GW690iii on the way, how are the hot shoe mounted meters?

mark · Jun 4, 2020

I had originally thought I wanted a GSW. I went through lots of photos. Film and Digital showed me just how little I used a wide angle. So I started searching for a GW. I found one from Japan with a very low count and the highest serial number I had seen. It should be here in a couple weeks.

Are the hot shoe mounted meters worth the cost?

macfred · Jun 5, 2020

I have the GW670iii and a GSW690II - bought the shoe-mounted Voigtländer VC meter and used it for a few weeks. It's a nice looking gadget; it works like it should and it's pricey ...
I finally sold mine.
Metering with an hand held exposure meter like my Gossen Sixtomat flash is much more versatile (measuring for incident and recflected light; flash metering) and it's reasonably priced.

kahlheins · Jun 5, 2020

I'd give handheld meters my vote as well. I have a small Sekonic which can be mounted on a hot/cold shoe, but it is not nearly as convenient as it first appears. If you are looking for a meter, there is countless threads here going over the topic. I own a Sekonic Twinmate and a Gossen Starlite 2. Happy with both. The one camera mounted accessory meter that I know that is truly well executed is the Hasselblad "Knob" meter for the 500 series cameras.

Dan Daniel · Jun 5, 2020

I'll third this separate meter recommendation. A hot shoe mounted meter is basically turning your whole camera into the meter. Do you really want a meter the size of a GW690?

Huss · Jun 5, 2020

Dan Daniel said:
I'll third this separate meter recommendation. A hot shoe mounted meter is basically turning your whole camera into the meter. Do you really want a meter the size of a GW690?

Hmm, I think of it as turning the whole meter into a camera. And so I love that my tiny Voigtlander VCII takes 6x9 images.

I have hand held meters, and hot shoe meters. If you want a hot shoe meter, the Voigtlander is great, tiny and really easy to use.

mshchem · Jun 5, 2020

I've got these cameras, I just use a Minolta IV F incident meter.

Grim Tuesday · Jun 5, 2020

The Voigtlander VC II is infuriatingly priced. It must cost them less than $10 to make and the markup is obscene. It reminds me of TI-83/84 calculators, which are required for most students in the US, were introduced in 1996 and haven't been changed significantly since. And somehow still cost $120. I would love a $50 hot shoe mounted meter, but until one comes out I'll stick with $50 handhelds that can do incident metering as well.

moto-uno · Jun 5, 2020

I loved my Sekonic Twinmate , until it fell off into the sea . I've ordered another ( on sale ) "cuz I kinda miss how handy and
small it was . May add a little duct tape next time . Peter

abruzzi · Jun 5, 2020

Depending on where you shoot, if you are doing incident metering, you don't need to take a reading for every shot, just when the light changes. For me the hassle of pulling out a handheld meter to meter a scene is mitigated by this. I recently bought a small used sekonic digital meter. it came with a pouch with a belt loop and the usual very long lanyard. I found that what worked great was keeping it on my hip and looping the lanyard around my belt. That made it easily accessible and I didn't have to worry about someone filching it.

itsdoable · Jun 5, 2020

If you like shoe mounted meters, the VC-II makes a nice, but expensive, package.

I tend to carry cameras in backpacks, and don't like the way shoe mount meters snag on things when you take them out / put them in bags. I much prefer using a hand held meter, like the Sekonic L-318 or L-308.

But if you are carrying just a camera, no bags, empty/no pockets - it's hard to beat.

moto-uno · Jun 5, 2020

"Reel to reel" is the first thing that crossed my mind on seeing this ( I guess I should stay out of the sun ) . Sure is a cutie though , makes the
Twinmate look large . Peter

john_s · Jun 6, 2020

I find the VC II irritating because the dials move too easily. I'd prefer detents to prevent that from happening.

I agree with previous posts: I had mine on my Rolleiflex SL66 but a handheld meter is so much easier. A clip on meter doesn't make your camera behave like a Nikon or a Canon.

I sometimes have the VC II around my neck with a string which can be handy.

mark · Jun 6, 2020

Looks like the hot shoe option is not such a hot idea.

I’ll just grab a small meter I can slip in my pocket. I bought the GW to have a light MF option for easy grab and go. My big Sekonic kind of defeats that.

thanks for the info.

Pieter12 · Jun 6, 2020

The Gossen DigiS\ix is small, easily carried in a shirt pocket and if you really want to, it has a tripod screw so you could attach a hot shoe adapter and mount it to the camera.

DREW WILEY · Jun 6, 2020

I use a Pentax spotmeter for everything anyway. Over 50 yrs ago I had a top mounted averaging meter for an early Pentax 35mm camera before TTL metering was available. I got good with it; but I'd never go back to either something like that or TTL. Handheld spotmetering is more accurate and consistent.

wyofilm · Jun 6, 2020

I was thinking about trying this ...

https://www.kekscameras.com/#/

Horses for courses. A Pentax spotmeter is wonderful, but something big and extra to pack around when taking casual snapshots on holiday. I use sunny 16 (and bracket) with my folding cameras (and sometimes my cell phone), but a small hot shoe mounted light meter would be handy.

mark · Jun 6, 2020

wyofilm said:
I was thinking about trying this ...

https://www.kekscameras.com/#/

Horses for courses. A Pentax spotmeter is wonderful, but something big and extra to pack around when taking casual snapshots on holiday. I use sunny 16 (and bracket) with my folding cameras (and sometimes my cell phone), but a small hot shoe mounted light meter would be handy.

Are there reliable iPhone light meter apps? Using my phone really never crossed my mind.

in the past I would quick meter my hand in the sun. Call it zone 6 and go. But that was when 35mm was relatively cheap.

this will be for street shots and quick snaps anyway.

Adrian Bacon · Jun 6, 2020

mark said:
I had originally thought I wanted a GSW. I went through lots of photos. Film and Digital showed me just how little I used a wide angle. So I started searching for a GW. I found one from Japan with a very low count and the highest serial number I had seen. It should be here in a couple weeks.

Are the hot shoe mounted meters worth the cost?

I have a GW690. I just use a Sekonic handheld meter, or a meter app on my phone, or worst case scenario, just follow the sunny 16 rule. I tend to expose for the shadows and let the highlights fall were they may.

MattKing · Jun 6, 2020

wyofilm said:
I was thinking about trying this ...

https://www.kekscameras.com/#/

That certainly looks interesting although, for the life of me I don't understand why someone would create a webpage promoting a light meter where the webpage is so dark you can't see the product!

RalphLambrecht · Jun 6, 2020

mark said:
I had originally thought I wanted a GSW. I went through lots of photos. Film and Digital showed me just how little I used a wide angle. So I started searching for a GW. I found one from Japan with a very low count and the highest serial number I had seen. It should be here in a couple weeks.

Are the hot shoe mounted meters worth the cost?

From experience, I can only recommend the Gossen hot-shoe mounted meter.

DREW WILEY · Jun 6, 2020

wyofilm - big and heavy? The Fuji 6x9 rangefinder is the smallest backpacking camera I own, and combined with a Pentax spotmeter and a few filters etc is an ultra-portable option as far as I'm concerned. My idea of a holiday is what I did with it a couple years ago - a hundred miles of high country that included a blizzard. So when one factors in all the the food and survival gear for a couple weeks out, a spotmeter is nothing. Even on airline flights with my wife on her own idea of a vacation (Maui), it all fits into a petite shoulder bag smaller than many people use for their DLSR's, spotmeter included. But I did take a serious look at that little hotshoe meter. But being an averaging meter, it's not the kind of thing I'd trust for critical readings all the way from glistening snow and ice way down into deep shadows. I want to know exactly where the endpoints are. High mtns and sunbaked deserts can deliver tremendous contrast at times.

wyofilm · Jun 7, 2020

Yes, we know Drew you go to the mountains carrying a pack horse stuffed full to the brim (because the horse gets tired), rescue twelve people by lunch, all the while singing show tunes in perfect pitch.

But this is why I started out by saying horses for courses. Mortals sometimes are happy walking down the street with a tidy 6x6 folder that fits into the front pocket of a parka or even khakis. This is especially true when I am out and about with family and friends. When I'm out by myself and have the time, I pull out my Pentax spotmeter, which I said was wonderful.

Are you heading Pinedale way this year?

wyofilm · Jun 7, 2020

mark said:
Are there reliable iPhone light meter apps? Using my phone really never crossed my mind.

I use a pinhole app called Pinhole Assistant. I uses the camera's light meter and the user inputed film ISO and aperture to calculate exposure time. It gets me in the ball park. I bet it is no better or worse than other iphone apps, but I don't know for sure.

wyofilm · Jun 7, 2020

MattKing said:
That certainly looks interesting although, for the life of me I don't understand why someone would create a webpage promoting a light meter where the webpage is so dark you can't see the product!

Good point! Hopefully, the design department is better than the marketing department, which might be the case if it is a one person show!

itsdoable · Jun 7, 2020

Pieter12 said:
The Gossen DigiS\ix is small, easily carried in a shirt pocket and if you really want to, it has a tripod screw so you could attach a hot shoe adapter and mount it to the camera.

The Gossen DigiSix is a lovely small light capable meter, very light and minimal in the pocket. No complaints about it's accuracy or metering capability. There are a few things though.

Although it's small, it's pretty big mounted on a hot shoe, and sticks out a fair bit.

The meter button has no guard, and due to it's location, it's easily press by pressure in your pocket or bag. So much so, that the battery is often dead when you pull it out.

The display reads in EVs, which you must set on a ring with small text. You then get a full range of settings, but I prefer a direct reading display on a digital meter rather than an extra step to get a reading. I find the numbers on the scale small and difficult to read, but that is probably age related. By comparison, the Sekonic Twin Mate is similarly small but has larger easier to read text, and the analog meter dial setting is quicker then the DigiSix EV setting dial - which defeats one of the advantages of digital displays... (Note the Sekonic Twin Mate is a digitally controlled meter with an analog display)

I still use mine though, it's hard to beat it for small and light.

GW690iii on the way, how are the hot shoe mounted meters?

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency