Casing Off? Light Meter long-term performance...

[andrewaaa5]

I normally keep my Rollie TLR 2.8 in its case, but I was thinking of using it without the case more.

I was wondering, how will this affect the long term functioning of the built in light meter? It is wiser to keep it in the case than exposed to light?

[rolleistef]

Somebody explained to me that the "selenium death" was a legend, and that it was due to the contacts getting dusty, since you cannot solder selenium. He had a selenium lightmeter which was told to be dead, he cleaned the contacts and behold it got back to life. I've still got to test it, though.

[andrewaaa5]

So, are we saying, selenium never dies, and that my Rollie lightmeter won't either if I keep it out of the case permanently?

[bsdunek]

As rolleistef said, it is corrosion at the contacts that generally causes selenium meters to die. When I was repairing cameras, I fixed a lot of meters by using the pencil eraser method. LIGHTLY cleaning the contacts and the contact area on the cell with a soft pencil eraser, and you'll probably be back in business.
I have a Yashica Minister III, and several Weston meters from the 50's that all work great. I have cleaned a couple of the Westons.