Buying an Analog Light Meter

I am very happy with the Pentax Spotmeter V, and since you have one, you have a benchmark to compare other meters with. I have been having a great time with the Weston Master (original and II) that I own but the dial isn't ASA so you DO have to know the conversion for your specific meter (there are variations between US and UK models)...

But the price of the Sekonic 208 is low enough that it should not give you serious pause... It weighs so little that you can always justify carrying it... And it's new and will come to you guaranteed. I find it to be durable. At one point, either a minor defect or more likely after a knock, I found the the needle grazed the pointer and tended to get stuck but it was a simple repair just to push the needle back down. Obviously I've invalidated the warranty since then, but this is such a simply constructed meter that there is little that can go wrong with it.

The ASA dial tends to move when carried carelessly, so always double-check the setting - or learn to judge light so that you can sense when it's set wrong.

Gossen Luna Pro F user here, uses common 9v batteries has incident, reflective, and flash, and is very accurate especially in low light. They can be had with the case for $50-75, also flash metering is kind of nice to have if you don't wanna fiddle with the calculator on the side of your flash.

Kyle M. said:

Gossen Luna Pro F user here, uses common 9v batteries has incident, reflective, and flash, and is very accurate especially in low light. They can be had with the case for $50-75, also flash metering is kind of nice to have if you don't wanna fiddle with the calculator on the side of your flash.

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Same here.

Jeff

Atari1977 said:

So for the Gossen Luna-Pro, what's your solution for the fact that it originally used mercury batteries that are no longer available?

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Jon Goodman sells an inexpensive adapter for the hearing aid cells that makes them easy to use in place of the mercury cells. He is here on APUG, although he is best known for his camera seal replacement kits.

And the adapters that work with silver oxide cells are an excellent investment as well.

Bill Burk said:

I am very happy with the Pentax Spotmeter V, and since you have one, you have a benchmark to compare other meters with. I have been having a great time with the Weston Master (original and II) that I own but the dial isn't ASA so you DO have to know the conversion for your specific meter (there are variations between US and UK models)...

But the price of the Sekonic 208 is low enough that it should not give you serious pause... It weighs so little that you can always justify carrying it... And it's new and will come to you guaranteed. I find it to be durable. At one point, either a minor defect or more likely after a knock, I found the the needle grazed the pointer and tended to get stuck but it was a simple repair just to push the needle back down. Obviously I've invalidated the warranty since then, but this is such a simply constructed meter that there is little that can go wrong with it.

The ASA dial tends to move when carried carelessly, so always double-check the setting - or learn to judge light so that you can sense when it's set wrong.

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With the Weston 111 the dial is calibrated into ASA/ISO and from the 1V onwards the film speed is locked at what you set it to

I use a Sekonic L-398 and it works pretty well. Upshot is that it doesn't need any batteries due to using a selenium (and in the latest model, amorphous silicon) photo cell. Downside is that it's low light response isn't great - but that's usually wingable with "wide open as possible, slowest shutter speed manageable."

R.Gould said:

Having used a Weston master V for many years I sadly dropped it and broke the glass, I found a Master IV which was cheaper than getting my V repaired, I have other meters, but use the weston for it's accuracy,I second all that BM Bikerider has said about them, I have yet to be let down by a weston,

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I absolutely loved my Weston Master IV while I had it. It was spot on and it also has markings that correspond with older editions of The Negative. I only let it go after upgrading to a spot meter for 4x5.