Portable used light meter recommendations - affordable, neck lanyard friendly, reflected light

brainmonster

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Reflected light or reflected plus incident would be preferable. Needs to be portable so none of those big heavy meters because I'll never use them. Affordable maybe $50 max looking on ebay.

CDS meter preferable because I've heard bad things about reliability of selenium meters.

Want to use it with my Canon III rangefinder.

Any recommendations?
 

BradS

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good: Gossen LunaPro SBC
better: Gossen LunaPro digital or digisix
 

ProfessorC1983

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I found a used Sekonic L-208 on the auction site a couple weeks back for $70. New they're $100-125. Worth it to me, as every older/cheaper meter I tried was wildly out of calibration by 2-3 stops or more.
 
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brainmonster

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I'm looking at a digital meter now. Gossen Polysix looks decent - it has LEDs for over/under. Maybe newer/more reliable. Also has a viewfinder. Anyone use one of these before?
 

removed account4

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some of the digital / lcd meters eat batteries for breakfast. google the ones you are looking at before purchase.
 

MattKing

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I'm not sure those are LEDs.
I had one of those Polysix meters for a while. They are quite old, and they don't employ an over/under indicator. Instead, they use a procedure where you need to adjust the dial until you match the intensity of two lights, which I didn't particularly like.
IIRC, the battery is an AA battery, which is good.
 

madNbad

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Sekonic 308. The earlier versions do incident, reflected and flash. The latest version adds HD video and cine. Works forever on a single AA battery.
 
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MattKing

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I now see that there is a different meter that is more modern - a Gossen Polysix Electronic 2. Is that the one you mean? I have no experience with it, and I can't find any English resources for it - I can't read the German manual.
 
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brainmonster

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MattKing said:
I now see that there is a different meter that is more modern - a Gossen Polysix Electronic 2. Is that the one you mean? I have no experience with it, and I can't find any English resources for it - I can't read the German manual.
Click to expand...

Looks like they might work the same...the one's I'm looking at are just "Gossen Polysix" I don't see a 2 anywhere. It looks like you do have to match the intensity of the two lights...might not be super precise, I think I'll go for a needle-matching model instead possibly.

Manual:

https://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/gossen_polysix_electronic.pdf
 

MattKing

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That is the one I had. It is from the 1960s.
 

Deleted member 88956

Gossen's LunaPro SBC is a great meter, but portability would be questionable, it is a rather large brick. Sekonic's Studio Deluxe is a great meter, no batteries and even original model is often still working fine.
 

Deleted member 88956

OP is asking for "affordable", not sure how that is defined but would have to guess as "measurably under $100". Sekonic 308 is dar from it, so is Lunapro.

I suggested Studio Deluxe due to high reliability of its cell, long term proof of great performance and price point on used market.
 

jimjm

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ProfessorC1983 said:
I found a used Sekonic L-208 on the auction site a couple weeks back for $70. New they're $100-125. Worth it to me, as every older/cheaper meter I tried was wildly out of calibration by 2-3 stops or more.
Click to expand...
Another vote for the Sekonic Twinmate L-208. Tiny and light with an accurate SPD cell, one CR2032 battery lasts for years. I throw it in my pocket every time I go out with an unmetered camera. Great for getting accurate reflected light readings in changing conditions, I rarely use the incident function.
The display and match-needle dial is easy to see, even without my reading glasses. I think I paid about $50 ten years ago for mine.
 

ic-racer

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Seems crazy to me that there are no tiny compact light meters on the market (I'm WRONG, see below). I got a Sekonic 558 recently and it is as big as many of my cameras.
 
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Deleted member 88956

@ic-racer You mean Weston Master is not it? Or do you mean full blown capabilities in a small package?
 
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guangong

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I bought a brand new in box Seconic selenium Studio Delux from Hong Kong a few years ago for $100 No batteries needed. For small...the one almost always with me...Gossen Digisix, although over your price range because I would only buy new or from a reputable dealer. Butt sometimes you must bite the bullet. I would use an exposure table, cut down on wine, women and song, and save to get new Digisix.
 

MattKing

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ic-racer said:
Ordered!
Click to expand...
Thanks for supporting Canadian business
(not involved, not a customer, but happy to see products coming out of Canada).
My only problem with that reveni-labs meter is that it lacks an incident light option.
Unless you count the fact that I have too many meters already.
 

ic-racer

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Any little white dome should work. I believe there is also exposure compensation if needed for the dome.

Already I'm looking through my camera shelves to identify cameras. I'd say my Horseman VH-R is the "best camera I never use" because of no built-in light meter. If this is any good, I may buy one dedicated to sit permanently on top of that camera. The other candidate is my Rollei 35 LED. Can't seem to get that one's meter to work but I'd like to use it more. The third use would be my stash of Minolta 16mm camers. I have 5 of those, but only one with a light meter that works.
 
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