# Polaris flash meter troubleshooting



## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

first off,  please forgive any typos I am discovering the wonders of voice to text.

 I have a Polaris light meter I do not know the model number and I’ve used it for three or so years now. I just pulled it out and it is not reading low flashes.

Four instance if I turn my flash up to full power ISO 100 it is giving me an F stop,  when I turn the flash power down and increase my ISO to meet the same exposure Then re-measuring, the meter it is not recognizing the flash output at all.  
I’ve tried incident and reflective measuring, I have also tried replacing the batteries twice. It is measuring low light just fine in ambient mode. I have also tried tethering it straight to my strobe to trigger from the flash meter  and it gives me an EU error.
I also tried turning off all of the ambient light in  dimming the room to make the flash more apparent.


Any ideas, or is my light meter toast?


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2018)

What is the lowest exposure and furthest distance at which it will reliably read?


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## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

tirediron said:


> What is the lowest exposure and furthest distance at which it will reliably read?


 With my strobe at half power I can get a reading of F8 Iso 1600 at 4 feet away. At 5 feet, I get an EU Error At 6 feet away  it will not even recognize the strobe has gone off and Still Flashing. If I turn my flash up to full power at 5 feet away I get a reading of F11 Iso 1600 At full power -11 1/2 feet away 1600 I so it gives me F8


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## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

If I move my strobe down to court or power and set the meter to iso 6400 I get no flash recognition until I hit 3 feet away and then it tells me f16


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2018)

What's the GN for your strobe?

The ISO your meter is set to has no bearing (or should have no bearing) on its ability to detect a strobe discharge.  Those readings do sound a bit out whack.


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## Derrel (Jan 1, 2018)

JustJazzie said:


> If I move my strobe down to court or power and set the meter to iso 6400 I get no flash recognition until I hit 3 feet away and then it tells me f16



This makes me suspect that at elevated ISO levels, the Polaris meter can NOT handle the resulting flash pop and the corresponding exposure settings.

ALL light meters have a high-end limit and a low-end exposure limit.

I've always viewed the Polaris as an economy meter, and perhaps after three years, the unit is no longer working properly. Maybe the batteries need to be cleaned with solvent and placed in using gloved hands or with a cloth? Depends on the battery and the size of the battery contact area in the device.

I have had issues with the flash being TOO powerful for my Minolta to read.

The ISO level of 1600 might be a factor...can you lower the ISO on the meter, and get better readings?

No offense is intended, but your original post was somewhat difficult for me to follow. I'm not quite sure why you'd be metering flash at ISO 1600, 11.5 feet away, and getting an f/8 reading... 

MAYBE the ISO 1600 and the flash at full power is simply "too bright" to give a reading until the flash is moved back, away from the meter, so as to be able to get to f/8.


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2018)

Derrel said:


> ...MAYBE the ISO 1600 and the flash at full power is simply "too bright" to give a reading until the flash is moved back, away from the meter, so as to be able to get to f/8.


Good point; never even thought of that!


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## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

Sorry @Darrel I’m much better at typing been talking so me and voice to text aren’t getting along very well.

The most important factor is that when I go outside my meters range I get an error code, acknowledging the flash went off but alerting me it can’t give a reading. For some reason unless my flash is at or near full power, or it is it a low power and the meter is right up against the light, Then the flash icon continues blinking and the meter acts like it is still waiting for the flash to go off. It is not acknowledging any sort of discharge unless It is at some high f-stop like F8 to F-16. This is also unusual to the unit as I have never had issues with it in the past.


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2018)

Solution.


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## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

tirediron said:


> Solution.


Siri please insert sad face emoji


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## tirediron (Jan 1, 2018)

Use a GN calc to determine what the exposure should be at a given distance at a normal studio ISO; 100-400, and then compare that to what your meter is giving you.


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## JustJazzie (Jan 1, 2018)

tirediron said:


> Use a GN calc to determine what the exposure should be at a given distance at a normal studio ISO; 100-400, and then compare that to what your meter is giving you.


I am probably going to have to get pretty good at this for the moment as my Foreseeable Photography budget was Recently burned on a camera.


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## astroNikon (Jan 1, 2018)

JustJazzie said:


> tirediron said:
> 
> 
> > Use a GN calc to determine what the exposure should be at a given distance at a normal studio ISO; 100-400, and then compare that to what your meter is giving you.
> ...


But it was a nice camera.
Maybe sell the backup camera for a new Meter ??


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## Derrel (Jan 1, 2018)

Not sure... this is $50 from Roberts Minolta Auto Meter IIIF Light Meter Flash/Ambient                           #346  | eBay

I re-read your OP, where you wrote [with punctuation added by me for clarity]: "if I turn my flash up to full power, at ISO 100, it is giving me an F stop, when I turn the flash power down and increase my ISO to meet the same exposure Then re-measuring, the meter it is not recognizing the flash output at all."

Okay, so, you're increasing the ISO on the flash meter? AND lowering the flash output?

it's possible that the Polaris meter can NOT read flash pops at higher ISO levels...

It was never a high-end meter...you might be outside the metering threshold of the flash; it might NOT be able to meter a 1/8 power flash pop with the meter set at ISO 1600, in the same way it could meter a full-power flash burst with the meter set to ISO 100.

It might not be able to meter flash that is weak, and, or, when it is set to ISO 1,600.

I do not know.

With low-power flash, like say 1/16 power, at distances of say 8 to 15 feet, that flash pop very well might not be strong enough to be metered by the Polaris.


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## Derrel (Jan 1, 2018)

Is this your Polaris? Polaris Flash Meter instruction manual, user manual, PDF manual, free manuals

You're not accidentally in multi-flash metering mode are you?

The metering range they list is at ISO 100. It is possible that this flash meter was not designed to meter flash pops at higher ISO levels. Not everything has fully-modern, state of the art electronics. It's possible the meter is defective/broken; but, and I have encountered this before many times with old-fashioned meters; there is a finite limit of ALL meters (ambient and flash) where *one, or more of the parameters, is actually outside the measuring thresholds of the device!* We do not see this issue all that often, today, but the Polaris meter might have been built using 1980's technology in its silicon. At ISO 100, it is supposed to read flash pops from EV 1 to EV 19.9 levels, and from f/2.0 to f/90...buuuut, there is NO GUARANTEE that the meter offers total reciprocity of readings as the ISO level goes above 100!! Nor is there a "guarantee" that the meter offers reciprocity of exposure readings as the flash power gets below a certain baseline level that would give an f/2.0 to f/90 reading at ISO 100; in other words, it's VERY possible that low-powered flashes can NOT be read at any significant distance...and also that high-powered flash pops can not be metered if their intensity would give a reading that is above the meter's range at closer distances, if the meter is set at ISO levels above 100.

I've had older cameras, and older reflected light meters, where it's necessary to "convert" the figures manually, on paper or in my head, in order to overcome finite metering range or ISO or shutter time or f/stop limitations. Mostly this comes when there is an *Eu warning* (an under-exposure warning), which serves as a signal that the device can not, for whatever reason, meter a "dim or dark" light level, but I've also had this issue with too-powerful flash pops from too close!


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## Braineack (Jan 1, 2018)

I have that same meter, what do you want me to test?


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## dxqcanada (Jan 1, 2018)

Quick look at the User Guide mentions: "The meter may not sense the flash if it is weaker than the ambient light. If this happens, switch to corded flash mode."
Note sure if that is applicable in your situation ...


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