• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

What is a good, cheap handheld exposure meter ?

BrianShaw said:
Just for completeness, Gossen offers (once again) a voltage conversion device so "modern" silver cells can be used. It actually works quite good.
Click to expand...

A factory conversion device? Id like to see that. Maybe it could be adapted to other mercury only devices
 
GaryFlorida said:
A factory conversion device? Id like to see that. Maybe it could be adapted to other mercury only devices
Click to expand...

The Gossen adapter is sized for 2 cells, so can be used in other devices that take 2 cells.

Shop is undergoing maintenance

Sehr geehrte Kunden. Aufgrund von Wartungsarbeiten bleibt der Shop vorübergehend geschlossen. Dear customers, due to maintenance work, the shop is temporarily closed.
gossen-photo.de

There are other 1-cell adapters available that can be used, either singly in devices requiring only 1 cell or multiply in devices requiruing multiple cells.

MR-9 Mercury Battery Adapter

Our mercury battery adapters are the perfect solution for vintage collector cameras and equipment that were designed for use with mercury batteries.
shop.criscam.com
 
Pieter12 said:
Looks likely to bump into your head.
Click to expand...

Assuming it is the same threaded socket for a standard 4-20 camera screw that my Digiflash has, then it should be easy enough to swap to an adapter that fits your camera setup and layout.
 
Outside the box. Not much larger, a little lighter than a Minolta or Pentax spot meter, a Minolta 5 with short zoom, a 28 to 80 are very inexpensive. Not recently but in the past I've use a Sigma SA7 or SD 9 as a meter with 4X5. Matrix and spot metering, with the SD9 also a preview, although in color. With a Pentax K 2000 in monomode a black and white preview.
 
I have found the Gossen adaptor marketed by Gossen to be the best solution. I have owned my LunaPro from the 1970s and its reading is spot on. I also have a LunaPro F that takes 9 volt batteries, which I find just a little too large. And as with the Gossen Digisix, it eats batteries.
On the other hand, I find my Gossen spot meter impractical unless used as a shilely, preferring the more elegant smaller Pentax spot meter.
 
Until i started using it regularly, i found the Digisix to be a pain. Now i just carry extra batteries & have it pretty much dialed in. It's proven to be remarkably accurate. I mostly use it in incident mode. I far prefer it to any of the older much bigger Lunasix/pro et al. If i were replacing it, i might go with the Gossen 308. I just came back from a trip to Italy......i brought only the digisix (typically i carry both the Pentax digital spot meter as well). It worked very well and i'm happy with the negative densities. Personally i wouldn't mount it on my camera....but it's light and hangs around my neck or fits in a shirt pocket.
 
Last edited:
A digital camera with a histogram display works fine for me.

It would help if you tell a bit more about your photography.

What film are you shooting (B&W, color negative or slide) and in what format?
Do you use Zone System?
Do you develop yourself?
 

I use my Digiflash with a different pouch than the one supplied by Gossen. The pouch I'm using has harder sides, which makes unintentional pushing of the buttons difficult. The pouch also has a pocket big enough to hold an extra battery in a tiny "Ziploc" type plastic bag.
They take one CR2032 lithium battery - $1.25 CDN for a pack of three at our local Dollar store.
 

Good plan Matt, I often travel w the battery pulled out. and yes.... batteries are small and cheap....never leave home without them
 
The "Roots" logo and red and cream/white decoration on the pouch I'm using also helps advertise that I'm Canadian .
 
Chuck1 said:
Sekonic l158 is tiny, doesn't use batteries and for $20 it a great backup to keep in your bag.
Click to expand...

I used that meter in a waterproof plastic case when I scuba-dived years ago with my Nikonos. I might still have it somewhere up in the attic.
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
I'm like you. I used to use my Minolta IIIf with 10 degree spot only. Incident and reflective. (I thought your IV comes with a 5 degree?)
Click to expand...
IIRC, both the 5-degree and 10-degree were add-on accessories.
 
Chan Tran said:
Zinc air or Silver Oxide can't hold the output voltage to within 1% for 95% of their useful life like Mercury Oxide.
Click to expand...
For Zinc-Air:

Zinc–air battery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
https://www.microbattery.com/pub/media/tech-specs/pdfs/A675MF.pdf (the plot is for hearing aids: they drain way more current than an exposure meter and, indeed, measuring the voltage at the cell's poles reveal a voltage around 1.35V, if I had another hand I could take a picture of the multimeter )

For Silver oxide:

Silver oxide battery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org
Page 2 of application manual from Energizer shows a shorter battery life (expected) but equivalent stability:
 
Pieter12 said:
Looks likely to bump into your head.
Click to expand...

Yes, in practice I almost never use it in the shoe. I keep it in the shirt pocket and mostly pull it out for incident metering.
 

Gossen Digisix would be my choice.
 
benveniste said:
IIRC, both the 5-degree and 10-degree were add-on accessories.
Click to expand...

I can't use the 5 degree attachment on my IIIf, only the 10 degree.

By the way, I would recommend your Minolta Autometer IV over the III because the IV has an on-off power button as well as the 5 degree spot available.. My III has none and is suppose to power down automatically. But somehow that doesn;t work as it is supposed to and the battery will wear down while "off". So I now pull the battery when not using the meter.
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
The Gossen Digisix meter has a 25-degree incident reading plus the ambient reading. Didn't you want something more narrow?
Click to expand...

I dont know what I want, im processing all of this and I appreciate yours and everyones input very much! Thank you.
 
Any digital Gossen meter is a good choice and easy to use, too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register