Sangamo Weston light meters were one of the most popular light meters on the market during the 50's and 60s. They offered accurate and reliable metering, able to do both reflected and incident readings. The US company was founded in 1888, manufacturing electrical measuring equipment. The light meters were made in both the USA and the UK.

The Weston Master V was only made in the UK, from 1963 to 1972. The case is made from aluminium, with a grey/beige back. On previous Weston meters, scale on the light meter was measured in foot-candle lumens, this was replaced on the Weston Master V with numbered scale from 2-10 and 10-16. The high and low scales automatically change over when the baffle is opened and closed. ASA ranges from 1 to 16000. the exposure scale has f stops from f1 to f32 and shutter speeds up to 1/1200th. The main feature that I love about this light meter is that you can easily read which shutter and aperture combinations are available to you. Most modern digital meters will require you to press buttons to switch between the combinations. The analogue dial is much faster in practice. The meter requires no batteries as it uses a selenium cell which generates a current, the ammeter coil inside the meter then deflects the needle, providing a light reading.

The Weston Master V has the famous invercone for incident light meter readings, providing excellent results. The invercone attaches to the rear of the meter, on the selenium cell. It can be attached with the baffle open or closed, for high and low readings. The invercone is the largest that I know of for any light meter, It's great at capturing the light and providing an accurate reading. This is one of the best options for metering when doing portrait work.

The manual for the meter provides excellent information on how to use the light meter and what to do under certain conditions. I've used mine in various lighting conditions, some of which were really challenging conditions. In practice the meter is fantastic to use. On the dial, there are "U" and "O" markings (under exposed and over exposed). These handy markings are the recommended indications on subject brightness limits. Once the dial has been set, all light values of the objects in the scene that fall on or in between these limits will be correctly exposed. If a light value is below the "U" position, it will be under exposed. Any light value above the "O" position will be overexposed. This gives a fantastic visual representation of the lighting in the scene and this works perfectly with Ansel Adam's zone system. By setting the "U" position next to the darkest object light value in the scene, the exposure will be perfect for reproducing the detail in shadows, which is often the best practice for film photography with black and white or C41.

There are plenty of Weston Master meters available online and they're quite common due to how popular these meters were. These will be in various conditions, from fully working to not working. It's important to make sure that the meter has been tested properly to ensure that the selenium cell inside the meter still gives a correct reading. If the needle on the meter does not line up on 0, there is a adjustment screw on the rear of the meter for zero correction. Due to the amount of time that has passed, the meter will likely need to have this done. At the time of writing this, Ian Partridge who is based in the UK, offers a repair service for the Weston Master IV, V and Euro-Master meters. This includes a complete cleaning and the fitting of a new selenium cell that Ian has sourced and had manufactured to exact specifications. Please see Ian's website at: www.ian-partridge.com

The Weston Master V is a fantastic light meter and I thoroughly recommend them.

Weston Master V Light Meter Review

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