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

Bill Burk · Jun 7, 2020

moto-uno said:
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

Mine fell in Little Sur Creek by the swimming hole when I leaned over the bridge to take a picture. A Scout retrieved it for me, I dried it out, and it still works fine. I like the quick snappy positive needle movement. It’s like a combination of digital circuitry driving an analog meter needle. Really lightweight and long lasting battery. But I don’t shoe mount it. It’s around my neck in a shirt pocket.

Prest_400 · Jun 7, 2020

I use a Sekonic L308 myself, mostly incident. Not shoe mounted but quite easy to use and not limited to what the camera points.
Thought about the "Raveni labs" Kickstarter which is a 3D printed tiny shoe mounted meter. Interestingly also that by the time this project became known, similar OLED display tiny meter models pop up from Asian sources...

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.

DREW WILEY said:
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.

The Fuji 6x9's get a bad rap for bulk but heavy they aren't. I think a Nikon F5 with a 50 1.8 weighs about the same but the Fuji is quasi large format! I was lent a beautiful Hasselblad for a day's shoot and 6x6 felt quite a smaller negative after developing. An advantage of 6x9 is getting a free 6x6 and other exotic formats such as Xpan when cropping!

xya · Jun 7, 2020

+ one more for the digisix. it's not big at all

moto-uno · Jun 7, 2020

^ My oh my , what a sweet little camera that is , Peter

xya · Jun 8, 2020

it's a very light 3D printed body by a company called cameradactyl that accepts the superb mamiya universal/press lenses. I love it and I made a website about it here http://www.oddcameras.com/cameradactyl_universal_travel.htm

Huss · Jun 8, 2020

mark said:
Are there reliable iPhone light meter apps? .

I have the Pocket Light Meter app but do not recommend it because sometimes it gives way wrong readings.
Most of the time it is ok, but if you can't trust it when it counts, it's not of any use to me.

Huss · Jun 8, 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.

That looks very nice! Wonder when it will be available.

Huss · Jun 8, 2020

Grim Tuesday said:
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.

Yeah, considering you can buy a new camera (albeit digital) for less than that with lens and built in meter, it is kinda bonkers.
I think it's at that price point because they must sell so few of them. It is really nicely made with it's aluminum case and solid dials, but yeah, it cannot cost them much.

Oldwino · Jun 10, 2020

There’s a light meter app for iPhone called Ligh Meter Wheel that works great. It’s styled like an old fashion Sekonic meter. Works great with negative film - I haven’t tried it with transparency film.

StepheKoontz · Jun 10, 2020

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

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

That is interesting.

beemermark · Jun 11, 2020

john_s said:
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.

I have a VC meter and the the dials not only move to easily but so does the ISO setting. I bought mine when they were ~$100 and actually use it a lot. I have two handheld meters that I really like and use a lot but with a RF camera I find the the meter hanging around mu neck a d_mn nuisance. The handheld meter is always in the way or tangled up with the camera. So yes, I do like the VCII. Nothing is perfect.

beemermark · Jun 11, 2020

StepheKoontz said:
That is interesting.

That does look interesting. Reasonable price and no dials to spin free. I'm temped, could sell my VCII at an obscene profit and use this.

DREW WILEY · Jun 11, 2020

wyofilm - I'm not as smart as a horse or a mule; otherwise I wouldn't be my own pack animal ! The first thing you have to understand about that is that Einstein was wrong in how he tried to visualize the relation between gravity, mass, and time.
It's really rather simple. Gravity increases with time. I can prove it. The pack feels heavier each year.

Jonnymm · Jun 15, 2020

mark said:
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.

Where are you based? Really contemplating getting the GW690 II via Ebay Japan just living in fear of the import charges to Ireland

John Koehrer · Jun 15, 2020

DREW WILEY said:
wyofilm - I'm not as smart as a horse or a mule; otherwise I wouldn't be my own pack animal ! The first thing you have to understand about that is that Einstein was wrong in how he tried to visualize the relation between gravity, mass, and time.
It's really rather simple. Gravity increases with time. I can prove it. The pack feels heavier each year.

NAH! There's no such thing as gravity. The earth sucks.

DREW WILEY · Jun 15, 2020

One more reason to carry a bigger view camera the older you get. The larger the bellows, the more helium it can contain!

itsdoable · Jun 15, 2020

DREW WILEY said:
wyofilm - I'm not as smart as a horse or a mule; otherwise I wouldn't be my own pack animal ! The first thing you have to understand about that is that Einstein was wrong in how he tried to visualize the relation between gravity, mass, and time.
It's really rather simple. Gravity increases with time. I can prove it. The pack feels heavier each year.

John Koehrer said:
NAH! There's no such thing as gravity. The earth sucks.

... you mean the earth sucks more each year? ... That's depressing, but it explains a lot.

mark · Jun 15, 2020

Jonnymm said:
Where are you based? Really contemplating getting the GW690 II via Ebay Japan just living in fear of the import charges to Ireland

USA no import charges.

Timothy Hyde · Jun 17, 2020

I have both the GSW690 and GW690. The negatives of the 6x9 are huge...feel almost more like a 4x5 LF than a 6x6 to me--plus the number of shots per 120 roll is so limited---that I finally decided to go back to my Pentax spot meter and take the time to meter the scene and decide exactly how I want to deploy the light, where I want detail, and all of that,,, i.e., the old fashioned way.

jgoody · Jun 18, 2020

I have used 'my lightmeter pro' and 'pocket light meter' on my iphone. Generally they are pretty close to my Gossen Luna Pro SBC. When I am too lazy to carry that giant box I just go with the iphone. Certainly worth a try - 'my lightmeter pro' has a classic mode, both incident and reflected, that looks like a 'real' light meter.

macfred · Oct 20, 2020

wrong thread

Grim Tuesday · Oct 21, 2020

I know this thread was mistakenly bumped, but I have a relevant thing to share: https://www.ebay.com/itm/383690298805

Finally, someone is competing with these overpriced shoe meters. I have one of these on the way for my Certo 6 and Koni Omega. $37 seems like an actually fair price... If this one works, I'll get one of the cheapo top view meters for my P67 with WLF.

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

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