Looking for incident light meter for night photography

[gardel]

I've been getting into night photography. I have a Sekonic L-398 light meter but would like to find another incident meter that is both much more sensitive to low light levels and easy to read in the dark as the Sekonic just isn't suited for that. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Jerevan]

Gossen Profisix comes to mind, there are possibly others, but this is the one I know from my own experience.

 

[Robert Lai]

Gossen Lunasix F is what I use at night. Very sensitive. You'll need a flashlight to see the needle display at night though.

 

[mike rosenlof]

for a lot of night photography, especially with film, meters not all that useful. Head over to that big nasty auction site and get a copy of "Kodak Professional Photoguide" for about ten bucks. I have the 1981 version with the stylized aperture on the cover. It has some circular calculator guides that are very good starting points for night photography. I *think* it has some reciprocity failure calculator as well.

 

[benlees]

for a lot of night photography, especially with film, meters not all that useful. Head over to that big nasty auction site and get a copy of "Kodak Professional Photoguide" for about ten bucks. I have the 1981 version with the stylized aperture on the cover. It has some circular calculator guides that are very good starting points for night photography. I *think* it has some reciprocity failure calculator as well.

This has been my experience as well. Keep in mind I didn't do star trails or the night sky, I just did scenes at night in suburban areas so YMMV. I did some research to get ballpark times and then further research for the reciprocity failure rates of whatever film I was using. A lot of time and some film got me some of my favourite pictures. And this was before I had a smartphone with its handy easy to see stopwatch. And a decent lightmeter lol.

 

[Rob-F]

What's the difference between a Luna-Pro, and a Luna-6?

 

[presspass]

Sekonic l-558R does both incident and spot. The display is backlit and not overwhelming. In spot mode, the readout is visible in the viewinder as well as on the front screen. The incident dome can also be retracted if you want. I am sure it has been replaced by a newer model and I don't know the new number.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

What's the difference between a Luna-Pro, and a Luna-6?

In the US the meter was called the Luna-Pro, everywhere else it was called the Luna-Six. They're the same meter.

 

[45govt]

Hello gardel
I use the LunaPro with the spot attachment and it has worked well for me.


Below are some taken with the Hasselblad
Downtown LA

Downtown LA again

above Pasadena bridge


Below Universal City Walk

 

[Rob-F]

In the US the meter was called the Luna-Pro, everywhere else it was called the Luna-Six. They're the same meter.

Thanks, Chris!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

How deep is your night?
For pictures above I used Seconic Twinmate and mobile phone application.
Same for these:

 

[richardHaw]

just get a spot meter 😱😱😱

 

[retinax]

Yes, why incident? Night lighting is often very inconsistent, one might not get close enough to much of the scene to effectively use an incident meter...

 

[PRJ]

The meter you want is the Luna Pro SBC. The regular Luna Pro has a lot of lag and they are annoying to use. Batteries are a pain too. The SBC is very sensitive. I don't recall if there ever was a better meter for low light. I have a SBC and it is pretty remarkable that it can still read in near darkness. I think they were called something else in Europe. I've owned a bunch of meters in my life. I have probably 8 of them right now even. The SBC is one of the best meters ever made.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The meter you want is the Luna Pro SBC. The regular Luna Pro has a lot of lag and they are annoying to use. Batteries are a pain too. The SBC is very sensitive. I don't recall if there ever was a better meter for low light. I have a SBC and it is pretty remarkable that it can still read in near darkness. I think they were called something else in Europe. I've owned a bunch of meters in my life. I have probably 8 of them right now even. The SBC is one of the best meters ever made.

The Sekonic L-898 is the best lowlight meter. It is not cheap at $600, but it is the best. Incident metering down to EV -5 and one degree spotmetering down to EV -1.


The Luna Pro SBC only meters down to EV -4 for incident and doesn't have spotmetering unless you buy the bulky and rare Multibeam attachment, which does not work in very low light.

 

[Richard G]

Tables are surely better than a meter for this sort of thing aren’t they?