What are you using for a light meter?

For accurate reading I have a Minolta Spotmeter F, I also have a Sekonic digital which I sometimes use for portraits in incident mode only and a Weston Master V with invercone as a battery free back up.
 
Keith said:
I agree ... not having to faff about with a meter is very liberating and it's a skill you'll come to grips with very quickly if you give yourself a chance.
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This is why I use the phone. The Luna Pro was a bulky thing -- not the sort of thing one wants to carry around really -- so mostly I didn't and just made my estimates. And often it's easy, but sometimes not. Indoors can sometimes be tricky as can early in the morning. But the phone is always there.
 
I use iZoner on my telephone. Not the greatest UI but it has a useful spot function (with variable spot size), hi-low function and also multi-spot metering. It's really very accurate.
 
I use the Pocket Light Meter app for a quick 3 "zone" measurement. Then go by sunny 16 until the light changes. Rinse, repeat. Very liberating!
 
I have a Gossen Digisix light meter tied directly to the strap of my photo bag so he is always at hand.
 
Seconic L 398 ( Norwood )—Incident, needs no batteries.

Gossen Digipro F, Incident and reflectance, Digital readout, AA cell.
 
This weekend, I used my Polaroid PR-22 with my converted Speedliner. I have several of these but never bothered with them because they are in the Polaroid LV scale and my Speedliner is in standard EV. That was until I discovered that with 3000 iso Fuji film and the 4 stop ND filter, it works out that LV-5 is equal to EV-15. Now it is a really convenient meter during the day and every one that I have found works.
Pete
 
Thanks for some of the suggestions.

I do like the Voigtlander, but it's over $200. Seems excessive to me. Same with the Gossen at $175.

Some of the other meters are extremely large and that's what I was hoping to avoid. I like to travel extremely light and having a giant light meter in my pocket isn't feasible. I know I wouldn't carry it.

Shame to hear about the Luxi not fitting properly. For the price-point that would have been hard to beat. Doesn't sound like anyone has the Lumu yet.

I'll keep my eyes open for a used (cheaper) gossen and voigtlander. I'll also do more testing with iphone apps and cameras with built in meters to see just how close/accurate it is.

Eventually I'd love to be able to be spot-on with my exposure and in general I can get close most of the time, but the advantage with digital cameras is that if I'm off I can easily delete, adjust, and reshoot. Not confident enough to do that with film just yet.
 
Sekonic L-208 most of the time now. I keep it on the hotshoe generally. It's small and light, feels a little "cheezy", but seems to work well.

When I don't mind carrying the bulk, I use a regular old Gossen Luna-Pro (with the Gossen battery adapter). The Gossen feels bullet-proof, but of course it is decades old at this point.

I've compared them and found the readings on my meters do tend to vary from each other a stop or so, but no amount that can't be corrected for in post.
 
Keith said:
I agree ... not having to faff about with a meter is very liberating and it's a skill you'll come to grips with very quickly if you give yourself a chance.
Click to expand...

I guess you've never done a shoot mixing strobes, reflectors, ambient light and shadows. Without a light meter you'd be faffing and waffling about. With a meter you can easily set your ratios and with a couple of minor adjustments of the lighting using the meter - bam perfect exposures.

I agree, simple stuff one should develop the ability to read the light, but when on a shoot and things start getting complex a meter is an tool I wouldn't want to be without. I even use it for one light setups particularly when I want to nail the ratio between strobe and ambient natural light. It's faster, quicker, easier and far more accurate to use a meter.
 
Minolta Flash Meter III for my camera without a meter (Konica III) and use it with the 10-degree spot attachment, if needed, when using my cameras with only center-weighted metering (almost all the rest). Also use it for flash and incident metering.

You can usually find one in great condition for around $100 and the 10-degree or 5-degree spot attachment for around $40.
 
I usually carry a Sekonic L-308 with me, but I've recently fallen in love with the free Light Meter app for iOS. It's a great spot meter and way more accurate then most meters that's I've owned or used. Give it a try if you have an iPhone. It's free :)

When I got my M2, I was still in G.A.S. mode and bought a VCii. I hated it and sold it off. Horrible for outdoor use.
 
For my M2's I use a Sekonic L-208. I keep it in my shirt pocket with a small lanyard attached and the end of the lanyard is clipped to my shirt pocket so it is always handy but cannot fall onto the ground.
 
That depends on what i'm doing. Sometimes it's sunny/11, sometimes it's a Weston Ranger 9 (my long time favorite), a Weston Master III (getting more difficult to use due to ageing eyes) or most often a Gossen Pilot (small, accurate, easy to use and well protected)

On those occasions that I might be using off camera flash I grab my Minolta Flash Meter IV.
 
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