Seconik Microlite

This is a short review of the Seconik Microlite I picked up from a charity shop for just £3.5. The only resources i could find online was the manual where it can be downloaded from here .

General
The Seconik Microlite comes from the early '70s and it uses the long discontinued 640 1,35V Mercury cells. In my case I am using the SR44

silver oxide batteries providing 1.5V output together with a bit silver foil. As we are going to see, the 0,15V difference between the two cells can make a difference of about 1 stop under-exposure. Make sure that the silver foil is enough to provide a constant and steady touch of the base otherwise the meter's needle will be "jumping around" as a result of the battery not making contact.

Features
The Seconik Microlite is a CdS, reflected light reading only meter. It uses the simple "match the needles" principle and it is very easy to use. Just set the ASA and rotate the wheel until the

needles coincide. The meter can be used in two different light ranges, dim and bright light simply by switching the wheel (see photo). Although this might look like a cool feature, it can be confusing as to when to switch from one range to another. The simple rule is that when the needle jumps to the extreme corners, then it is time to switch.
In front of the sensor, we find a blue tinted glass which is supposed to block the infrared spectrum of light (see pictures).
On the meter's base we can see a small screw which is used to reset the needle to the "Zero" position.

The test
As i said above, the 0,15V of difference between the old and contemporary battery cells leads to a 1 stop under-exposure. Now, this is less than a problem when modern negative films are used (colour - b&w) as the 1stop error is within their latitude. One solution are the hearing aid batteries which provide an output of 1.4V but they have a limited life span. In my case i just compensate with the ASA settings, setting ASA 50 for an 100 ASA film. Below you can see two pictures taken with a Nikon 8400 digital camera, on the left with the camera's matrix meter and on the right on manual mode following the Seconik's readings

We see that there is an obvious 1 stop underexposure. When we set the ASA to 50 we see that the two meters provide exactly the same exposure.

In low light condition, using still a 1stop compensation the two meters provide an accurate exposure

Conclusion
Seconic Microlite is CdS, reflected light reading from the early '70s. It uses the now discontinued 640 1,35V Mercury cells. It can be used with a SR44 battery cell but it requires a 1stop compensation in order to provide accurate readings.

PROS: Well made - easy to use - accurate - 2 different light range readings
CONS: Heavy - Uses the discontined 640 cells - the different light ranges can be confusing

Comments

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