Light Meter

[thebanana]

Anyone ever used one of these? I like the fact they are small but would like to hear from someone who has actually used one.

http://www.cameraquest.com/voivcmet2.htm

 

[arigram]

Are you looking for just a small lightmeter or those specific ones that can fit an RF shoe?
If it is just the former, I can personally suggest the Sekonic Twinmate L-208, if the latter, I apologize.

I forgot, it can also fit a shoe.

 

[Ian Grant]

Nice little meter Ari, and what an incredible price from B&H it's small & far cheaper than the Voightlander although not a slick looking.

Ian

 

[Hughjb]

I use one with my Fuji, is a good meter.

Hugh

 

[thebanana]

Thanks for the tip Ari. I will check out the Sekonic. I am looking for a shoe mounted meter option for my Fuji.

 

[Barry S]

I also use a Twinmate L-208--what a great little meter. I bought it to use shoe-mounted on my GSW690 II, but I found I preferred hanging it around my neck. It's so small and light, you can just wear it around your neck and it's not intrusive. In theory, it seemed like a good idea to have it in the cold shoe, but I found it much easier not to have to raise and position the camera every time I wanted to make a meter reading. I also found myself using it in incident mode and it was impractical to have it stuck on the camera.

 

[MattKing]

I recently purchased a gossen digiflash and it seems great. The non-flash metering option is the digisix:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/257033-REG/Gossen_GO_4006_Digisix_Ultra_Compact_Lightmeter.html

As you will see on that page, there is an accessory shoe option available for it as well (it uses the tripod thread mount on the meter).

I probably wouldn't have gone for the digiflash over the digisix, except Glazer's only had a digiflash in stock, and the price was very favourable.

Matt

 

[Ed Sukach]

I've just finished "wringing out" a new Sekonic 308s Flashmate, bought to replace my Gossen Ultra-Pro.
The cost of the Sekonic, new, was less than the 'standard-for-opening-the box' initial repair cost for the Gossen.

The Sekonic doesn't have the light measuring scales of the Ultra-Pro ... but, as afar as I can tell, it correlates *closely* to the Gossen, and the in-camera metering system of my Olympus OM-4, both of which have served me well in the past.

One thing about it is really good - it operates on one (1) AA every-day, run-of-the-mill battery.

I'd advise everyone to give flash metering capability due consideration when buying an exposure meter.

 

[Lee L]

I looked at the Voigtlander VCII meter, but decided to go with the Gossen Digiflash in the end. The Digiflash was $169 a couple of years ago, and the VCII about $150. The versatility of the Digiflash won me over. It's been consistent across the board with my LunaPro F, but is much smaller and I am much more likely to carry and use it. I've taken to using the Digiflash in incident mode 95% of the time, and have used it for studio flash alongside the LunaPro F (it's less intimidating when you hold it up in front of a sitter's face). With rangefinders, when standing in the same light as my subject, I just hold the Digiflash over my head or shoulder, level and pointing 180 degrees from my subject, then use the reading. It's fast and easy. The EV readout is held on the display indefinitely, so if the light's changed, I can note the number, take a new reading, then adjust quickly to the relative change of exposure in thirds of stops.

The VCII does have the advantage with reflective readings of covering about a 90mm field of view on 35mm film, so you can use the 90mm frames of a rangefinder to closely approximate the reading area. That's harder to estimate with a handheld reflectance meter. But I've come to prefer an incident meter for most 35mm work over the 40 years I've been shooting, especially with rangefinders.

I used to have a "review" of the Digiflash here on APUG, but it may have gone away with a major software update. I haven't had a chance to try out the VCII firsthand. I think the Sekonic Ed mentions is a good alternative, less expensive than the Gossen Digiflash, but it's significantly larger than the VCII or the Digiflash/Digisix.

Lee