Looking for a good & reliable light meter to shoot street portraits!

[unwantedfocus]

Hello, I'm looking for a light meter to shoot street portraits with, I used my phone til now but its not that accurate, which isn't the biggest problem for me, but its always so awkward when I ask for a portrait and suddenly I pull out my phone and my subject looks confused til I explain what's going on.

I think this would change when having a handheld lightmeter, since the person I'm taking a picture of would react differently to something they never seen before. I feel like the excitement get lost sometimes when people see the phone and they seem confused which is reflected in the image. I hope this makes sense.

My budget is 100 euros suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

What camera are you using?

 

[unwantedfocus]

Yashica-MAT 6x6 TLR

 

[Sirius Glass]

There are many to choose from. I like the Sekonic 308L which also has a flash meter [Edit: reflective and incident readings], Gossen Luna SBC, ...

 

[Patrick Robert James]

You will have to get a used meter at that price point. A Gossen Luna Pro Digital (Sixtomat in Europe) is a good one. So is the Sekonic 308. If you want something that will "impress" people then a Gossen Luna Pro SBC with it's dial would do the trick. Not as easy to use as a digital meter, but it is a really good meter. I think it is called something else in Europe though, like the Profisix or something. You'll have to look it up. Should cost less than the digital meters.

 

[ic-racer]

I think this could slide into the flash shoe on the side (if yours has a flash shoe on the side like the 124G. )

 

[awty]

X2 on a flashshoe meter. I have a Doomo, but there are plenty to choose from.

 

[unwantedfocus]

Thank you for all the recommendations. Sadly the flash shoe option is out of the question since the regular YASHICA-MAT does not have one. On the YASHICA MAT 124 & YASHICA MAT-124G there is a flash shoe at the top so I lucked out of this one. Also if I would buy a meter for the flash shoe it would only read reflected light which isn't the best option for portraits?!?!?!.

I decided to go with the Sekonic Flashmate L-308s, the meter will be able to read incident light and get a more accurate reading for portraits I guess, I paid 130 Euro with shipping, it will arrive in a few days. The Sekonic Flashmate l-308x was a bit too expensive for my budget right now, big price bump to have aperture priority reading....

best regards

 

[tezzasmall]

I decided to go with the Sekonic Flashmate L-308s, the meter will be able to read incident light and get a more accurate reading for portraits I guess, I paid 130 Euro with shipping, it will arrive in a few days.

best regards

You made a good choice there! I have had and used mine for decades and it has never let me down, whether when out and about with my manual cameras, or in the studio, when using flash units.

You also paid a good price, presuming that it's new? Just checking on Ebay UK, there is a variety or prices - some way above the norm - and none were as low were as low as what you paid, even for the second hand models.

Have fun!

Terry S

 

[unwantedfocus]

You made a good choice there! I have had and used mine for decades and it has never let me down, whether when out and about with my manual cameras, or in the studio, when using flash units.

You also paid a good price, presuming that it's new? Just checking on Ebay UK, there is a variety or prices - some way above the norm - and none were as low were as low as what you paid, even for the second hand models.

Have fun!

Terry S

Thanks Terry, I bought it second hand it looks like new and barely used, when it arrives I will post some images. The prices are a bit confusing, The L-308B was introduced in 1994, the L-308BII in 1996, i decided to go with the L-308S introduced in 2005 which sounded much better to me, Source . The price range of those 3 meters are all the same which is super confusing, I saw no point in getting an older model.

best regards

 

[runswithsizzers]

Good choice! I think that Sekonic L-308s will be ideal for your purposes. And if you bought it within your 100 Euro budget, you did well. I paid $160 USD (133 Euros) for my used L-308s about 6 months ago.