suggest a reliable hand-held meter that uses modern batteries.

[Rick A]

One thing I like about the sekonic studio delux is the lumisphere faces towards me instead of away from me.

Are you sure it only faces you? Mine swivels and can be pointed away. The proper use of an incident meter requires it be taken to the subject and pointed back at the camera, so it really doesn't matter if it does not swivel. You can hold the meter up into the approximate similar light as the subject to get a reading.

 

[Chan Tran]

why the fascination with batteries? I recently bought a sekonic studio deluxe III model L398A--- no batteries, supreme accuracy, incident or reflected, the dome swivels 180 degrees, is the size of a pack of cards and not much thicker.

and no batteries to replace. I bought this one because my old one, which was 40 years old, finally had so many broken pieces of the exterior from being dropped that i was worried dirt would hurt its accuracy, which never faltered.

Glad to know that a selenium based meter has supreme accuracy.

 

[Roger Cole]

There are meters out there (I have one) that use mercury batteries which are no longer available. The Wein zinc-air battery is a replacement, but according to the guys at the photo store, it only lasts about 3 months. And the alkaline replacements may or may not work well, because they are lower voltage than the mercury batteries. So I decided to upgrade the meter rather than buy batteries 4x a year.

So I switched to meters that uses easy to find batteries, and also had a flash meter capability.

Gossen Luna-Pro F - 9v rectangular battery (aka transistor radio battery for us old folks)
I also like the dial/needle combination, as it is easier to use than a digital meter. I can instantly see all the different f-stop+shutter speed combinations.

Minolta Autometer IV - AA battery

Luna Pro F is an SBC with flash capability (without attachment.)

I have an SBC. As folks said, not small, quite a handful really, but a great meter.

I marveled a bit at the description of the battery as a "smoke detector battery" myself. To me it's a transistor radio battery forever, even if they haven't made the device that refers to in that form in decades.

 

[benjiboy]

I'm sure there are many, but I'll start it off with the Gossen LunaPro SBC, takes a 9 volt smoke alarm battery.

Roger

The Lunapro SBC is around 25 years old,as big as many compact cameras and Gossen no longer service analogue meters due to the lack of spare parts.
A modern Gossen lightmeter that suite the O.P's requirements is the Gossen Digipro F
http://www.gossen-photo.de/english/foto_p_digipro.php, and it runs on a single AA battery. I own both these meters I've retired the Lunapro I prefer the digital one.

 

[Roger Cole]

Who cares if they service them? For the price they sell for used, just buy another if it quits working.

I'm sure the Digipro F is nice, but it's also $289 from B&H, probably more most other places. I paid $63 on eBay for my SBC complete with 15/7 degree angle attachment.

That's not a reason not to prefer the digital if you want to spend the money of course. It just depends on what you value and what it's worth to you.

 

[benjiboy]

Who cares if they service them? For the price they sell for used, just buy another if it quits working.

I'm sure the Digipro F is nice, but it's also $289 from B&H, probably more most other places. I paid $63 on eBay for my SBC complete with 15/7 degree angle attachment.

That's not a reason not to prefer the digital if you want to spend the money of course. It just depends on what you value and what it's worth to you.

The O.P didn't mention price only specification, so I assumed it wasn't the criteria.

 

[Roger Cole]

True enough. It may or may not be a factor.

 

[ic-racer]

Great thing about the L208, even if you later acquire a bigger, better meter... This one will always have a place.

It is small, light and accurate.

I'm just tearing out my hair trying to figure out a Zone System dial for it.

Think I will design an acetate glue-on for the green match-needle.

Depending on how handy you are, you could convert the moveable short single pointer to a sawtooth pointer with each point being a zone apart. Probably too small to put numbers on it, but paint the middle point a contrasting color and just count up or down from there to use it.

 

[Bill Burk]

Depending on how handy you are, you could convert the moveable short single pointer to a sawtooth pointer with each point being a zone apart. Probably too small to put numbers on it, but paint the middle point a contrasting color and just count up or down from there to use it.

I was going to glue something like a comb to it.

 

[Diapositivo]

If you are buying new, my stupid answer is to get one of those modern instruments which have reflected, incident, flash and spot metering all in one device.
Reasons to do it:
- you get more light metering for your bucks;
- in the future those device might become more expensive than they are now;
- you can explore different techniques without having to buy a new device (which might actually prevent experimentation);
- you travel lighter than if you have to carry incident and spot (one day you will consider it if you use slides).

If you buy second-hand, any modern silicon blue cell (SBC) light meter will do great, especially if you don't choose out of the usual suspects (Minolta/Kenko, Gossen, Sekonic). Your most important choice will be between analogue reading and digital reading.

 

[Chan Tran]

diapositivo is right!
If you don't need a meter you don't need a meter.
If you want one, get a good one. I think the meter market is going and when it comes to that like film scanner they don't make them any more and the price goes up. Well they would still make light measuring instruments but not exposure meter and those are much more expensive although are very nice.

 

[Ari]

I have both the Sekonic 308 and Minolta IVf; both take one AA battery, both are very accurate, and both are workhorses; they just keep on going.
And mint copies of each can be had for $150 or less.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

I have a Polaris 5, its not as popular or well know as all the other ones mentioned already, but its a good meter and accurate. Lots of options, and has a 5 degree meter which is the same spot as the sekonic L408. Runs on 1 AA battery, has a backlight, and can meter for strobes. You can get them used for $100 now as they arent as popular. I got mine awhile ago for $150 pretty much NIB and it has held up well.

 

[Allen Friday]

If you have an iPhone, there is a 99 cent app for that: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocket-light-meter/id381698089?mt=8

 

[Chan Tran]

Does anyone make a serious test of these Iphone meter apps and see what kind of accuracy they have? Also anyone knows how they does it?

 

[Roger Cole]

Does anyone make a serious test of these Iphone meter apps and see what kind of accuracy they have? Also anyone knows how they does it?

Serious test? Not I. But I have compared it to my Luna-Pro SBC and to my Soligor spot meter and find it agrees quite closely. I'd use it in a pinch.

 

[Bill Burk]

Here's the modification I did today to turn the TwinMate into a Zone System meter.

I put a screen protector over the front. Moved the calculator dial a stop at a time and marked the tip of the green arrow across the scale. Then I cut a sheet of brass into a comb to range from Zone II to Zone VIII. At left and right, there is barely room for 3 stops but marks for Zone II and VIII are necessary, so those two end marks are cut smaller. The VIII mark is "less accurately" cut than the rest - that's just a workmanship problem, not a design feature. I was very impatient, didn't wait for glue or paint to dry - so you can see it's rough. No Zone Roman numerals, you have to count them out.

I glued "on top" of the green pointer and with rough side up, so the modification won't interfere with the meter needle.

 

[benjiboy]

why the fascination with batteries? I recently bought a sekonic studio deluxe III model L398A--- no batteries, supreme accuracy, incident or reflected, the dome swivels 180 degrees, is the size of a pack of cards and not much thicker.

and no batteries to replace. I bought this one because my old one, which was 40 years old, finally had so many broken pieces of the exterior from being dropped that i was worried dirt would hurt its accuracy, which never faltered.

Because it's the 21st century, and modern digital meters are quicker to use, not as prone to shock damage as meters with needles, more accurate, and have much better low light capability s, to carry a spare battery is no problem. I've had a Studio Deluxe for about twenty five years but have retired it to my sock draw together with my Western Euromaster,Gossen Lunapro, and I doubt if I will ever use them again, my digital ones are so much better.

 

[Chan Tran]

I agree with Ben there. I don't have a studio deluxe III model L398A but I doubt that it has supreme accuracy.

 

[MattKing]

I wish I was local to Ben - I figure I could get a good deal on his Studio Deluxe meter!

To supplement my Gossen Digiflash, of course.

 

[jp498]

I don't mind batteries, but there is value in the meter being simple. I've got a flash meter IV, and an analog sekonic L208. For simple quick use, I have to review the various settings on the flashmeter-IV, sliding covers and reviewing the LCD display options. The the l208, I verify the film speed, aim and press the button. The simpler one is quicker to use. I use an incident meter because it's quick. If I wanted to measure zones and analyse things, and tag my film for a certain development choice, then I'd be less concerned about quick and more about features.

 

[benjiboy]

I agree with Ben there. I don't have a studio deluxe III model L398A but I doubt that it has supreme accuracy.

I always think Chan a light meter accuracy depends to a large extent on who's interpreting the readings, they can't as many people think just be waved casually in the direction of the the subject and the resultant reading be taken as gospel without some thought.

 

[Roger Cole]

I just like the way analog things work. Shrug. There are times for anything though. I do plan to replace my Soligor Spot Sensor with a Pentax Digital, partly because I can't read the Soligor needle in really low light.

I agree that selenium meters lack low light sensitivity and thus are not a real replacement for a battery powered meter. But they are kind of nice to have as backup, and the older ones, with fresh cells, are just plain cool in the way only classic items can be.

 

[Chan Tran]

I always think Chan a light meter accuracy depends to a large extent on who's interpreting the readings, they can't as many people think just be waved casually in the direction of the the subject and the resultant reading be taken as gospel without some thought.

I actually think of accuracy in a different way. To me a meter is accurate if it conforms to its specification. As you know you own the KM flashmeter VI it's calibrated to a K14 and C330 for incident with the dome and C250 with the flat disc. The light level is defined as to how many lux or how many cd/m^2 for reflected. And the meter is accurate if it conform to that with a small tolerance.
With that said a meter can be accurate and accurately wrong if the user doesn't know how to interpret the readings.
By the way the way you describe some people make meter readings is almost the same way Ansel Adams described how Edward Weston did his meter reading... any way he got excellent result and so did Adams.

 

[Pumalite]

Have a Minolta Spotmeter F, Like it a lot. Works with an AA battery