Lot 08894

Rare Antique DREM JUSTOPHOT Extinction Exposure Light Meter, with its leather case, c.1930. Manufactured in Austria by Dr. E Mayer – DREM (Vienna). It comes with nickel plated tube and improved calculator rings. Dim. 9,5cm. (height)x2,5cm. diameter.

The earliest light meters were called extinction meters and didn’t require batteries. They worked by looking through their viewfinder at a small strip of letters that were progressively darker. The darkest letter you could just barely read was your light value. You then used the handy barrel to convert the light value to your exposure, taking into account the sensitivity of your film emulsion. This meter is calibrated in Scheiner degrees and not ASA. It has allowance for filter factors (2x, 4x, 8x), the apertures are geometric (f/1.4, 2.0, 2.8 up to f/22), but the shutter speeds are old-style (1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50 up to 1/1000).

Medium use wear, not tested.