Favorite <compact> Light Meter

[Alpacaman]

I like the Weston ones, I have a Weston master IV currently, the cell gives a voltage, but the copper wiring in the coil has broken somewhere, rendering it broken, and tricky to repair for me. Taking it apart was interesting though, they are very nicely built. I have another one shipping to me now 😀

 

[porktaco]

Over time I've had several meters. Sold some, got some new ones. So, a this time I've settled on these:

1. Smallest 2 - CV and Sekonic:

what's the name of that little sekonic?

 

[Ansel Adams]

I like my Sekonic L-308s !!

Cheers
Enrico

 

[Krosya]

It's called Sekonic Micro Clip-on or L-136. Works very well too.

 

[PKR]

With the Digisix there shouldn't be much of a problem, as it has no moving metal parts for the readout. The electronics shouldn't be too much affected, and the field is more or less constant anyway with no movement.

The only thing worrying me about the Digisix would be the readout issues Karen Nakamura describes with the gate time of the electronics and artificial fluerescent lighting with old tubes that are in effect flickering at the frequency of the power grid. It would be interesting to hear if this has led to real-world problems for anyone.

Philipp

The line frequency is 60 Hz (CPS) in the states, 50 Hz in EU, what is it where you are? p.

 

[gho]

I am a big fan of the Weimarlux CDS. Two measurement ranges and very accurate, even in low light.

 

[DNG]

I have a Vivatar Hot Shoe CDS meter. Just in case.... 😉
Very Small, smaller than the Gosson Pilot that has a shoe on it...😀

 

[Keith]

Ive come to the conclusion that as good as the VCll is, it's a little fragile, especially for the price!

They don't take well to being dropped and that ISO dial moving around so freely means you have to be careful to check the settings if you've had it in your pocket. Disappointingly the battery door broke on mine recently and now needs to be held in place with a piece of tape ... not great value for money IMO!

 

[B.J.Scharp]

I have Leica-meter MR, which I use mostly handheld to get an incident reading, then compensate from there (and maybe check occasionally). In complex situations, it fits nicely on my M3 though.

What I really like about the MR is that I know what EV (LV? never know the difference) values of the black/white bars are in both the normal and low-light modes, (8-18 and 1-11, respectively), so I don't need to fiddle with the dials, I just check the EV value and set my camera. That's the main reason I am hesistant about the VC II, where you always have to fiddle with dials to get to the right reading.

Biggest drawback of the MR is its low-light performance (Ev 3 and lower are a crapshoot, and below 1 is of course undistinguisable from 1)

If anyone knows of a meter that combines the one-glance read-out with good low light performance, I'm interested!

 

[ChrisN]

... What I really like about the MR is that I know what EV (LV? never know the difference) ...

EV (Exposure Value) is dependant on ISO, and usually expressed relative to 100 ISO. LV (Luminance Value) is absolute.

 

[B.J.Scharp]

EV (Exposure Value) is dependant on ISO, and usually expressed relative to 100 ISO. LV (Luminance Value) is absolute.

Ok, thank you. So the numbers I'm talking about are LV values.

 

[ChrisN]

Ok, thank you. So the numbers I'm talking about are LV values.

Perhaps! I don't know the MR meter scales. It has always annoyed me that the Weston V has an EV scale on the dial, but the index numbers that link the meter needle to the dial are not numbered the same (EV 15 = iso 100, 1/125, f/16 = sunny sixteen = 13 3/4 on the meter needle index scale!). I've had a couple of Gossen meters that had an LV scale on the dial, and the Pentax digital spot meter gives an absolute number readout that does not vary with the iso setting (LV?), and aligns with EV at iso 100.

 

[laurentb]

I love the L208 I own, despite the fact that I sometimes have to "hit" it a bit to move the needle...

Would really appreciate a better sensibility in low light, but the Lunasix does it fine then.

 

[Alpacaman]

I'm enjoying my Weston Master 715, such a lovely design.

 

[Bart-K]

I use a Sekonic Twinmate, the smalest lightmeter from the Sekonic-range. I like that one sees al possible aperture-shutterspeed-combinations in one glance. The incident light mode works wel, but I find the reflected light mode barely usable...

 

[divewizard]

I have a variety of meters, but my Gossen digi-six is the one I use the most. I mostly use the pentax spot meter with the fuji 6x9s becasue I tend to use those for landscape shots and becasue the cost per shot is so high I want to make sure I nail the exposure.
Since I bought the digiSix rarely use the Gossen LunaPro and don't use the Gossen Pilot any more.

Lately I have found a free spot light meter app for my iphone that works surprisingly well called "Pocket Light Meter." It meters a movable spot on the screen. ISO, Shutter, & Apature are all adustable in full, 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments. It has a calibration function. The results match pentax spot meter and gossen dig-six within 1/3 stop so long as a portion of the screen is not blown out.

 

[Borghesia]

I have an expensive Gossen Starlite, but my cheap smal Polaris meter is the one I always use. Its readings are on par with the Starlite, and it does flashmetering also.
I bought this meter for 40 euro's and when taking photo's I panic if I can''t find the little thing.

 

[jan normandale]

I've got an obscure Sekonic L228 "zoom" meter. It measures about 1"x2"x3" and it fits in a shirt pocket easily. Simplest to use compact spot style meter I've seen. I use it now in place of my Pentax V Spotmeter
Note: I purchased mine on KEH for $45 and spent another $30 for a battery regulator to convert the voltage from 1.5 volts to 1.35 volts


http://www.jollinger.com/photo/meters/meters/sekonic_l228.html

 

[GaryLH]

For small Gossen digi-six, otherwise my normal one is luna-pro sbc
Gary

 

[Krosya]

I use a Sekonic Twinmate, the smalest lightmeter from the Sekonic-range. I like that one sees al possible aperture-shutterspeed-combinations in one glance. The incident light mode works wel, but I find the reflected light mode barely usable...

I'd say that this Sekonic is smaller than the Twin-Mate: