Light meter suggestions (I found one I like)

[Chan Tran]

To Bill Burk! I haven't work with selenium cell. Is the output voltage? How much current can I draw from it without distorting the voltage? Is the output directly proportional to intensity?

 

[TomR55]

I have no clue how to use a flash meter, but maybe it’s useful?

No "maybe" about it. Photography is literally "writing with light,' no? Using a flash meter may lead to you learning how to light both natural and studio settings. Lighting is what makes great cinematography as well as many kinds of profitable photographs. Just acquiring a good flash, learning the principles of lighting, and then experimenting with lighting set-ups may open new vistas to you (or any other photographer who takes to time to do this). Just my opinion here .... .

 

[Chan Tran]

I have no clue how to use a flash meter, but maybe it’s useful?

Read the manual. It's relatively simple. I remember back in the late 70's (I think about 79) I simply bought the Minolta Flashmeter II without knowing anything about flash meter. It was quite easy to learn by reading the manual and it also taught me how to use the incident light meter. I never knew about the incident light meter until then.

 

[Yashica]

Looking for light meters to use with cameras that don’t have in-built ones. I really like the look of the old needle driven ones. but, both the ones I have gotten (Gossen Luna Pros) have had issues that make them unusable. Not sure where to go from here, figuring you guys might have some suggestions. Budget is $100, preferable less.

And no selenium, please!

Simply the TTArtisan Lightmeter II! It's about 69-75 EUR into germany, looks nice, avialable into black & silver editions. I've seen it onto a friends Leica M4-2. Don't make the horrible thing, like shown onto 35mmc, using a black LM onto a silver body....brrr.

Review on 35mmc

 

[MCB18]

are you looking for camera mounted or handheld?

Was looking for handheld, I found one that I like quite a bit.

No "maybe" about it. Photography is literally "writing with light,' no? Using a flash meter may lead to you learning how to light both natural and studio settings. Lighting is what makes great cinematography as well as many kinds of profitable photographs. Just acquiring a good flash, learning the principles of lighting, and then experimenting with lighting set-ups may open new vistas to you (or any other photographer who takes to time to do this). Just my opinion here .... .

Read the manual. It's relatively simple. I remember back in the late 70's (I think about 79) I simply bought the Minolta Flashmeter II without knowing anything about flash meter. It was quite easy to learn by reading the manual and it also taught me how to use the incident light meter. I never knew about the incident light meter until then.

Definitely good to know! I’ll keep that in mind and figure out how that feature works.

Simply the TTArtisan Lightmeter II! It's about 69-75 EUR into germany, looks nice, avialable into black & silver editions. I've seen it onto a friends Leica M4-2. Don't make the horrible thing, like shown onto 35mmc, using a black LM onto a black body....brrr.

Review on 35mmc

I did find a meter I liked, the Luna Pro F. It has all the features I need, and looks really good, for $50 USD. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Yashica]

Was looking for handheld, I found one that I like quite a bit.



Definitely good to know! I’ll keep that in mind and figure out how that feature works.


I did find a meter I liked, the Luna Pro F. It has all the features I need, and looks really good, for $50 USD. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I am glad you've found the right model. Btw, Luna Pro F is just the model name, it's being made by our german brand Gossen, which is famous/was famous into germany, back into it's heyday.

 

[Bill Burk]

My Luna Pro F just showed up, and it is in very good condition! Comparing it to my Nikon F meter, it gives similar results, so it seems to be working correctly!
View attachment 351741

Looks like you’re in business!

 

[Bill Burk]

To Bill Burk! I haven't work with selenium cell. Is the output voltage? How much current can I draw from it without distorting the voltage? Is the output directly proportional to intensity?

I’ll be graphing some characteristics soon.

It’s low voltage, 1 or 2 volts. The needles are driven by amperage, on the order of 100 microamps at full needle sweep but I think a good cell might produce twice that, but the meters are designed to only use about 100

 

[MCB18]

I’ll be graphing some characteristics soon.

It’s low voltage, 1 or 2 volts. The needles are driven by amperage, on the order of 100 microamps at full needle sweep but I think a good cell might produce twice that, but the meters are designed to only use about 100

They were famous outside of Germany, and they made some of the best meters on the market. They still make them, but they are eclipsed by other companies like Seconic.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Sunny 16 varies by latitude, season, altitude, and atmospheric conditions. But for negative film, it may not make a difference.

in the northern hemishere 'sunny16' variesvery little with season from 9am to 3pm.

 

[choiliefan]

Rolleiflex tlr's had a plate detailing sunny-16 exposure times by time of day and year:

 

[BrianShaw]

In slightly differnt units, a similar chart I found in an 1890's photography how-to book.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

As I recall the Kodak film boxes referred to the Sunny 16 rules as between 10am-2pm. I forget what they said about month of year?

 

[Anon Ymous]

As I recall the Kodak film boxes referred to the Sunny 16 rules as between 10am-2pm. I forget what they said about month of year?

Nowadays the datasheets' suggestions are for 2 hours after sunrise to 2 hours before sunset. No need to specify months.

 

[dokko]

Rolleiflex tlr's had a plate detailing sunny-16 exposure times by time of day and year:
View attachment 352300

maybe I'm reading this wrong, but the last entry seems to indicate that you need twice the exposure if you shoot in spring or autumn or use a UV filter, both leaves me puzzled:

an UV filter should never loose up a stop of light, if it does it's called an ND0.3 or NDx2.

and why would you need double the exposure at a sunny day at noon in April over a sunny day at noon in May?
how about a sunny day at noon in December?

Sounds very strange to me.

 

[dokko]

In slightly differnt units, a similar chart I found in an 1890's photography how-to book.

View attachment 352312

this one also appears of little use to me.
most importantly, without knowing the latitude of the geographical location it makes no sense at all. obviously on the equator the difference will be very small while at the north pole they will be huge (not to mention that it completely ignores the southern hemisphere).

less drastically, it also depends on the longitude because most places will not have the sun at its peak at 12.00 noon, which if we use the table above could easily result in an error of half a stop.

but even if we assume it was made for a specific location like NY, it doesn't make much sense to me. If I go out a take pictures at a bright sunny day in December at noon, I never found the exposure time to be 4 times longer than on a bright sunny day at noon in July (unless I was shooting a subject in backlight maybe).

In short, what seems weird to me that they made this rather complex table with high precision of 1/4 of a stop while the basics behind it seem very questionable.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Nowadays the datasheets' suggestions are for 2 hours after sunrise to 2 hours before sunset. No need to specify months.

Do they still have those little graphic pictures that would show the sunlit f/16 scene, and also show a snow scene, in the shade scene, open overcast scene and give the settings for each of those? When I was a kid, that;' how I set my little box camera. I;m trying to remember what shutter they used. Probably something like 1/60th.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

this one also appears of little use to me.
most importantly, without knowing the latitude of the geographical location it makes no sense at all. obviously on the equator the difference will be very small while at the north pole they will be huge (not to mention that it completely ignores the southern hemisphere).

less drastically, it also depends on the longitude because most places will not have the sun at its peak at 12.00 noon, which if we use the table above could easily result in an error of half a stop.

but even if we assume it was made for a specific location like NY, it doesn't make much sense to me. If I go out a take pictures at a bright sunny day in December at noon, I never found the exposure time to be 4 times longer than on a bright sunny day at noon in July (unless I was shooting a subject in backlight maybe).

In short, what seems weird to me that they made this rather complex table with high precision of 1/4 of a stop while the basics behind it seem very questionable.

Maybe reciprocity failure was more of an issue with this old type film which required more shutter time during the darker months? Even under regular daylight at noon in the summer, one second is indicated as normal. So, this is real slow film to begin with. So a little less ambient light requires a lot more exposure time. It's not a linear relationship.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Do they still have those little graphic pictures that would show the sunlit f/16 scene, and also show a snow scene, in the shade scene, open overcast scene and give the settings for each of those?

In the datasheets? No, but I've seen something like that at the box of ColorPlus 200.

 

[dokko]

Maybe reciprocity failure was more of an issue with this old type film which required more shutter time during the darker months? Even under regular daylight at noon in the summer, one second is indicated as normal. So, this is real slow film to begin with. So a little less ambient light requires a lot more exposure time. It's not a linear relationship.

I‘ve understood the „1“ in the table to be the standard factor, and the other numbers to be exposure compensation factors. But reading the example text, they do mention 1/2 sec exposure, so it seems to be really slow film indeed. Anybody knows what the normal ASA was at 1890?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

In the datasheets? No, but I've seen something like that at the box of ColorPlus 200.

Here the exposure instruction sheet inside for Kodacolor II film back when.

https://www.camera-museum.org/_files/ugd/06bda2_65165a5234ce4bb2aa9201df07b3566a.pdf?index=true

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Here's one for various Kodak films but with an extensive shooting location and ambient light list.

https://www.camera-museum.org/_files/ugd/06bda2_fc7c4d310b1243c4a5b8e54538bd5c33.pdf?index=true