Basic, affordable flash meter?

[jasonjoo]

Hey folks,

I just purchased a Rolleiflex TLR and now need a light meter to go along with it. I'm VERY new to the film medium in general (I'm coming from the digital world).

I am looking for something that will take reflective/incident reading and will spew out a shutter speed/aperture for me. Don't need anything fancy, but preferably something that is easy to use, long lasting, and cheap!

Thanks for your help!

Jason

 

[mikeg]

How about the Gossen Lunasix F. Nice and simple, takes a standard 9V battery unlike the older Gossens and is easy to use. It's also pretty cheap. I think it's called the Luna Pro F in the US.

Mike

 

[Andy K]

Have a look at the Sekonic L-208 Twinmate. Small, lightweight, simple and easy to use, meters both reflected and incident, has an accessory shoe attachment so it can be mounted on your cameras.

 

[David Brown]

How about the Gossen Lunasix F. Nice and simple, takes a standard 9V battery unlike the older Gossens and is easy to use. It's also pretty cheap. I think it's called the Luna Pro F in the US.

Mike

Or, if I understand your post vs. your title, you don't need the flash capability, the Luna Pro SBC is essentially the same as the F without the flash metering.

 

[Lee L]

Have a look at the Sekonic L-208 Twinmate. Small, lightweight, simple and easy to use, meters both reflected and incident, has an accessory shoe attachment so it can be mounted on your cameras.

Just to be clear, this meter doesn't have the flash metering capacity mentioned in the title of the original post. Something similar with flash metering, and significantly more expensive would be the Gossen Digiflash. A bit larger with flash metering, and you get something like the Sekonic L-308S, http://www.sekonic.co.jp/English/product/meter/details/l_308s.shtml But these may not qualify as "cheap".

Lee

 

[Andy K]

I went by the OP. He wants something simple with incident and reflective metering. The L-208 fulfills that requirement. The Digiflash, like the Digisix, is awkward to use, you have to cycle through different functions on the buttons to get it to do what you want (in fact press the wrong combination and you'll get a temperature readout!). You then have to convert the EV result to aperture and speed. I found that slow and cumbersome compared to straightforward reading of the Sekonic which is much more intuitive in use.

 

[Lee L]

Andy,

It's very clear that you went solely by the message content of the OP. My point is that the L-208 clearly doesn't match the title request of the OP. I don't see any mention of ambient light metering in the title or post, but would agree that that purpose does seem implied as well. I suspect that's tied up in Jason likely coming from a world of integrated flash/meter/camera where these distinctions aren't clearly made. It would probably be best for Jason to clarify his requirements.

FWIW, the awkwardness of any given equipment is often a matter of whether or not it matches the working methods in use. Working methods can be adapted to varying equipment, or equipment can be chosen to match the preferred method. Intuitive is mostly in the eye of the beholder. Once you're familiar with the Gossen Digiflash/Digisix, it's very clear. Pressing the wrong button is a function of not knowing your equipment. I find the Digiflash extremely fast to use. Once a reading is taken, the EV stays on the display indefinitely. A glance at that, and then a new reading, taking a fraction of a second, tells you instantly how many stops up or down you need to adjust, to the nearest 1/3 stop. The Digiflash is also extremely accurate, and matches my LunaPro F perfectly across its entire range on flash and ambient. It's also tiny and I'll carry it much more readily than my larger meters.

For those that find the buttons of the Digiflash/Digisix are pushed inadvertently in a pocket or camera bag, a little plastic or hard foam surround for the buttons can prevent that problem. Stiff adhesive-backed foam pads are what I've seen suggested. I don't find that I need them. Minolta packed an adhesive backed plastic surround like this in the box with the Spotmeter M.

Lee

 

[Andy K]

For those that find the buttons of the Digiflash/Digisix are pushed inadvertently in a pocket or camera bag, a little plastic or hard foam surround for the buttons can prevent that problem. Stiff adhesive-backed foam pads are what I've seen suggested. I don't find that I need them. Minolta packed an adhesive backed plastic surround like this in the box with the Spotmeter M.

Lee

That was the other point I was going to raise. With the Gossens they are 'always on'. It is very possible to get to a destination and find the meter buttons have been pressed in a pocket or bag resulting in a dead battery.

Another alternative would be the Sekonic L-308B, which includes flash metering and can be had quite cheaply on Ebay.

 

[Lee L]

That was the other point I was going to raise. With the Gossens they are 'always on'. It is very possible to get to a destination and find the meter buttons have been pressed in a pocket or bag resulting in a dead battery.

This requires that the metering button be pressed constantly, with about 300g of force pressing directly in on the metering button to activate it, but only 120g or so to maintain a closed contact. I haven't had a problem with it, and pack so that the meter doesn't get that kind of pressure.

Lee

 

[jasonjoo]

I am very sorry for the confusion.

I do NOT need a flash meter. Just a LIGHT meter. I was actually doing some reading on this board first, and read a few topics on flash metering and the words just stuck in my head. Sorry guys! As of now, I am only interested in a light meter and have no ambitions for using flash on my TLR... yet.

Again, I'm sorry for the confusion!

Jason

 

[Lee L]

No problem Jason. You could request a thread title change from a moderator so that the thread stays off flash meters.

Go for the Sekonic L-208 Twin-Mate if buying new. Most light meters still in production are designed for more advanced users since built-in camera meters have become more sophisticated, and there's only a very small market for basic inexpensive meters.

If used is OK, your options expand greatly. There are other threads on incident/reflected ambient meters on APUG that can be found with a quick search. If buying used, check to see that it uses a currently available battery. Mikeg's suggestion was made with that in mind.

Lee

 

[jasonjoo]

Thanks Lee.

I was taking a look at Sekonic's site and I really like the Sekonic L-358 simply for the all-weather design and backlit display. At $240 bucks, it should be a good investment and I hope it will last me at least a decade

Jason

 

[Chan Tran]

I would recommend a used Minolta flashmeter III