Affordable light meter for a beginner

[dourbalistar]

Just on a general note, would a light meter benefit cameras that have their own built-in light meters? In other words, would a standalone light meter improve upon the camera's own light meter?

I would say yes, because a standalone meter can provide incident readings of the light falling on your subject, whereas a camera's built-in meter can only read reflected light.

 

[John51]

Just on a general note, would a light meter benefit cameras that have their own built-in light meters? In other words, would a standalone light meter improve upon the camera's own light meter?

If the camera has auto exposure, I use that. Incident readings for my mf cameras and Sunny 16 for my manual 35mm cameras.

For C41, I can't see any difference in the prints, the lab has auto correct, as do home scanners and C41 film has good latitude.

I haven't yet done Sunny 16 with b+w. FP4 in my OM2n has consistent exposures in the contact print.

 

[dourbalistar]

Well, snow in bright light is one example where a reflected meter is often "tricked". Since most reflected in-camera meters will expose for 18% middle gray, your photo may be several stops underexposed, with the white snow rendered gray.

 

[removedacct3]

One vote for the Sekonic L-208 Twin Mate. .

Perhaps mine is a lemon, but my advice is to ignore that meter. I have several meters and they all tend to agree except for the Twinmate. Sometimes the difference is about 2 stops. I've already sent it back for repair / calibration but it came back with a note stating that is was all within the specified margins. It's crap, or at least mine is crap.

 

[MattKing]

Just on a general note, would a light meter benefit cameras that have their own built-in light meters? In other words, would a standalone light meter improve upon the camera's own light meter?

The benefit one receives from using a meter comes as much from how one uses them as from the meter itself.
A stand-alone (aka handheld) meter permits you to use additional or alternative metering techniques that may give better results under certain circumstances - e.g. incident metering.
They also in some cases offer additional features like flash metering.
For those of us who have and use more than one type of camera, a handheld meter permits us to use the same meter and techniques with all of our cameras.
Meters built into cameras - particularly ones that meter through the lens (TTL metering) - do have real advantages too. If you do a lot of work at high magnification, for instance, they are much easier to use than a handheld meter.
I have and use both.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Just on a general note, would a light meter benefit cameras that have their own built-in light meters? In other words, would a standalone light meter improve upon the camera's own light meter?

Just send all of your light meters off to get calibrated.

 

[John51]

Well, snow in bright light is one example where a reflected meter is often "tricked". Since most reflected in-camera meters will expose for 18% middle gray, your photo may be several stops underexposed, with the white snow rendered gray.

With Sunny 16, it's f22 for a bright day with snow or at the beach. At first I was thinking why should a snow or sand background make a difference to say a skin tone?

Then the penny dropped. The background acts as a giant reflector and lightens the subject by a stop.

 

[MattKing]

With Sunny 16, it's f22 for a bright day with snow or at the beach. At first I was thinking why should a snow or sand background make a difference to say a skin tone?

Then the penny dropped. The background acts as a giant reflector and lightens the subject by a stop.

Actually...
The problem with snow or sand is that it is supposed to be bright, but your meter doesn't know that, so it will suggest a reading that will give you snow or sand that is more like middle grey - i.e. darker than it should be.

 

[AgX]

Just on a general note, would a light meter benefit cameras that have their own built-in light meters? In other words, would a standalone light meter improve upon the camera's own light meter?

-) there are meters (eg. Profisix) that offer a kind of meter display advantageous over most cameras

-) only few finder cameras and no SLR offer incident metering

-) some meters offer small-angle metering what many cameras do not

-) in some situations of incident light metering the handheld meter is much more practical than those cameras that offer such

-) some meters yield a metering system (photo diode) which is more stable than many camera meters

-) some meters offer flash metering which is not offered by cameras

-) some meters (eg. Profisix) are much more sensitive than nearly all camera meters

-) meters are independant of the speed of the lens, in contrast to TTL meters.
(Though TTL meters can benefit from small angle lenses, and the respective spot-metering feature reduces the sensitivity of the hand-held meter too...)

 

[RalphLambrecht]

What would Sunny-16 have been (approximately) ....... f/8.0 at 1/2000.?

comparing it to'sunny-16' is the ultimate test.

 

[guangong]

For a beginner, I suggest one of the detailed exposure calculators easily downloaded from internet and printed on stiff photo paper. Print several, to have on hand. Can slip into shirt pocket. I keep one in wallet when encountering unusual indoor lighting situation.
The advantage over a meter, at least for me, is that reading a paper calculator engages the mind easier than a meter, making it easier to set exposure conditions from memory.
While I use the above method, I must admit to owning a drawer full of all kinds of meters, accumulated over 60+ years. Some of these are for cinematography, where even slightest variations of exposure ca become distractions. But got still photography, I would try calculator first.

 

[John Koehrer]

Host handhelds have a greater range in lower light than in camera.

 

[John51]

Actually...
The problem with snow or sand is that it is supposed to be bright, but your meter doesn't know that, so it will suggest a reading that will give you snow or sand that is more like middle grey - i.e. darker than it should be.

There is no meter reading with Sunny 16.

 

[Ariston]

You are asking people who love detailed metering whether it is a good idea to get a standalone meter. We are all going to say yes. But honestly, today's cameras are very good at whole-scene metering. There are a few instances, such as the mentioned snowy scene, where they might struggle. But the latitude of most film stocks and the correction available when scanning can offset these very few instances to a great degree.

Maybe if you live in Iceland or the desert, you might get frustrated. More than anything, a standalone meter is a great learning tool. Otherwise, just overexpose a little.

 

[foc]

I remember a fellow professional wedding photographer telling me in the mid 1990's that he had just purchased a Canon Eos 1n film camera to shoot the casual wedding shots. When I asked him how he used it, he told me he metered in manual but liked the autofocus.
When I told him I shot mine mostly in program, he dismissed the idea that the 16 zone light reading could match his use of manual, even though he was using the same 16 zones to match his reading.
At the time, the Canon had one of the best metering modes. I used to think, why not let it work for you (speed and accuracy) rather than give yourself extra work.
At the same time I had a Fuji optical minilab printer. It had a tiny colour monitor so you could view you neg prior to printing but it also has a simple slider at the bottom of the screen that had U (underexposed) on the left, N (correctly exposed) in the middle, O (over exposed) on the right.
I asked him if I could print a few of his negs and let him compare my prints with his pro lab.
Nearly all his negs were to the right of N , between +1 and +2 stops whereas mine were nearly on N all the time.
He also wouldn't acknowledge that my prints came very close to his pro prints.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You are asking people who love detailed metering whether it is a good idea to get a standalone meter. We are all going to say yes. But honestly, today's cameras are very good at whole-scene metering. There are a few instances, such as the mentioned snowy scene, where they might struggle. But the latitude of most film stocks and the correction available when scanning can offset these very few instances to a great degree.

Maybe if you live in Iceland or the desert, you might get frustrated. More than anything, a standalone meter is a great learning tool. Otherwise, just overexpose a little.

1. Know how to meter.
2. Know your camera & meter and their limitations.
3. Compensate when necessary.

 

[alanrockwood]

The Gossen Pilot is a nice meter. It is small, easy to use, and doesn't need a battery. It works really well outdoors. Sensitivity is somewhat limited, so if the light is very dim indoors it won't work too well.

They can often be found on ebay for not too much money.

 

[dourbalistar]

The Gossen Pilot is a nice meter. It is small, easy to use, and doesn't need a battery. It works really well outdoors. Sensitivity is somewhat limited, so if the light is very dim indoors it won't work too well.

They can often be found on ebay for not too much money.

In my experience, you are rolling the dice a little bit with the older selenium meters. It could work fine, or you could get a dud like me. And they will all eventually fail at some point. I didn't want to risk it with a proverbial ticking time bomb, but your mileage may vary. Luckily, they are generally quite cheap on the second hand market.

 

[George Mann]

The Gossen Pilot is a nice meter. It is small, easy to use, and doesn't need a battery. It works really well outdoors. Sensitivity is somewhat limited, so if the light is very dim indoors it won't work too well.

They can often be found on ebay for not too much money.

Mine still works well, but the incident curtain split in half!

 

[Grim Tuesday]

I almost don't want to say anything and cause the price to go up for these but Quantum Calcu-Flash meters cost $10-15, take modern batteries and meter down to EV6 in ambient incident mode. Not terrific but also you're not going to get a sharp shot any lower than this and you certainly won't beat it with anything made from selenium.

 

[Taz777]

I thought I'd update this thread as I've just acquired a Gossen Sixtomat Digital light meter. It's in good condition and seems to work well. Importantly for me, it's easy to use and to read (without reading glasses).

Unfortunately I didn't get good results with the light meter app on my iPhone so decided to buy this light meter.

 

[BradS]

Excellent choice! I have one of these and really like it. Be careful with it though, given its small size it is tempting to carry it in a pants pocket. Mine was fine in the front pocket of my jeans for years and then, one day, it was hot, I spilled a little water down the front of me and some apparently got into the meter....and...it didn't survive....not sure what happened but the display was whacky for a long time...eventually, it healed itself, but I was bummed and without my meter for many months.

 

[Taz777]

Thanks for the advice, @BradS

It looks like the same meter has a different name for the US market and the the European market. I had a quick play around with it this evening and it seems fine. I'm gearing up to use it with one of my manual film cameras.

 

[AgX]

The original names of Gossen meters already can be confusing. The renaming by the US-importer made even a mess... from todays perspective. Back then there was no internet, often even no books and magazines from abroad.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

If you have a smart phone, there are a few apps. I use this one.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pocket-light-meter/id381698089