Affordable batteryless lightmeter suggestions?

trondsi · Mar 13, 2016

I am looking for a relatively cheap light meter. I do all sorts of photos (landscape, flowers, portraits) on a hobby basis. I was taken aback by the price of a spot meter, but I am intrigued by old fashioned light meters, and I have never used the zone system anyway. I have been using an old Minolta camera as a meter for other cameras before, and also an iPhone.

I also wonder how people use incident meters to judge the amount of light on a distant scene (e.g. mountains).

Sirius Glass · Mar 13, 2016

Very old light meters do not calibrate to present day films, but there are newer used light meters that may fill your needs. I think that they will all run on batteries.

Yes, an incident light meter will provide the proper reading for a distance scene as long as the meter is in the same light. If the light meter is in the shade, it will give incorrect readings for distant mountains. If the light meter is in the sun, it will give correct readings for distant mountains.

I like the Gossen Luna Pro SBC light meter, but mine likes to eat 9 volt batteries. On the other hand also does incident readings [as well as reflectance readings], it allows one to do compensation for filters as will as allow one to take a reading for part of the subject in the shade and set the exposure for that Zone [Zone System reading]. So I carry extra 9 volt batteries. You can find used ones for well under $100US.

ruby.monkey · Mar 13, 2016

As for affordable meters, try a Sekonic L-398. It uses a selenium photocell with both incident and reflective metering, and can be found used for a reasonable price.

BrianShaw · Mar 13, 2016

Check eBay for a working Weston meter - III or higher. The American-made III will have ASA but the UK version may be in the older Weston film speed (about 1/3 stop difference). They are very affordable and, if working, can give decent results. They also can be fit with " invercone" for incident metering.

There are other inexpensive Armenian cell meters that can be found in working condition for affordable prices. Search eBay using key words "selenium meter" and you'll find some options.

But of a battery is acceptable to you, the Gossen LunaPro is somethings to consider. Professional quality, accurate, affordable, reliable, and does both reflected and incident metering. Plus a cool vintage look and feel!

trondsi · Mar 13, 2016

Thanks guys!
Yes, I guess batteries arent necessarily a dealbreaker. Im just a bit tired of digital gadgets with menus of options etc, and I also heard that some meters eat batteries very fast.

The Sekonic 398 sounds very interesting.

Ome Kees · Mar 13, 2016

Look for an Ikophot, no battery, work great, not to big and cost only a few Euro's.

AgX · Mar 13, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
Very old light meters do not calibrate to present day films, but there are newer used light meters that may fill your needs. I think that they will all run on batteries.

A lot of old Selenium meters have scales in DIN and ASA.

Problem may be that some do not work correctly. But that would not be a an issue of original calibration but of corrosion at the Selenium cell.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 13, 2016

To the OP:
Any Weston Master II and onwards will do.
As it will any Leningrad 4, 7 or 8 if you aren't prejudiced.
The Leningrad 4 has a very nice case. The 7 and 8 have a different design and you need to remove the meter from case to use it.

John Koehrer · Mar 13, 2016

Sekonic and Vivitar also made selenium cell meters. They're very light and compact, basically just a meter movement, cell and a couple of resistors in a case.
The Weston I preferred was the Master V, last of the metal housings. Master Vl worked fine, I just missed the weight of the V.
Been using an old Spectra for a few years now.

*If you begun looking for a Luna Pro you need to be aware that they used mercury cells that aren't available. There are work arounds though.

bdial · Mar 13, 2016

The Gossen Pilot is a nice compact selenium cell meter.
But the biggest challenge with an older selenium cell meter is finding one that works and is accurate. The Weston's and the Pilots are pretty old now and finding a working one can be challenging.

You can buy the Sekonic 398 brand new, that may be a problem in the affordable department, though used ones should be plentiful, as they've been made for a long time.

M Carter · Mar 13, 2016

Sekonic 308 is pretty much "the" my-first-light-meter. It's not a spot meter, but small and very popular, and will run for months or even a year-plus on a single, non-exotic AA battery. It will do corded and cordlesss flash metering, too. I'd really consider a new or modern meter vs. something really old and potentially inaccurate. It's all the meter I ever needed until I needed a spotmeter, and I needed a flash-capable spotmeter, so it was either very expensive or eBay for that. Got a Minolta F and I feel pretty well-equipped in the meter department now.

Chan Tran · Mar 13, 2016

It doesn't make sense to use batteryless meter as they are not accurate.

trondsi · Mar 13, 2016

I went to the camera store and they showed me the Sekonic L-398-A. The salesman sold me on it, so I'll be experimenting with this one for a while
Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

trondsi · Mar 13, 2016

I would be very grateful for tips and tricks on using the incident meter though As I mentioned I have mostly used through-the-lens meters before. My new meter does contain a filter for reflected light measurements, but maybe the spherical one is usually better?

BrianShaw · Mar 13, 2016

Chan Tran said:
It doesn't make sense to use batteryless meter as they are not accurate.

????????

MattKing · Mar 13, 2016

trondsi said:
I would be very grateful for tips and tricks on using the incident meter though As I mentioned I have mostly used through-the-lens meters before. My new meter does contain a filter for reflected light measurements, but maybe the spherical one is usually better?

Mark's "resource" on using an using an incident meter is definitely worth reading: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I'm a fan of incident readings - the dome would be my first choice.

mgb74 · Mar 13, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
... So I carry extra 9 volt batteries. ...

Most smoke detectors start beeping "low battery" when the battery still has a lot of life. So I save them for my Gossen Luna Pro F. The Luna Pro series, around since Noah was a boy, have gone through various iterations with different meter cells and batteries. So you may want to look for one of the later varieties.

Bill Burk · Mar 13, 2016

trondsi said:
I went to the camera store and they showed me the Sekonic L-398-A. The salesman sold me on it, so I'll be experimenting with this one for a while
Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

The accessory slides are very nice to have if you didn't get them with the kit you might ask to see them. They let you use the red numbers (f/stops) directly.

trondsi · Mar 14, 2016

Bill Burk said:
The accessory slides are very nice to have if you didn't get them with the kit you might ask to see them. They let you use the red numbers (f/stops) directly.

There's a slide for use in bright light included.

trondsi · Mar 14, 2016

I saw a video with a guy doing incident metering for a landscape, in relatively bright light, and he shaded the dome with his hand (at a distance), to avoid direct sunlight. Is this normal procedure, or would you recommend holding it directly in the sunlight?

Zathras · Mar 14, 2016

Chan Tran said:
It doesn't make sense to use batteryless meter as they are not accurate.

Not true. I found my Sekonic 398 to be quite accurate.

AgX · Mar 14, 2016

trondsi said:
I saw a video with a guy doing incident metering for a landscape, in relatively bright light, and he shaded the dome with his hand (at a distance), to avoid direct sunlight. Is this normal procedure, or would you recommend holding it directly in the sunlight?

That is no common procedure...

However, consider what you want to measure.
In case your subject is shaded from the top, then a incident metering with rays from above (eg. direct sunlight) shaded off by your hand makes sense.

Or when you got a flat subject it is advisable to use that white disc instead of that white dome, as long as you orientate that disk parallel to the subject plane.

Dali · Mar 14, 2016

bdial said:
The Gossen Pilot is a nice compact selenium cell meter.
But the biggest challenge with an older selenium cell meter is finding one that works and is accurate. The Weston's and the Pilots are pretty old now and finding a working one can be challenging.

You can buy the Sekonic 398 brand new, that may be a problem in the affordable department, though used ones should be plentiful, as they've been made for a long time.

+1 for the Gossen Pilot. Compact and reliable. I own one for the last 35 years and it still work fine.

R.Gould · Mar 14, 2016

Chan Tran said:
It doesn't make sense to use batteryless meter as they are not accurate.

Sorry to disabuse you but I have three weston master.s. the 4 5 and Euromaster and for day to day use they are all I use, and all three are spot on, Get an old weston, either 4 5 or Euromaster, all with asa/din and should all be spot on,

trondsi · Mar 14, 2016

Thanks for the info folks!

Just out of curiosity I also looked up the Weston lightmeters, and I notice that they do not have a white dome on them. Do you point the back side (the selenium) towards the subject in this case? Would you call that reflected light reading?

Affordable batteryless lightmeter suggestions?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency