Looking for an exposure meter

[Biber]

I'm trying to find a small meter to use with my Leica but haven't found anything good.
It should be small enough to fit in a pocket on a pair of jeans if possible, be able to handle both dimly lit streets on the night and bright objects in sunlight, and have spot metering as well as incident...

Is there a meter like this? Which meters come close? What do you ppl use?

 

[rover]

Hmmm, I don't know if you will find a spot meter that is small. There is the VC meter which will fit on the hot shoe of your camera, it measures the view of a 90mm lens, reflective only.
http://www.cameraquest.com/voivcmet.htm
I have a Sekonic 308 B II which I really like, but no spot. It does incident and reflective readings. There are higher end all in one models, but they run quite a few $$$. Is this for your M4-p? There is a Leica meter similar to the VC one which will work.

 

[Biber]

Yup, It's for the M4-P. The VC meter looks very convenient to use, and cheap too. Tempting... 🙂

What is different on Leicas MR-meters?

 

[rover]

I believe they operate relatively similarly. The appropriate Leica meter may couple with the shutter speed dial on our camera which would be a big plus. I believe they also measure the view of a 90mm lens as their "spot."

 

[Biber]

Hm, that would be nice. I guess I'll try to find a used MR/MR4 somewhere if they aren't to expensive. Seems like a better option than a handheld meter since I haven't found one small enough. 🙂

Thanks.

 

[rover]

There are a couple here, but they are expensive.

http://www.ritzcam.com/catalog/index.html

 

[Biber]

I'll try to find a used MR4 for about what a VC costs new, $300 is a bit to much. I've been lucky with ads before. 🙂

 

[peter_n]

Biber the CV meter is good but you can't lock the reading, a major annoyance. I have a modern version of the old Weston Master V, called the Euro-MASTER II, it isn't a spot but it produces amazingly accurate readings for both reflected and incident. And you can lock the reading... 😉

I got it a while back directly from the manufacturer when the foreign exchange was better and right now it costs around SEK1890, or USD250. That's a lot of money but it is a very good meter.

 

[back alley]

i have the gossen pilot 2. very small, so far seems accurate and easy to use.
i got mine here for 20 bucks.

joe

 

[peter_n]

Joe that's a great little meter! Do you find it OK in low light situations?

 

[back alley]

i have not used it in low light yet but winter is coming and soon there will be no light (slight overstatement), and i'll let you know.

joe

 

[peter_n]

Winter is coming here too, unfortunately. I was taking a picture around 7:00pm the other evening and I couldn't get a reading on the Megatron Euro meter. There's a baffle over the selenium cell that opens like a door and gives you a completely different EV scale on the front of the meter. It's kind of weird the way it works but you can get readings in really low light...

 

[Biber]

Hm. I just found what's wrong with my broken Luna-Pro, I'll try to repair it and/or yell on UPS before I do anything else. 🙂

 

[back alley]

biber,

in case you are still looking...

pilot 2

joe

 

[Biber]

Thanks, but it seems like my luna is working as it should now, if the broken parts will stay in place... 🙂