Reliability of new stock old school meters

[Radost]

I want to get a small hand held meter. Are they all selenium? Any new technology that would last?
I have gotten bunch of old meters with cameras i buy and none of them are reliable.
Should I just cough up the money for a Gossen Digisix 2 or digiflash 2?

 

[xkaes]

There are lots of old meters that are very reliable -- and small and lightweight and inexpensive. The problem with selenium is they "die" if not covered up when not being used -- turns out to be most of them. Anyway, they are not good in low light.

CdS meters are fine and many were made very small, but most of those lack certain features that shutterbugs want. Just as with cameras, the smaller you get the fewer features you have -- and all that goes with price.

There are a ton of great, old (whatever that means) reliable meters out there for very little money.

You failed to mention anything about what you want in a meter -- other than something reliable. As a result, you are going to get a ton of "Here's what I use" recommendations.

I'd tell you which I like, but they might not meet your needs -- whatever they are. You don't need "digital" to get "reliable" -- or small, or light, or accurate or affordable.

 

[Sanug]

My experience: Most of the old selenium meters are pretty small and lightweight, but deliver false measuring values.

The new digital meters are small and lightweight, too. But I do not like them. I prefer analog meters.

I own two Gossen meters. Lunasix 3, and Lunasix F. Both analogue, bulky, heavy, very beautiful and accurate. The Lunasix 3 needs a battery adapter to avoid the discontinued 1.3 V mercury cells. The adapter is available from Gossen.

 

[runswithsizzers]

Sometime back in the 1970s I bought a lightmeter made by Gossen called the Pilot 2 that used a selenium cell. I loved that meter - easy to use and carry, and no batteries! However, with advanced age, it became significantly inaccurate. As far as I know, no one is still using selenium cells to make lightmeters today.

My recommendation would be to get a modern meter, most of which are going to use a silicon-type cell. Personally, I would demand the capability to take an incident reading.

Sekonic makes a small analog meter called the Twinnmate L-208 that might work for you. It uses a silicon cell and has an analog dial.

However, I did not like my L-208. It was OK for taking readings (both reflected and incident), but the dial seemed rather loose. Not as solid as I would have liked. I think the Gossen Digisix 2 may be about the same size as the L-208, and maybe more solidly built(?) but I've never used one.

My Gossen Luna-Lux is very solid, reliable, and accurate. The Luna-Lux uses a modern "silicon blue cell" (sbc) and a modern battery (9V). But I think it takes up too much room in my camera bag, so I rarely carry it.

Although I prefer an analog dial, the one I carry most often is my Sekonic Flashmate L-308s digital meter. In the photo below, the L-308 does not look all that much smaller than the Luna-Lux -- but in actual use, the L-308 is much more compact to carry and convenient to use. For me, anyway.

 

[Chan Tran]

Most meters with silicon sensor are reliable. So it would be at least late 70's or early 80's.

 

[BrianShaw]

I want to get a small hand held meter. Are they all selenium? Any new technology that would last?
I have gotten bunch of old meters with cameras i buy and none of them are reliable.
Should I just cough up the money for a Gossen Digisix 2 or digiflash 2?

Yes... just cough up the money to get a reliable meter. You won't regret that decision.

 

[JerseyDoug]

Do you carry a cell phone? There are a lot of very good light meter apps. My current favorite is myLightMeter PRO by David Quiles. The IOS version costs $3.99. (The Android version is called just LightMeter.) Unlike most (all?) of the other apps it even has a passable incident metering mode.

 

[Radost]

Got a Gossen Digiflash2. Very happy. did not want to experiment.

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

Old meters are a crapshoot. Virtually all Selenium meters are dead. CdS and Silicon Cell meters can be hit or miss. I have a Minolta Flash Meter II made in 1975 that is spot on accurate, but have seem a number of newer Flash Meter IV's that are no longer linear because the meter cells are dying. Your best bet it to buy a new meter, even if you don't like digital meters; they really are more reliable and more accurate than old meters.

 

[Radost]

Old meters are a crapshoot. Virtually all Selenium meters are dead. CdS and Silicon Cell meters can be hit or miss. I have a Minolta Flash Meter II made in 1975 that is spot on accurate, but have seem a number of newer Flash Meter IV's that are no longer linear because the meter cells are dying. Your best bet it to buy a new meter, even if you don't like digital meters; they really are more reliable and more accurate than old meters.

That is what I did. I have a minolta SPot meter that is accurate and can be calibrated

 

[mshchem]

Got a Gossen Digiflash2. Very happy. did not want to experiment.

I have one of these very nice!

 

[Laurent]

My L208 never let me down, only trick is to make sure the ISO settings did no slip when in my pocket, it's a bit too easy to change.

Battery last forever and is very common.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I used Gossen Luna Pro SBC for years and it never let me down.

 

[Radost]

I used Gossen Luna Pro SBC for years and it never let me down.

"Used"?

 

[Radost]

My L208 never let me down, only trick is to make sure the ISO settings did no slip when in my pocket, it's a bit too easy to change.

Battery last forever and is very common.

What I like about the Gossen Digiflash is you can only change iso with holding a button twice.

 

[runswithsizzers]

What I like about the Gossen Digiflash is you can only change iso with holding a button twice.

If I understand the <instructions>, apparently, you must hold down a button while the meter scrolls through all the ISO values, and then you release the button when it gets to the one you want? Is that right?

That would not work for me. I often go out with two cameras loaded with different films, so I need to be able to quickly switch back and forth between two different ISO settings. My Sekonic Flashmate L-308s requires pressing one button to change the ISO, in combination with a second button to either increase or decrease the ISO. Not as convenient as a dial, but not too irritating, either.

Forcing the user to scroll up through all possible values in order to get to the next lowest setting is not a good user interface in my opinion. On the other hand, if you tend to use the same ISO most of the time, it might be acceptable for some users.

 

[Ian Grant]

I have quite a few meters, the worst are Weston Master V and Euromasters. I bought my Euromaster in the late 1970s. new, it died over 20 years ago.

My Gossen meters are all fine, my pre WWII AVO meter is accurate. I prefer my Lunasix 3 and F, and have an SBC, substitute Profi for Luna if in the US. My Spot meters are an ageing Pentax V, still accurate, a Capitol (Soligor) needs a new on/off switch, and a Minolta Spotmeter F, the most useful.

However, I always carry a Leningrad 4, as a back-up, I have 2 or 3. surprisingly accurate.

Ian

 

[MattKing]

If I understand the <instructions>, apparently, you must hold down a button while the meter scrolls through all the ISO values, and then you release the button when it gets to the one you want? Is that right?

Not quite.
The meter is normally in normal exposure reading mode. To take a reading you tap the upper button, and it immediately displays the result.
While in that mode, in order to change the ISO you hold the lower button down until it beeps (long) to indicate that it is in ISO setting mode, than you tap or hold down the upper button until it reaches the ISO you want, then you tap the lower button again to fix the setting - it beeps long again.
And yes, you have to scroll up all the way and then back to the beginning in order to adjust the ISO down.
Doing everything with two buttons has both advantages and disadvantages. I would like a slightly quicker way to adjust the ISO down, but it is amazing how quickly you become attuned to how long you need to hold the button in order to get back to the beginning again (ISO 6 IIRC), after which it is simple to adjust it up to the target.
If you want to move from the normal exposure reading mode to something like flash metering or temperature reading, you tap the lower button to cycle through the modes. That works quickly as well.

 

[Radost]

I have quite a few meters, the worst are Weston Master V and Euromasters. I bought my Euromaster in the late 1970s. new, it died over 20 years ago.

My Gossen meters are all fine, my pre WWII AVO meter is accurate. I prefer my Lunasix 3 and F, and have an SBC, substitute Profi for Luna if in the US. My Spot meters are an ageing Pentax V, still accurate, a Capitol (Soligor) needs a new on/off switch, and a Minolta Spotmeter F, the most useful.

However, I always carry a Leningrad 4, as a back-up, I have 2 or 3. surprisingly accurate.

Ian

I do the calculation in my head. I shoot 100 250 400 500 1000 iso

 

[Radost]

I have quite a few meters, the worst are Weston Master V and Euromasters. I bought my Euromaster in the late 1970s. new, it died over 20 years ago.

My Gossen meters are all fine, my pre WWII AVO meter is accurate. I prefer my Lunasix 3 and F, and have an SBC, substitute Profi for Luna if in the US. My Spot meters are an ageing Pentax V, still accurate, a Capitol (Soligor) needs a new on/off switch, and a Minolta Spotmeter F, the most useful.

However, I always carry a Leningrad 4, as a back-up, I have 2 or 3. surprisingly accurate.

Ian

I have the Minolta Spotmeter F and I love it.

 

[runswithsizzers]

And yes, you have to scroll up all the way and then back to the beginning in order to adjust the ISO down.

That brings back too many bad memories of me trying to set early models of digital alarm clocks and wrist watches. Invariably, I would hold the button a fraction of a second too long, miss the target setting, and have to scroll through the whole lot again. Not being able to scroll in both directions is a deal breaker for me. I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about it. ;-) Of course, YMMV.

 

[MattKing]

That brings back too many bad memories of me trying to set early models of digital alarm clocks and wrist watches. Invariably, I would hold the button a fraction of a second too long, miss the target setting, and have to scroll through the whole lot again. Not being able to scroll in both directions is a deal breaker for me. I can feel my blood pressure going up just thinking about it. ;-) Of course, YMMV.

The Digiflash meter works way better than the alarm clock I still have that works that way .

 

[MattKing]

@runswithsizzers
If one holds the button down, the Digiflash meter cycles through all ISOs available - 6 through 6400 - in ~5 seconds.
I just switched it from 320 to 250 in about 8 seconds, without over-running my target.
But I've had some practice

 

[hap]

Got a Gossen Digiflash2. Very happy. did not want to experiment.

Mine eat batteries.

 

[MattKing]

Mine eat batteries.

A hard sided replacement for the soft sided case made a big difference for me - and the included pouch provides a space for the (relatively tiny and cheap) backup battery.