handheld light meters

[jcorll]

I am very old school! As of now, When I don't want to use the lightmeters in my SLR's, I use my grandfathers General Electric DW-68. The values shown on it are from before they standardized ASA values. So I took out the card that had the GE numbers and made my own ASA number value line for it. It is pretty accurate! As much as I love it, I am still looking for a more modern meter.

 

[Brandon D.]

I realize that this topic has probably been beat to death, but as a novice, I just had to ask. I'm taking another digital class this semester, and trying to get into a 35mm film photography class. The latter is a prerequiste for a large format class that I eventually hope to take. Any way, I know I will need to obtain a light meter at some point.

I'm assuming that whatever model I end up with, it should be multifunctional e.g. be able to measure, incident, relected, flash, etc.

Problem is: which model/brand? Sekonic vs. Gossen vs. ?? Analog vs. Digital

Is this a personal preference, one of those brand loyalty choices, or All the above?

Find a friend that has one, and play with theirs. If you don't have a friend with one, find a local camera shop that will let you play around with one in the store. Nothing beats hands on experience before you buy.

By the way, the Sekonic L-358 seems to have a cult following.

 

[sharris]

For what it is worth, I've found myself using it a few ways. First, I like the analog displays. Easier to visualze where I am in range of light that way. Next, I use incident metering 75% of time in typical situations. But being able to 'spot' meter is important too for following reason and I hope it is a valid one to you too. When I have high contrast scenes where I am concerned about value placement, it's helpful if the subject image allows it, to spot meter the highest and lowest values and then see how that lines up in terms of range. If I just went off of incident, it may get 'weighted' to one end or the other. But having spot allows me to decide whether or not that incident reading is representative of where I want to place my values or if I need to shift things a bit. So therefore, having both is important to me for that reason. I have a vintage Gossen Luna Pro so I assume new models ALL have incident AND spot, but wanted to share my reasoning for desiring both. Cheers.

 

[maciekz]

From what I know, there is not really a good solution the includes flash metering and spot metering, [...]

That would be Sekonic L758-DR.

 

[Mike1234]

^^^ Ooh... me wants me precious!!

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

That would be Sekonic L758-DR.

That's correct.
Reflected / Spot, multi-spot, spot-midtone / Incident / Flash / Ambient+flash % + variation... the list goes on!

Few people are worried by the 1/10th fraction mentioned in this thread, certainly I am not.

 

[BetterSense]

Lightmeters are expensive. I made myself a really good spot/incident meter with a digital LCD display, and it works great. I really like the looks of the digisix though because of the the analog wheel and I might end up buying one of those anyway.

 

[Jeff Kubach]

I like my Gossen Luna Pro F.

Jeff

 

[benjiboy]

Find a friend that has one, and play with theirs. If you don't have a friend with one, find a local camera shop that will let you play around with one in the store. Nothing beats hands on experience before you buy.

By the way, the Sekonic L-358 seems to have a cult following.

Hey watch it, I have a L358, who are you calling a cult ?

 

[John Koehrer]

Hey watch it, I have a L358, who are you calling a cult ?

Don't take offense Benji, he's just being diffi (cult, that is)

 

[benjiboy]

Don't take offense Benji, he's just being diffi (cult, that is)

At least I'm a useful cult.

 

[benjiboy]

I like my Gossen Luna Pro F.

Jeff

I have a Gossen Lunapro SBC ( Profisix) and a Western Euromaster I've had for more than twenty years they are both fine meters but since I bought the Sekonic L358 about a year ago I haven't used either of them, and am thinking of selling both of them Jeff because the Sekonic is such a versatile meter , is so quick and easy to use, and can take up to nine light readings remember them, and average them at the touch of a button in either ambient or flash light or a mixture of the two, telling you what proportion of the reading is from each, I'm very impressed with it.

 

[cooltouch]

The Sekonic L-358 sounds like a helluva meter, but geez, it's kinda pricey isn't it? I reckon I can do the calcs in my head and not complain too much with the money I've saved using my Luna Pro.

 

[Pumal]

I've had a Gossen Lunasix 3 for years and it does it for me

 

[benjiboy]

The Sekonic L-358 sounds like a helluva meter, but geez, it's kinda pricey isn't it? I reckon I can do the calcs in my head and not complain too much with the money I've saved using my Luna Pro.[/QUOTE

They are quite expensive, but pro quality meters always have been, the Gossen Lunapro SBC when I bought it new more than twenty years ago was just as costly relatively.