This piece of lightmeter from the USSR, although not as tough as its predecessor, the Sverdlosk 4, is still tough enough for outdoor use. I've dropped it, scraped it, kicked it, and even used it in a light drizzle, its still good to go. Plus, its really accurate. But sometimes, after you to dry it up to drain the water or link back the wires from a bad solder that came off, you will find the metering became erratic. Thats when you know you need to calibrate the meter.




But since there's scant info on how to calibrate this meter, i had to use trial and error and reading up on what info they have on the older meter, the sverdlosk 4, and how to calibrate it.

Now, before you start, make sure you have another working lightmeter to corrobate your results.

OK, First of all, set your ISO/ASA to 100.

<-- use the two ridge on the outer ring to make sure its properly set.


Just keep the calibrator pressed, and cover the sensor for twenty seconds.




VOILA!! youre done.

Now, sometimes your meter might be really sensitive after calibration. Heres how i had to use it afterwards. You set the ISO (say 100) and click on the red metering button. You turn the dials clockwise if the red LED is on until it switches off.

While still pressing the red button, you slowly turn the dial counter-clockwise until the LED turns red.

While the LED is still red just aligng the dial of the meter with the readout on the face of the lightmeter. This hould be your reading.

Let me know if your experience says otherwise - I checked the calibration with my Spotmeter F.

Thank you goes to Alfred Klomp, whose site about the sverdlosk 4 (http://cameras.alfredklomp.com/sverdlovsk4/) gave me the idea on how to calibrate.