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Some cheaper light meter options...
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Matt, I'm pretty sure all these apps just rely on the phone's camera for metering. In other words, whatever the meter for the camera says is right is what it repackages in a different skin to give you. I don't think the app itself is doing any exposure calculations. Because of that, it probably does vary slightly from phone to phone. I haven't seen a phone with a bad camera in a long time, though.
I could be wrong, but I doubt it. A small developer is not going to be able to improve on the built-in camera's metering, so why waste resources trying?
MattKing
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Well I'm sure the apps rely on the camera, I doubt that the cameras are calibrated to the ISO standards for light measurement.
My light meters in and out of the cameras are calibrated by George at Quality Light Metric while my cell phone is not.
it all depends on what you want to photograph and what film you will use. the phone apps are pretty good in daylight, even for slides. no way the apps will provide flash metering, correct night metering or incident light. but if you don't use these, stay with an app. I have about 20 working meters. I use a gossen digisix, sometimes shoe mounted (depends on the camera) in most cases, it's tiny and reliable and I don't mind cycling through the menu if necessary. my second is a bigger gossen flash, for flash as the names indicates and it's good at dusk or at night. with old folders I sometimes use selenium meters. still the gossen familiy, a shoe mounted kodalux L, the tiniest full grown meter, or a gossen sixti. pay attention, the sixti is also sold as kodalux L, but it's not the tiny one. if you want more information about tiny meters, have a look at one of my pages http://www.120folder.com/lightmeters.htm
What kind of light meter are you looking for? Because if you want a spot meter, then a Soligor Digital Spot Sensor is probably your cheapest option (on a good one). If you're looking for an incident meter, do you need flash capabilities? There are quite a few good options here, but I'd probably avoid any selenium meters. I have a few, and while they work, they are not accurate (but they are consistent so I can use them provided I know how far off they are).
If you're looking for a reflective meter, which I assume is the case since you're talking about something that goes into the shoe mount, then you're not going to be able to do better than a good phone app when it comes to accuracy (unless you want to use a full on DSLR for your meter). The thing with reflective meters is most don't tell you what they're metering off of. You simply point it in a direction and it picks up whatever and gives you a number. It doesn't tell you how it's weighing what objects, nor does it give you a good idea of what is included and what is not in it's calculations. A phone app will show you all of that on it's screen, so it's much more accurate for taking measurements than a regular reflective meter. So if it's giving you a reading that will actually blow out your highlights due to your subject being a dark color, you'll see that on the screen. The fact that they happen to be much cheaper (sometimes free) is a nice addition too! Plus, it's one less thing to carry, since you probably were going to be carrying it anyway.
So if you need a spot or incident meter, then you might need a new meter. But if you want a reflective meter or matrix meter, then you need a new app.
If you're looking for a reflective meter, which I assume is the case since you're talking about something that goes into the shoe mount, then you're not going to be able to do better than a good phone app when it comes to accuracy (unless you want to use a full on DSLR for your meter). The thing with reflective meters is most don't tell you what they're metering off of. You simply point it in a direction and it picks up whatever and gives you a number. It doesn't tell you how it's weighing what objects, nor does it give you a good idea of what is included and what is not in it's calculations. A phone app will show you all of that on it's screen, so it's much more accurate for taking measurements than a regular reflective meter. So if it's giving you a reading that will actually blow out your highlights due to your subject being a dark color, you'll see that on the screen. The fact that they happen to be much cheaper (sometimes free) is a nice addition too! Plus, it's one less thing to carry, since you probably were going to be carrying it anyway.
So if you need a spot or incident meter, then you might need a new meter. But if you want a reflective meter or matrix meter, then you need a new app.
AFAIK they rely on the phone's photocell which controls the brightness of the screen.
I have a sekonic 308B that I got on ebay pretty cheap, due to corrosion on the contacts. If you are not against some DIY cleaning and maintenance, that could be an option too. Got it a few years ago and still works today. All it took was some cotton swabs and 91% alcohol.
I have twin mate Sekonic for years. Not using it anymore. The only advantage against mobile phone app it has - faster to measure. But if it is critical to measure, I trust phone app. Actually, I will trust it against of any old fashion meters, because it is more accurate and allows to measure exact spots and figure out which exposure to choose.
As I recall, the shoe is mounted on the left side of the camera, if that's the case, using any shoe mount meter's going to be a pain. IE: rotate the meter
dial/screen up to read, rotate camera right side up; transfer reading to shutter..
Easier with a seperate meter.
IF the light is relatively dim or changing it becomes an even more complicated dance. If the light is
consistent no problem.
It is also my experience. My selenium meters (Gossen Sixtino & Sekonic L-VI) are fine and fully usable depite the years and all the CdS meters I have are way off and non-linear anymore.
The meters whether it's built in camera or a hand held were calibrated at the factory. The cell phone app no calibration at all. It assumes all phones are the same.
check out the Gosen Digisix meter.
A few years ago I bought the Voigtländer exposure meter for shoe- mounting only to discover that I can handle my Gossen hand exposure meter (Sixtomat flash - bought mine used for about 100 Euros) much more precisely and flexibly.
Especially when the block attached to the meter is an RB67. Any desire to meter different parts of a scene, check different directions, etc. will be very cumbersome. Handheld meter are really very convenient compared to a 5x5x5 inch metal block meter.
Many said the light meter apps for cell phones are good. I only tested some of the free versions and found them not accurate. I doubt that you can rely on the phone hardware to function identically from one phone to another.
Same here with free metering apps on my iphone - sunny16 is more accurate for me ...
While I would use a meter but I would rather use my knowledge of typical scene brightness rather than the phone app or a selenium meter or a meter that need mercury batteries.
Do other people test their meters for accuracy?
It's a pretty easy process to determine the accuracy by instant testing on a digital camera, using 18% grey cards and getting instant feedback. The same process works for incident light meters or attachments.
If you're film only, it's also easy with a densitometer or a standard processing time, although it takes some time to create the test negatives. On older selenium meters I test at various light levels with both a grey card and a white piece of paper. I find that knowing these two values is more than accurate enough for most work. It's even easier with a CdS meter, especially with a spot meter or spot attachment on something like a Luna Pro. The only thing that gets tricky is monitoring for battery failure if you are using silver oxide cells.
Once you've got a standard, it's fairly easy to adjust the ASA/ISO on your other meters to compensate. There always a few what will have a non-linear response, or just be limited in their high or low response levels, but I've always found it a fairly easy process, as long as the meter goes to the top level of scale under maximum illumination.
How do others accomplish this process? Or do you do it at all?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
It's a pretty easy process to determine the accuracy by instant testing on a digital camera, using 18% grey cards and getting instant feedback. The same process works for incident light meters or attachments.
If you're film only, it's also easy with a densitometer or a standard processing time, although it takes some time to create the test negatives. On older selenium meters I test at various light levels with both a grey card and a white piece of paper. I find that knowing these two values is more than accurate enough for most work. It's even easier with a CdS meter, especially with a spot meter or spot attachment on something like a Luna Pro. The only thing that gets tricky is monitoring for battery failure if you are using silver oxide cells.
Once you've got a standard, it's fairly easy to adjust the ASA/ISO on your other meters to compensate. There always a few what will have a non-linear response, or just be limited in their high or low response levels, but I've always found it a fairly easy process, as long as the meter goes to the top level of scale under maximum illumination.
How do others accomplish this process? Or do you do it at all?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
I test them by stepping outside on a sunny day.
Indeed! Actually I have more than one meter, plus some cameras, digi and film, that have built-in meters and can compare. But a bright sunny day and a gray card can provide a check too. In the simplest case, reflective metering off a generic scene and comparing with Sunny-16 is a start.
Another option is that if OP has a 35mm he use it as a meter. In the past I have used my Sigma SA 7 and later (sorry digital) SA 9) as meter, not sure why I decided to return to a handheld meter, by using a white styrofoam cup over the lens could even take an incident meter reading that matched my Gossen.
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