Handheld Light meters, whose do you use?

[jan normandale]

I'm back into the market for a used or new light meter. I had a small Gossen which got crushed in luggage. I want a meter that is good for low light conditions but is not too large like some of the spot meters or Minolta meters.

I want to keep it around 100$ - 150$. Who has a meter that they can talk about, good or bad, what to look for and what to avoid. Things I think are important on my side are availability of batteries. I'd prefer an alkaline 3A battery if it was available but I don't think that is all the criteria.

Praise and Pans , please

Jan

 

[ent2b]

i bought an old Sekonic L428(?) from Scott Gee and it works great.

 

[Terence T]

Sekonic L-308II. Going for $150 brand new. Small and compact, accurate, made for 1 handed operation.

 

[phototone]

I currently use an old Gossen Luna-Pro, because I like to shoot at night. These are called Gossen Luna-Six in some parts of the world. This is not a small meter.

 

[pvdhaar]

I use a Gossen Sixtino. Very small, affordable and has a selenium cell that doesn't require batteries. Big drawback is that it's not sensitive in low light.
Goes to about 1/15 @ f2 for 100 ISO.

 

[RayPA]

Quantum Calculight XP. It's supposedly a good low light meter. It is capable of providing a reading in some surprisingly low light situations. Although, I've not tested that to film. Its scale reads down to -9 EV. The lowest EV for ASA 400 in incident mode is -5 EV. It has an LED readout with a memory, which is really handy. It is almost exactly the size of a standard deck of playing cards. That's not small, but compared to the Gossen I've got, it's puny. 🙂

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi,
I use a Gossen Sixtomat Digital. No ultra low light or flash but quick and easy to use one handed and gives me excellent results.

Kim

 

[denishr]

My reliable workhorse is Weston Master V (see my repair tips in "Repairs" section).
However, it's not very reliable or sensitive for low light situations. I've been wanting a low-light meter for a long time, and recently finally got a Quantum Calcu-Light XP. Very reliable, very good low light readings - ideal for those situations when you go all the way to EI 3200 🙂 - not that I've done that (yet)...

Anyway, the Calcu-Light has become my standard meter - it's lighter than Weston (although a bit bigger). Easy to use, and extremely reliable. A bit fiddly to turn from reflective to incident metering, but so is the Weston with its separate "invercone".

Depends on what you shoot mostly. General outdoors and well-lit indoors, any good meter should be OK. For low-light indoor shots, you need something more sensitive. There are many modern meters available (Sekonic, Gossen, etc.) which are very good, but usually relatively large and heavy - and not exactly cheap if you want one that reads low light...
The Quantum Calcu-Light XP is perfect for me - you can only buy them used (not made any more), and they go from $40 to $80 on ebay. However, keep in mind it's not very sturdy (plastic housing), and could also break like the one you had...

Sekonic L-308II sounds very good (small, sturdy, not terribly expensive), but I'm not sure how sensitive it is in low light. Others might clarify.

Denis

 

[RObert Budding]

I used to own a Gossen Luna Star F2 digital meter. Hated it. It was very accurate, but the interface was awful. I had to push buttons to toggle through various exposure combinations. I much prefer to look at a dial that shows all of my choices at once. And it's easier to jugde exposure between stops with analog (at least for me).

I'm currently using a Gossen Lun Pro SBC. It's accurate and very easy to use. But it's not small - it would make quite a bulge in a pants pocket.

I've also used a friend's Sekonic spotmeter. It is like a swiss army knife - spot, incident, flash. Too compliated for me. So I'll probably buy a Pentax Digital Spotmeter next. And I'll keep my Gossen SBC.

Robert

 

[Pherdinand]

Another vote for the CalcuLight of Quantum. Not too small indeed but still fits in a pocket; batteries are very simple button cells (although four of them!), and indeed it goes down to EV-7 (that measured for ISO100 of course, meaning 2 minutes at f/1 !!) Has both incident and reflective metering (although not the simplest way to switch between them). Has a handy memory button - recalls the last metered value, great if you can't see the digits when you press the 'measure' button. And so on.
Got it from Scottgee1 for a very friendly price i think.

 

[Nikon Bob]

I like the old Sekonic L398 Studio Deluxe that I have been using for incident readings. It needs no battery and has been sensitive enough for all my indoor and outdoor readings but then I don't shoot in darkness. It is also a lot smaller than the Gossen Profisix SBC that I have, which is also a good meter but is large and needs batteries.

Bob

 

[Richard Black]

I use a Sekonic L208, very small and with an adapter can mount on the top of the camera. I used a Gossen Pilot 2 for a long time, but wanted this one. It uses a battery but I have no idea how long it will last. Works for me in low light.

 

[Honu-Hugger]

In order of use and preference:
1. Minolta IIIF (incident)
2. Minolta SpotMeter
3.
4.
5. (tie) Weston III and an Ikophot

 

[peter_n]

Well I currently have three meters, a Minolta III F, Megatron Euromaster II (a modern Weston V), and a "new" Quantum Calcu-Light XP. The Calcu-Light is quite small and light in comparison to the other two, and right now I'm in testing mode since it only arrived last Friday. I got the Calcu-Light because the Minolta only reads down to -2EV whereas the Calcu-Light reads down to -7EV, and I'm into shooting late at night all of a sudden... 🙂

The case is made of plastic but it seems tough to me, and the switch between incident and reflected modes is fiddly as has been mentioned. But the design is such that the incident cone is always on the meter (you flip incident cone and reflected lens via a screw holder) and that's not the case with my other two. I've often been guilty of leaving the cone at home but you can't do that with the Calcu-Light. 🙂 The other thing about the meter is that it is disconcertingly sensitive, it has a digital readout in 1/3EV increments and you have to be careful where you point it! I'm hoping, subject to the testing, that the Calcu-Light will be my new "standard" meter.

 

[T_om]

I have a couple of Weston Ranger 9 meters that I really like. Good for incident and reflective metering with a 18° field of view. Not as precise a 'spot' as some of the dedicated 1° meters but it works for me.

I also have a Weston 6 and Weston IV. Good old meters and astonishingly accurate.

Tom

 

[kiev4a]

Luna Pro SBC -- almost as big as a Zorki 1.

 

[tajart]

I use the Gossen Luna-Pro digital- nice size, not really compact, but not large or bulky; and it is easy, straightforward to use, for both incident and reflective.
I also use an old Minolta III mainly for interior studio work. It is also simple and easy to use.
I've been on the lookout for one of the VC clip-on meters to put "on camera." I've tested a friend's and it seems to be a very nice, compact, and easy to use meter, both on and off camera.

 

[tomchuk]

I love my luna pro digital. I never really liked the match-needle, EV scale meters, nothing could be quicker or simpler than the aperture or shutter priority, EV mode, exposure compensation, exposure range, etc. on the luna pro.

 

[kai]

Sverdlovsk-4, though with your budget, you could buy 3 or 4 of them! I like it, but with $100-$150 to spend, I'd certainly look to one of the better alternatives suggested above!!

 

[furcafe]

Although I have the original CV VC meter, a Leica-Meter MR, & a Gossen Lunapro F, my main handheld meter is a Gossen Digisix Flash. Very small & very accurate. I used to have the lower model Digisix, which is the same size & weight, but managed to mess the buttons up (sold to a RFF member who's probably fixed it).