Best Lightmeter?

john_van_v

john_van_v

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Dec 19, 2006
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So far I have been getting the light right with my Petri 7s, and they setting my meterless cameras for the duration of the "meme." The Petri is calibrated to my new style Nikon, but is actually more granular.

I dug out the Gossen Luna Six that I took around the nation when I was shooting w/ my Leica IIIc, and it did me right, but it requres some obsolete batteries.

The Voigt shoe mount looks good, but the used demand seems higher than the new. I looked up what was reccomended on photoethnography, a digisix I think, but it looks like Karen might have runied for use by popularizing it.

Shoe mount seems the way to go, though a meter on a string is traditional.

What do you suggest?
 
ruben said:
What features the-best-lightmeter-for-you should have ?
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Necessary question. Are you looking for an incident meter, reflective meter, both? Do you want one that reads flash? How about spot abilities? Or do you just want a simple vanilla reflective meter?

EDIT: BTW, isn't the Luna Six you mention what is called the Gossen Luna Pro in the US? I think you can get non-mercury batteries that work with it. I got one off ebay some time ago and I don't think it has a mercury batter in it after all this time. Yet it and the Luna Pro sbc always agree.
 
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oftheherd said:
EDIT: BTW, isn't the Luna Six you mention what is called the Gossen Luna Pro in the US?
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The Six is a smaller, more compact unit if I remember right? I have the full-size Pro and the Six was always another product available in their line.
 
Thanks css9450. My bad. I wasn't sure. I just remembered that either or both the Luna Pro and sbc had a differenct name between Europe and the USA.
 
I also have and use Lunasix-3. Gossen make a battery converter that takes SR44 cells and completely removes the problem of the old mercury cells being unavailable.

The adapter was fraction of the cost of replacing the meter, and the alternative air-electrolyte (or whatever they are called) hearing-aid batteries which I also tried to use were neither accurate nor long-lasting.

I'd say visit a good Gossen dealer and order the battery converter, then enjoy again metering in conditions were you need a torch to read the thing !
 
You can order the Gossen battery adapter from B&H for something like $36. I posted the link to it on another thread just the other day. The adapter works well in my Gossen Luna Pro.

-Randy
 
john_van_v

You may have your answer. Obviously a lot of people here have some version of the Gossen meters. FWIW, there are also some other good meters.

I also have a Sekonic Studio Meter L28c2. It only works in a sideways position since I dropped one to many times. But it, and other Sekonics are also good. It does both reflective and incident, but I rarely used it as a reflective meter. It was just so good and accurate as an incident meter.

I also used to have a Sekonic, Auto Leader I think. It was a quite good reflective meter. It worked in reasonably low light, but not like the Gossen Luna Pro. It's not called Luna for nothing.
 
I quite like my digital Quantum Calcu-Light XP...it is about the size of a deck of cards, but quite light in the hand. This meter is very good in low light situations.

Keeps the last reading in memory...which is handy too!

~hibbs
 
john_van_v said:
I dug out the Gossen Luna Six that I took around the nation when I was shooting w/ my Leica IIIc, and it did me right, but it requres some obsolete batteries.
Click to expand...

If you can fix the batteries, then obviously what you have in your hand is the way to go. They don't come much better than the Luna Six. Failing that, a Weston Master V can be had cheaply and they solve the battery problem nicely. Make sure you get the incident light attachment with it.
 
Nickfed said:
If you can fix the batteries, then obviously what you have in your hand is the way to go. They don't come much better than the Luna Six. Failing that, a Weston Master V can be had cheaply and they solve the battery problem nicely. Make sure you get the incident light attachment with it.
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I happen to have a Weston Master V with incident light attachment, each in their own little case. Has the original box and even had a new cell put in it a few years ago from that outfit (sorry, I forget the name now) in Hollywood. I could be persuaded to let it go since I now use the much larger Gossen Luna Pro.

-Randy
 
MartinP said:
I also have and use Lunasix-3. Gossen make a battery converter that takes SR44 cells and completely removes the problem of the old mercury cells being unavailable.

The adapter was fraction of the cost of replacing the meter, and the alternative air-electrolyte (or whatever they are called) hearing-aid batteries which I also tried to use were neither accurate nor long-lasting.

I'd say visit a good Gossen dealer and order the battery converter, then enjoy again metering in conditions were you need a torch to read the thing !
Click to expand...

Thanks that's good advice. That old thing has a nice feel to it with its rounded sides and big controls.

As to the other question "What do I want from light meter?" Well, good pictures, of course.

A shoe mount would be nice, and offer status I think.
 
I have a Gossen Sixtino (Pilot) and use a Leningrad 8 for low light photography.
I was looking for a small lightmeter that I can simply put in my Cameras accessory shoe.
But......Shouldn't it be possible to develop Lightmeter software for Camera Cellphones? Or does something llike that already exist? As - at least in Austria- that's an item many people carry with them all day long.
Des
 
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