Best "Bang for the buck" in a meter?

Atracksler

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Looking for a light meter, I kind of need one now, but only really want to buy one. I know I can get a decent incident light meter for pretty short money, I know I can spend a lot... I can get a spot meter, but its not going to do it when I'm using strobes (this will probably be off for a while for me).

Will be using it with large format mostly, since my digital rig has it built in....

Looking at minolta, maybe, since I can get a meter now, and get a spot meter attachment....I just really don't know....

Thanks in advance. I don't really have a budget, I can wait to find a good one, but I don't really want to drop $700 on one (I'd rather have another lens and film..)

Thanks in advance, ad
 

TheFlyingCamera

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Very high on the bang-for-buck scale would be a Sekonic 308. They're still available new. They're pocket-able, they do incident and reflected, ambient and flash. The only thing it doesn't do is spot. When you do want to go spot, get a Minolta Spotmeter F - it does 1-degree spot, ambient and strobe, and has some pretty easy to use contrast range calculation features.
 

Ian Grant

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I answered this somewhere else

Mostly I use a Minolta Spotmater F great for ambient & studio and other flash units, never ised mine with a Strobe (Stroboscope - multi pulsing flash - disco lights). I do have a strobe and one day will use it

Otherwise a Leningrad 4 . . . . . . . .

Ian
 

John Koehrer

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There's also the Sekonic L-508 that does what you want. Seem to be running $200-$300.
Reflected/ambient, spot & incident.
 

TheFlyingCamera

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The only major downside to the 508 is the bulk- between the incident dome on top and the projecting zoom lens for the spot meter it isn't really very pocketable. If you can live without the 1-degree spot meter, the 408 has a 5-degree spot meter, which is good enough most of the time, and it is about half the size/weight of the 508 (it is still pocketable).
 

trythis

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Gossen luna pro F !


Typos made on a tiny phone...
 

Alan Gales

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I use a Pentax digital spot meter out in the field which I prefer over an incident meter. I own an old Minolta Flash Meter iV for use with my studio strobes. The Minolta will also take incident readings.

Why just one meter?
 

Sirius Glass

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Gossen Luna SBC
 

DREW WILEY

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Phones are something I leave behind. The whole point of photography is to get away from obnoxious people and their obnoxious gadgets.
 

M Carter

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I've played with the lightmeter apps and they're pretty spot-on to my Sekonic. You can always turn your phone off - most of 'em have buttons for that.

And yep, another vote for the 308B - simple, easy to use, does flash corded or uncorded. Kind of the gold standard of entry-level metering.

Think about whether you're interested in zone-system work, in which case a spot meter might make you happier.
 

MattKing

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If small size matters to you, the Gossen Digiflash is good, if somewhat quirky.
 

bdial

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I was going to mention the Digiflash too. Yes, it is quirky, but you get reflected and incident reading, flash metering, plus you get the time, temperature, alarm and a timer. It fits in your pocket or you can mount it on the camera's flash shoe.
About everything a smart phone with a light meter app can do except make telephone calls
 

tomfrh

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Another vote for smartphone app. I've only just started shooting LF but my iphone meter app has been pretty spot on so far, including long exposures. I recently took a photo in the forest and the iphone said to expose for 5 minutes and 44 seconds. I added a couple more minutes to account for reciprocity failure (velvia 100), and it came out great.

My digital camera works nicely too. I set it manually and chimp it until it looks right on the LCD, and then copy the settings across to the camera.

For bang for your buck, you can't beat free! Of course, I totally understand leaving stuff like phones and digital cameras at home...
 

R.Gould

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For out and about and general use weston, either master 4,5 or euromaster, (I mainly use a Euromaster although I have a 5 as well) spot on and very reliable, for studio work using studio flash I use a sekonic flashmaster l 308, tested my Westons against it and they are all spot on
 

Jim Jones

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I usually use a Weston Master II, GE, and occasionally a Norwood. They are all reliable and very cost effective. Of course they should routinely be checked for accuracy, and for armature balance if they have a moving needle. Newer digital meters have a few strong advantages, but lack the warmth of a 60-year-old relationship.
 

Bill Burk

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DREW WILEY said:
Phones are something I leave behind. The whole point of photography is to get away from obnoxious people and their obnoxious gadgets.
Click to expand...

I think it is ironic in a recent thread, we all discussed meters at length, and LMNOP decided afterwards that the meter from B&H Photo Video was the obnoxious gadget so he sent it back. I have to admit there is potential for phone apps to put something like Nikon Matrix Metering in a form factor about the size of a light meter... Now I'm starting to sound like Ansel Adams aren't I? Talking about the possible future where electronics help photography.

I think the best bang for the buck is the Weston Master series, first one I got for $3.00 at a garage sale. Next one I got at a camera show I think I paid $25.00 and the next, about the same price for a pair for the price of one at my favorite camera store Kaufmanns Camera in San Mateo, CA.

I had cell failure in the first, coil failure in the second (yes it was my screwdriver slip-up that severed a tiny copper wire of the coil... and for a long time it "worked" afterwards with a drop of solder on the spot...) and just some loose internal screws in one of the pair of my last two.

The two that I have now are rock solid and compare well to my more advanced and more anachronistic meters... Occasionally I go out "plinking tin cans in my backyard" (trying my different meters to see if readings are the same or how they differ and how fast I am able to obtain a reading).

The SEI Photometer is by far the slowest of the bunch. But the Weston Master II with Zone System sticker is almost always the fastest.
 
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Bill Burk

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silveror0,

When I carried it to a photo meet-up and had to walk through dodgy neighborhoods, I felt as safe as Wyatt Earp. (I'm reading a book on him so everything is "old west" to me these days.")

Fred Picker once wrote an article "Taming the SEI" - has anybody seen it or got a copy I'd be interested...

Though I think I can reverse-engineer what he had in mind I would like to see it.
 

RobC

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I have a Minolta Spotmeter F and have used that only a few times for studio flash and it works fine. You do need a cable from the meter to fire the flash for metering. I guess you could get some radio/infra red device to do it for you. But there is no reason why you can't use a spot meter for flash (I think you call flash "strobe" in the US, don't know why).
However, in the studio where you have total control over the lighting and can meter your lighting ratios just as well with an incident meter, I don't actually see the need for spot metering in a studio setting.
 

Bill Burk

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Google search just brings me to another post of mine mentioning the same. Darn Internet.
 

RobC

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I would add that a Minolta Spot Meter F has a tripod socket in the base of the handle into which you can attach whatever you want.
 

Paul Howell

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I think the best bang for the buck is the Weston Master series, first one I got for $3.00 at a garage sale. Next one I got at a camera show I think I paid $25.00 and the next, about the same price for a pair for the price of one at my favorite camera store Kaufmanns Camera in San Mateo, CA. Quote

I agree, I use a Weston Master V with the inversion cone and a Ranger 9, the ranger needs a battery adapter, it meters about 30 degrees, when in a zone frame of mind I also use a Soilgiar 1% spot. Others times when carrying MF or LF and 35mm I will use Sigma SD 9 in spot mode.
 
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