got between 1/60th and 1/90th at f5.6. I used the matrix symbol on the P645N which I hope corresponds most closely to the Hanimex reflection meter. Of course the speed of 3200 is given exactly by the P645N whereas the dial on the Hanimex only has a 3000 mark and nothing beyond so 3200 has to be guessed at so there is another margin for error

So on the low L button it seems that the Hanimex suggests a lower speed than the P645N all other things being equal. I'll try the same experiment tomorrow on a sunny mid-day light scene to check the difference

What I cannot be sure of is whether the Hanimex measures quite the same area of scene as the matrix meter on the P645N.

This raises another question which is: Should the Hanimex be pointed at the scene whilst level with the ground( this is what I assumed in artificial light and held it accordingly) or should it be pointed slightly downwards in daylight to avoid any "sky effect".

Key to this is probably knowing the angle of width and height measured by the Hanimex

Mike
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Old 31st August 2017, 07:17 AM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Mike, over the many years of photography I have used a few CDS meters and IIRC they mostly had a battery check button on them, some had a light that when lit showed the battery ok, others swung the needle , if that is any help, I would suggest that the Hannimex, like all of the older meters of this type, should be tilted down to exclude the sky for daylight, for artifcial light then level would be the way, and any camera with matrix metering will mesure light differently to a meter, any meter, the nearest to a hand held meter would be a center weighted standard as you would find on the older cameras, You can,t really compare a hand held with a matrix metering camera, at least, when I tried a while ago when I used modern cameras with matrix the readings were always different
Richard
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Old 31st August 2017, 10:49 AM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Thanks Richard. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any kind of light or button on the Hanimex that will indicate battery condition.

Interesting point you make about meter differences and that the Hanimex is probably closest to the camera's centre-weighted system. I have a spot, centre-weighted and matrix options on my P645N but last night I was using the matrix. I'll try the other two and see how close they are.

While, say matrix reading, may be different I'd expect it to be very similar otherwise one type could be seriously less accurate than the other. I accept that spot meter accuracy depends on choosing the right reflectance (ZoneV) or compensating if a different zone is chosen but is there any kind of compensation to be applied with a simple reflection meter if it is pointing at a general scene and not for instance pointing at a very large white wall in sunshine which fills the scene?

The opening on the Hanimex is quite a small square (8mm) in the middle.

Mike
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