Light meter (or meter app) for 6x6 645

[BobBill]

Curious. I use a phone app light meter, called "light Meter" and seems decent thus far...any comments from users. I use basic and have not up-date for year. Curious...

 

[BrianShaw]

I found it decent but stopped using it because using a regular light meter was just as convenient.

 

[Alan9940]

I've used it occasionally and it is OK, but I much prefer a handheld spot meter.

 

[Svenedin]

I have that app and I have used it with a folding pre-war Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta. The photos were fine. I would usually carry my Sekonic or Weston meters when using a camera without a light meter but because the Super Ikonta (530/16) fits in my pocket I sometimes want to go without carrying an additional meter. I always have my phone with me so the app is handy sometimes.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It works well enough, if it's what you have with you, and you don't want to carry another thing. The Gossen Digisix is very compact, if incident readings work for you. It can also take reflected readings, but it's good to do some testing if you want to use it that way, to be sure you're reading the right thing.

 

[M. Axel Wikstrom]

If you're using print film (B&W or color), during the day "Sunny-16" works fine. It's probably more accurate than some meters. I carry a good meter for slide film or "critical" work.

 

[TheRook]

I too have that app on my phone. It works just fine as a basic exposure meter, and can measure low light conditions quite well. I hardly use my Gossen Luna Pro anymore.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I recommend the Gossen Luna Pro SBC and the Sekonic L-308S. Both will do reflectance and incident readings. The Gossen Luna Pro SBC can be used with a spot meter attachment while the Sekonic L-308S has a flash meter. I have both including the spot meter attachment. I also use the PME prism [with light meter].

 

[WilmarcoImaging]

I use the Pocket Light Meter app it is agrees fairly well with my Sekonic L-758DR, for spot metering. The app doesn't do incident metering, which for me is important. So I use the app rarely, but do trust it when I do use it.

 

[Anon Ymous]

I assume you mean the application whose interface looks like an old fashioned light meter, right? It's a fairly good one, but a lot depends on your device. It can do incident metering, as long as your device has a light sensor (on the screen side). The annoying bit is the lack of dome. It makes taking an incident reading tougher, because you need to have your device at the correct angle. If light doesn't fall dead on, then it deviates quite a bit from the correct value.

 

[Nodda Duma]

I've been use the light meter app for a couple years. Aside from normal use, I use the EV100 values for determining exposure times for my dry plates (at ISO 0.5, which the app doesn't reach down to). Works great... I'm actually using it to wean off of meters altogether by reinforcing Sunny-16 rule for B&W.

 

[BobBill]

Okay, I used to use app for meter. The app tried to extort me so I dumped..

Anyone use digital camera meter for their med format film shots?

 

[BobBill]

FWIW, I usually go at 200 with T-X and the 16 when I think about it...

 

[E. von Hoegh]

I don't carry a phone, so I'm content to use a LunaSix. Which ironically is bulkier then the phone!
Lightmeters are not format-specific.

 

[OptiKen]

I've stopped using the different apps available for my iPhone 6s
For some reason they have started to become unreliable, occassionally throwing off random results that are obviously 'off the mark'
I'm sure it is a problem with my phone and not the apps but I just can't rely on them anymore.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I also tried several of the light meter apps with my Nexus 4 phone and found all of them to be unreliable. Sometimes they matched my Gossen meters perfectly; sometimes they were many stops off. If you want a light meter, I urge you to buy the device that was designed and built for that express purpose. As the existing stock of meters age, some fail, some are lost in drawers or cabinets, some are discarded. Buy one while you can.

 

[M Carter]

Anyone use digital camera meter for their med format film shots?

Exposure's exposure. Format doesn't really matter in this case. If the meter says "ISO 400, f8 at 1/125th", and you're not doing something like crazy macro stuff, it doesn't matter what camera you use those settings on.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My iPhone 7 does not have the capability of a Gossen Luna Pro SBC nor a Sekonic L308S. Don't even ask if an iPhone can handle the Zone System.

 

[jim10219]

They make an incident dome for those light meter apps. It's not too expensive. I've never used it though, so I can't comment on its reliability. But I use the Pocket Light Meter app often. It's very accurate as long as you're not metering too complex of a scene. For critical work, I rely on my Zone VI digital spot meter. Sometimes I'll use one of my old sekonic selenium meters for fun or convenience (one is hot shoe mountable). I use my DSLR often with my large format because I can confirm what the shot will look like beforehand, and film for those cameras is expensive. If I'm just shooting for fun I'll often pull out the Pocket Light Meter app since it's usually on me, especially if I'm using filters and have to do some calculations. Those dials help to keep me from counting. Sometimes I just use sunny 16.

They're all tools. They're only as accurate as the person using them. Knowing each meter's strengths and weaknesses is more important than which meter you chose.

 

[etn]

Anyone use digital camera meter for their med format film shots?

I think it could be a nice way of doing test exposures, similar to what was done with, for instance, Hasselblad Polaroid backs "in the old days".
However I personally do not want to lug (yet) another camera around, and find a spotmeter more convenient and just as reliable with a bit of experience.

 

[M Carter]

I'll do the DSLR if it's inside and I'm lighting it, model, stylist, etc - I hoard my remaining polaroid! I made a profile for my camera that shows a B&W image that's fairly close to the film - I get more shadow detail with film, but it's a good way to step back and look for oddball stuff like we used to do with polaroids. "There's a stand in the shot!" kind of stuff.