Light meter

[connie2]

Can anyone recommend an accurate handheld incident and reflective light/exposure meter?

 

[Marc B.]

Connie,
Knowing your budget would be helpful. Use the search block in the upper right of the page.
Help APUG save server space. Light meters have been discussed ad nauseam.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Marc

 

[Colin Corneau]

What Marc said.

But FWIW, I needed a small handheld meter just as you described. I picked up a Gossen Digisix meter -- really small, accurate and easy to use.

On a recent trip overseas, it performed flawlessly. Really accurate and even has an alarm function so I don't oversleep.

 

[cjbecker]

You eye and brain will do a great job. Joking with some seriousness in there.

I have not been able to find a small, great feeling light meter yet that did what I want.

 

[jmcd]

If it's not too big for you and you are willing to shop on the used market, the Gossen Luna Pro or Luna Pro F is awesome, accurate, durable, and easy to read. It reads both incident and reflected light.

 

[Ken N]

If you want something that also works with flash, I recommend Sekonic. I use an L-508 which has a built in spot meter.

 

[BradleyK]

If it's not too big for you and you are willing to shop on the used market, the Gossen Luna Pro or Luna Pro F is awesome, accurate, durable, and easy to read. It reads both incident and reflected light.

+1. My Luna Pro SBC has been a reliable companion for 31 years thus far. The "leather" case fell apart some time back but the meter still works like a charm.

 

[Diapositivo]

I would choose between analogue reading and digital reading first: digital allows a more immediate reading but only displays one couple, or the EV, with a decently big number, while analogue reading gives simultaneously several exposure couples, that's why some find it more practical, but might be more sensitive to shocks and harder to read for those with visual "challenges".

After you made that choice, any light meter with an SBC (silicon blue cell) and a currently available battery should fit your needs and you can certainly find a cheap occasion on some second-hand market. Anything marked Minolta, Gossen or Sekonic is of good quality. Minolta sold their lightmeter division to Kenko so a Kenko lightmeter after the Minolta acquisition is also very good.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

any gossen meter will do!

 

[cliveh]

For black & white I don't use a light meter, but do own a Western Master II and have a built in prism meter on my Hasselblad. However, if you would like a light meter that is both beautiful in design and function, can I suggest a Gossen Sixtry.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Budget, existing expertise with a meter and proposed avenues of use further down the line, together with the choice of either analogue or digital will see what you end up with. What works for others here may not necessarily work for you. My personal choice is a Sekonic L758 for its speed and versatility. But I've also angled toward an old Weston. I think primarily it is a question of budget because a meter can be obtained from around $130 on the second hand market to more than $1200 new.

 

[wiltw]

At any particular point in time, the meter brand of choice was...
Gossen (back in 60's and 70's)
Minolta (back in 80's and 90's)
Sekonic (in the 2000's) -- after they made their meters more like the Minolta user interface and Minolta left the meter market

So on the used market for flashmeters I can highly recommend the Minolta Autometer IV and V, the Minolta Flashmeter V and VI, the Minolta Spotmeter F, which typically get overlooked because today's photographer so often has only heard of the current Sekonics.
Kenko now markets the Autometer V and the Flashmeter VI under their own Kenko brand name and with new model numbers (the Autometer V is now the Kenko 1100).

 

[RalphLambrecht]

they are great metwrs. i've used them for yearswith grat success,outside and in the studio!