Affordable batteryless lightmeter suggestions?

Gerald C Koch · Mar 18, 2016

R.Gould said:
From the 4 at least they are calibrated in asa/din, at least they were in the UK, certainly my 4/5 are asa/din

As I pointed out it has to do with age of the meter. Has nothing to do with an intended market. Early Weston meters predate the establishment of any of the standards organizations like DIN, ASA or ISO.

R.Gould · Mar 18, 2016

Gerald C Koch said:
As I pointed out it has to do with age of the meter. Has nothing to do with an intended market. Early Weston meters predate the establishment of any of the standards organizations like DIN, ASA or ISO.

Yes, Iv'e used westons with the weston setting, but certainly from the 4 the meters were made in the uk, by Sangano weston and later the Euromaster was made by East Kilbrade Instruments, with the euromaster 2 made by megatron after Weston themselves went out of bussiness, and I did not know weather the uk made instruments used asa while the Usa made ones maybe still used weston rating,

John Koehrer · Mar 18, 2016

Never seen a V with other than ASA/Din scale.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 18, 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.

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.

I understand the want for batteryless equipment but, you may find that lightmeters working with batteries will meter down to much dimmer light levels, which batteryless meters cannot

trondsi · Apr 8, 2016

R.Gould said:
Your wrong about no servicing Ian Partridge services the 4,5, and euromaster's and can fit new cells. and I have yet to have a bad 4.5,and Euromaster, maybe you have been unlucky ?

For the record, I bought a Weston Master V from Ian Partridge. Not cheap, but I didn't want to spend time and money on a broken meter, and Ian provided the meter with leather case, invercone, and a small user manual. So it's a nice deal, and the meter works like a dream.

trondsi · Jul 29, 2016

I thought I should update this thread by saying that I have used the refurbished Weston V and also a new Sekonic Studio Deluxe III. The Weston is actually my favorite of the two. The invercone (for incident metering) is a bit loose, but the readings are dead on (more so than the Sekonic, which tends to underexpose in bright contrasty light, but now that I know this I can use it successfully)

So the Weston V is great and thanks for the recommendations

nsurit · Jul 30, 2016

I have a variety of light meters, the one which is always with me is an app on my iphone. If you have an iphone, you can't get much cheaper than the app. Bill Barber

M Carter · Jul 30, 2016

I've gotta say, the iPhone meters surprise me with their accuracy. And it's probably always with you.

The first post mentioned spot meters - if you don't need flash capability, used ones aren't unreasonable.

Affordable batteryless lightmeter suggestions?

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