Some cheaper light meter options...

[Alan Edward Klein]

I have an RB67 and used a Minolta IIIf flash meter for years. (I'd buy a ivf now). It came with incident and 10 degree spot. I still bracket. It's cheap insurance.

Lately, I've been using my P&S digital camera set to display BW to match the film I'm shooting in my large format camera (4x5 film). That way, I get to see what the scene might look like in BW film. The P&S allow center and spot exposure readings as well as showing a histogram. Also, I set the lens zoom to match the angle of the fixed lens I'm using on the film camera. Another advantage of the digital, is I can snap a digital picture or a video of the scene and dictate the exposures settings I used on my film camera and other info that can be transcribed when I get home rather than writing it at the time I exposed the picture. I just started using the P&S as a meter. So I can't guarantee it's a better way. But it does seem to provide additional benefits over a plain meter. You could try this methods to see if it works for you before you buy any meter.

 

[Grim Tuesday]

Lots of bad info here in this thread. There are two sorts of light meter for phone apps: the kind that reads from the light sensor on the front of the phone, and the kind that reads from the back camera. The kind that reads from front reads in lux, and is converted to an EV by the app. I think the measurement of light is fairly accurate across phones, but the issue is the angle of acceptance for these sensors vary. If you use the rear camera method, I believe this just looks at the exposure used by the phone's camera autoexposure algorithm and tells you it. Cell phone cameras tend to have a (large) fixed aperture, aspherical lens, and a rolling shutter. But they still do have an aperture and shutter speed, so this can be converted into an EV. It is therefore dependent on your phone's AE capability to calculate exposure.

I find the cell phone apps to be fairly accurate, but also to be fairly annoying to use, so I use a handheld meter. I also tried the use-a-point-and-shoot method but it also feels clumsy, so I like to have a real meter. I have never spent more than $40 on a meter, and I refuse to use one that takes anything but modern batteries. How can you get a good deal as well? Check Adorama's used section - they have a Sekonic L-398 in fair condition right now with some flaws that look like they could be fixed with some super glue. I might take a chance on it for $30, and Adorma is great about returns on used gear because they are too lazy to put up pictures. Used Photo Pro/Roberts Photo often has meters at a good price but none right now. Keh has a Gossen Luna Lux SBC for $43 which takes a 9V battery. Also, check eBay for "Quantum Calcu-Light" light meters. They take SR-44 batteries, use a silicon measuring cell and are lighter and smaller than most other meters, and there are two currently selling for $40. Be careful not to get a Calcu-flash - it has no ambient capabilities. Anyways, I'd probably go with the Gossen from Keh right now.

 

[xya]

I have a rb67 camera with a cds hood. it works fine. the reading cell sits in the center of the screen, but you can aim at any point you like in case of. nowadays I use the camera with a coyote instax back. the results are impeccable. if you are interested http://www.instantphoto.eu/other/coyote_instax_square.htm

 

[Profdaydreamer]

Just an update: thanks alot for all of the responses to my question! I am very lucky and ironically enough after calling some family members, my grandfather owns an old light meter that he is going to give me. Saving money! Thanks again all

 

[alanrockwood]

I read part of the thread, but I haven't read the whole thing. How important is it to you to be able to mount in the accessory shoe? Also, how important is it to you that the meter be small? How important is it to you that it be cheap?

The following solution might be a good solution in some respects: An inexpensive used digital SLR with an inexpensive zoom lens. It can be a very old-generation model.

It would be an incredibly versatile choice because you can do a test shot of the scene and then look at the histogram after the shot. If it has a nice intensity distribution in the histogram then you can figure that the exposure parameters from the digital shot are likely pretty good for a film shot.

You can set the digital camera to various program modes (shutter priority, aperture priority, full auto, etc.) meter. That can be convenient if you want to, for example, take the shot at a certain shutter speed or aperture setting. If you don't want to worry about the histogram information you don't even have to take a shot. Just push the shutter of your digital SLR partway down and see what the exposure readout is. Then use it for your RB67 shot.

You also have a wide choice of metering modes, e.g. averaging, matrix, semi-spot, etc., and this is further enhanced because you can zoom and meter the important part of the scene with your zoom lens if you want.

The main downside of this method is that most digital SLRs do not have a great choice of iso settings, which can be a big deal if you are shooting with film with an iso that doesn't correspond with any iso in your digital SLR, such as 125, 160, 320, etc.

Note added later: I see that Paul Howell and Alan Klein already gave an answers similar to mine. However, just consider mine to be a second vote for that method, with some additional information added.

 

[alanrockwood]

Probably the easiest-to-use inexpensive old-school light meter is a Gossen Pilot, and they don't need batteries. However, they aren't very good when the light gets dim.