Gossen Digipro F a good buy?

[Espasol]

Hello! Somebody offered me a used Gossen Digipro F light meter for US$140. Is this a good buy at this price? I have no experience with Gossen so your inputs would be helpful.

 

[M Carter]

Doing an eBay advanced search shows they've ranged from $65 to $209 in the last few months, average price about $115. They are currently scarce on the site though. KEH doesn't have any in stock.

Whether they're worth $140 (or $65) I couldn't say, perhaps someone will chime in.

EBay perhaps isn't the best way to determine value, but you can determine what eBay buyers have been paying for a given item.

Sekonic 308's average a pretty solid $100 with some going for under $50 - good deal for a fantastic little basic meter with flash & ambient.

 

[Espasol]

Doing an eBay advanced search shows they've ranged from $65 to $209 in the last few months, average price about $115. They are currently scarce on the site though. KEH doesn't have any in stock.

Sekonic 308's average a pretty solid $100 with some going for under $50 - good deal for a fantastic little basic meter with flash & ambient.

Thanks. Unfortunately, light meters are way overpriced by the local dealers. Locally, used Sekonic 308s are selling for the same price as the Gossen Digipro F.

 

[Rick A]

I have no personal knowledge of that specific meter, but my experience with buying used meters is they are always a crap shoot. Last used meter I bought turned out to be a bust, off by over a full stop(under exposing) and couldn't be adjusted, causing me to send it in for repair, resulting in me spending as much as a new meter in the end. Try it out first and then decide if it's worth the money.

 

[baachitraka]

I may recommend Digiflash. Its compact and very good.

I own a Digisix, initially I was annoyed by those redundant features such as temp, timer and watch but later I find them useful too.

 

[dnk512]

It is a very good meter. Only issue I have is the white dome that is sort of yellowish now and its lock in place (the sliding dome) mechanism is not reliable. The metering cell is great. It is my most reliable, calibrate all other meters, meter. Having said that, I would not pay more than $100 for mine because a) it is digital -- no analog glory and b) now days prices are dropping

 

[trythis]

The luna pro F is also nice and might save you some cash. Its analog though and uses a 9 volt.


Typos made on a tiny phone...

 

[Espasol]

Thanks for all your replies.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Its a great meter. Only thing that distracts me is that you have to take the white dome off/on every time you switch from incident to reflective. It locks with a bayonet. I like the sliding mechanism on my Digisix better, but overall prefer the Digipro F because it has more functions and shows more precise info (1/10 f-stop vs 1/3 on the Digisix).

 

[M Carter]

Are you somewhere that shipping from the US is reasonable? Lots and lots of meters on eBay, but many are from the US.

 

[Alex Muir]

I have one and it is very good. Although you can take reflected readings, it's really an incident meter. It checks its own calibration every time you remove and replace the batteries. I also have the Seckonic L308s. It is very good, but the sliding incident dome is quite a loose fit and the meter can come out of your pocket, or the case, with the dome half covering the cell. Not a good situation if you don't spot it prior to taking a reading! Given prices in the UK, $140 sounds ok as long as it is in good condition and working properly.
Alex

 

[Born2Late]

I have one and it has been a problem from day one. It was out of calibration from the factory. It took months to get it repaired because it had to be sent to Germany. I think I would look for a different model or a Seckonic. I really don't think Gossens are what they used to be.

 

[Jeff Bradford]

I bought mine new for $100 about 18 months ago.

 

[netog]

I bought mine in 2011, new for $244.
Never had a problem with it.

 

[benjiboy]

I have one and I like it a lot, it's very pocket able and accurate and I like the semi-selective 30° acceptance angle of the sensor in the reflected light mode and the fact it's powered by a single AA Alkaline battery you can buy anywhere, the only downside as someone else on this thread wrote you have to be careful not to loose the incidental light dome.

 

[MotoMark]

I've had mine for the last 3 years and it's easy to read and let's me choose if I want to read the EV ( which is my preferred method ) or set it to aperture or shutter priority readings.

I paid pretty much full price for mine but I haven't regretted it so if you can get a good deal on one I'd say go for it.

 

[benjiboy]

One more point that may be of interest to potential buyers is that it's the only flash meter I know that has a setable available flash sync speed of 1/90 sec which is the maximum speed the Canon New F1 syncs at.