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2026-10-28 Sekonic Auto Leader III Lightmeter

I was thrilled to be offered this Sekonic Auto Leader III Lightmeter. There were no guarantees it was working, but the price was right (it was thrown in with a deal already agreed upon). The owner thought it would make a pretty swell Star trek communicator—you’ll see why soon—but I was curious if a selenium meter from a noted Japanese meter manufacturer would still work after all this time.
    
It came in a very nice leather case. We will return to the case at the end…
















    Once the case is opened the face of the meter was pretty typical of selenium meters. Starting at the top (far right) there is a meter cell cover marked with a red dot. The opposite end of the cover from the dot there is a push release that allows the cell cover to pop open.
    Jumping to the hub of the dials  you can see three coloured pictographs (red, blue and black). The red one shows the meter cover in place opposite the red dot. This is the starting point to using the meter in daylight. 












    Below the dial you can see a red meter needle with a green arrow to the right. When you spin the outer rim of the dials to center the red needle in the middle of the arrow you will find you cannot center the needle if the light is too low.






    This brings us to spinning the outer dial until the blue pictograph lines up to the red dot. You have to open the front cell cover too. If you still don’t have enough range turning the outer dial further—to the black pictograph showing both the front cell and a much larger bottom cell extending from the meter’s bottom—to get the final maximum sensitivity this meter can produce.







    I suspect this bottom view showing the stored large cell is what attracted the seller’s reference to Star Trek Communicators. The owner didn’t know how to get the cell to release. 












    It became obvious when the dial was turned to the black cell setting that the cell was “released” so it could be pulled down to its working position.
    The meter is reading a bit low. Using the f/16 rule, at f/16 in full daylight (between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) the shutter speed should be 1 over the ISO of the film. Setting 400 as the ISO, this Sekonic reads a shutter speed of between 250 sec and 500 sec. That would be 750 / 2 = 375 sec. That is pretty stunning performance, considering for B&W that is well within range and even working with colour negatives slight overexposure is always preferable to underexposure!



I would like to return to the case. This is how much case has to fold around to allow access to that huge bottom cell. 
    All that flap has a simple hole punched in it that gently fits over a stud in the body of the case. There is absolutely no sign the case has ever stretched the hole.








    The other end of the fold-over case has two powerful snaps that don’t look like they have ever been used. I tried opening the case by releasing the snaps and the flap fell off the case. 
I suspect the meter was used without the case, simply hanging on a neckstrap.
    Not shown, but cute as a button, the meter is held in the case by two spring loaded arms that fit on protruding spikes on the meter’s front.

Following information thanks to www.Jollinger.com

Name Sekonic L-162 Auto-Leader III
Type Reflective
Made Japan
Meter Selenium
ASA 6-12,000
Shutter         8-1/2000
f/stop ƒ1-32
FPS         8-64
Notes EV, built-in booster
Price $13.95
Made 7/1965

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