VC II meter accuracy

thawkins

thawkins

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Feb 3, 2006
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I have four unmetered RF cameras. A VC II meter would sure be more convienent than my hand held Luna Pro meter. How many of you readers out there have used the VC II meter? How would you rate its accuracy? How about it's build quality and reliability? Eagerly awaiting your replies.
 
Build quality was good on the one I had and the accuracy was dead on. I have to say I much prefer a proper hand held meter though and now use an L308s Sekonic.
 
I've been using the VCII for several years mostly on the M3 or Canon P under low light conditions. Accuracy is on par with the built-in meter on my M6. But as aperture64 mentioned, one has to learn where to point it for best reading. I much prefer the convenience of a shoe mount meter than hand held.
 
Another happy user - I did find taping over the door to the battery compartment was required to prevent it opening inadvertently. It's accurate, easy to use, compact and looks the part on top of my M3.
 
A really superb meter. Very well engineered and built, right down to the movable mounting foot. Very comfortable to use. I haven't checked the accuracy myself.

I wanted a hot-shoe meter and first tried the Sekonic L-208. That's an excellent meter, but it's all wrong on top of the camera: too big, plasticky, feels fragile, and takes an extra step to use.

The VC-II is so much better. Highly recommend. One of the very best photo products available.
 
Great tiny shoe mounted meter. It is accurate as long as you are pointing at a "middle gray", as is the case with all reflective meters.

I also have a Gossen Digisix. Its build quality isn't as good as the VCII, it is larger, but it also has an incident meter.
 
aperture64 said:
The meter area is a 90 degree area in the center.
Click to expand...

Errmm... I am pretty sure you meant to say that the metering area is about that of the FOV of a 90mm lens, yes? Which is quite practical because we have a handy frameline for 90mm in the viewfinder and a handy preview lever on the camera and everything.
 
+1. I have an original VC Meter as well as a VC-II. (I bought the VC-II because I dropped the original and thought it was broken.) I have found both to be very accurate and consistent with eachother. There is a minor difference between the two meters. VC-II locks the meter reading at whatever you were pointing it at when you pressed the button and hold it for about 15 seconds while you set the aperture and speed dials. The original meter continues to read the light on the scene for the same length of time. I find the latter usefull because it allows me to scan for the lowest light level on my subject by pointing the meter up and down and side to side.
 
I have the Metrastar that was made by the same company but is hand held and mine is dead accurate. I can not see spending the premium on the VC when the Metrastar can be had for peanuts. Also, would use a Pilot II with the shoe as again quite accurate, can be bought new and is generally less eapensive. I have no particular need for a coupled meter or want as I mostly use hand helds such as the Weston Ranger and Metrastar. As long as the exposure information is accurate or you can compensate I see no need to blow huge dollars on meters.
 
I use a handheld spotmeter, but I borrowed a CV Meter for a trip, and I was able to get accurate readings in some dark alleys and interiors. I may get the CV Meter II one day soon.
 
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