Gossen Sixtomat J exposure meter.

The Sixtomat J is a highly sensitive photo-electric exposure meter, suitable for the measurement of reflected as well as incident light for still photography and cine works for color and for black and white. The meter is fully automatic and shock proof. The Sixtomat J and the Dual Sixtomat are the successors of the Sixtomat. Where the Sixtomat only cam measure reflected light, the Sixtomat J and the Dual Sixtomat can also measure incident light by means of the roller blind. The roller blind acts as a diffusor and a filter. The roller bilind is painted on the inside with a kind of silver colored paint leaving a unpainted square in the middle. If the roller blind is opened until the red markings on the front, the meter is enabled for measuring inscident light.

This Sixtomat is also equiped with an internal switch for chaging the sensitivity mode. (the red button on the former meters). The switch is activated going from the red to the black black scale and vice versa.

The meaning from the 'J' in the name is still not clear while the 'Dual' is pointing out the 2 modes the meter can measure, incident and reflected light.

I bought this meter trough Ebay. On the original picture from the seller, the meter was shown inclusing the Sixtomat shield. On arrival however this name shield was gone, so I have to look for an another Sixtomat shield.
 
One of the differences of this type of meter is the blind. This is the only Sixtomat with a mask on the blind. So measuring incident light means that the blind has to be in the correct position (aligned with the red lines) to be sure the blind is not shielding the sensor from the incident light.

As far as I know now, the Sixtomat-I is the US counterpart of the Sixtomat J. The difference with the Sixtomat is the roller curtain, where the Sixtomat has a opaq metal curtain, the Sixtomat J has a plastic curtain allowing light partially pass trough. The density filter factor of the curtain has such a value that it enables the meter for direct light measurement with the curtain in front of the photocell. Removing the curtain completely in front of the cell brings the meter in reflected light measurement mode.

When I took a closer look at the meters and the documentation, I noticed that this meter was very much the same as the Sixtomat J. Also the serial number started with a J. The only difference I could finds besides the word 'dual' imprinted on the front was the film speed scale. Where the Sixtomat J has ASA and DIN on the scale, the Dual Sixtomat has only ASA on the scale. The manual in the box was from the Sixtomat J. When I see that the original guarantee card was still in the box, I have reasons to believe the manual is also authentic.
 

12.06.2010