Why do light meters have long lanyards?

Sorrycharlie · Feb 15, 2020

Why do light meters have such long lanyards? I have a Sekonic and the lanyard is ridiculously long and I’ve noticed any light meter that has its lanyard attached is the same. Is there a reason why I shouldn’t change it to a shorter one?

GLS · Feb 15, 2020

They're designed to hang around your neck.

Sorrycharlie · Feb 15, 2020

Haha yes I understand that but I’m 6’3 and it’s past my butt when I hang it around my neck. On a shorter person it would be dragging on the ground almost.

locutus · Feb 15, 2020

I marked mine with a centimeters scale, useful when doing macro with a large format camera in the field

Sorrycharlie · Feb 15, 2020

locutus said:
I marked mine with a centimeters scale, useful when doing macro with a large format camera in the field

Oh yeah that’s a good idea

Larry Cloetta · Feb 15, 2020

Good question. I thought it was so it could hang around your neck and also be able to easily fit into your pants pocket so it’s out of your way and you don’t have to have it swinging around in front of your chest every time you turn around. That’s the only positive purpose I have ever been able to ascribe to it, because, yes, they are ridiculously long if you just let them hang from your neck.My Sekonic rests well below my belt line.
Would love to hear a better/real explanation.

GLS · Feb 15, 2020

Sorrycharlie said:
Haha yes I understand that but I’m 6’3 and it’s past my butt when I hang it around my neck. On a shorter person it would be dragging on the ground almost.

Don't know then. My Sekonic L-758D has a normal length lanyard which hangs mid-torso from my neck (I'm 6'). Was yours bought second hand? Maybe it has an after market lanyard.

AgX · Feb 15, 2020

The idea behind a long lanyard is to yield lenght for movements of ones arm to make ambient-light meterings at the object.

However none of the meter in my collection has got such lang lanyard.
The one of the Profisix/Mastersix/Lunasix F (all professional meters) is that short that just wearing a T-shirt the meter is at my bellybottom, not much movement possible. In case of wearing a padded jacket, hardly any movement of the meter would be possible.

BradS · Feb 15, 2020

It's a good question. None of my (Gossen) meter leashes are that long but they are all long enough to be slightly annoying. With my smaller (Gossen Digital) meter , I wear the lanyard around my neck an keep the meter in the shirt pocket. This keep the meter from banging into camera but invariably, the meter lanyard and the camera neck straps get tangled up. I recently replaced the lanyard on one of my larger (Gossen LunaPro SBC) meters with a wrist strap....but I'm not sure that I like this situation either. Alternately, I replaced the neck strap on one of my smaller, lighter cameras with a wrist leash and added a sturdy grip to the camera.

I'd like to be able to keep the camera and the meter on some kind of leash with out them banging into each other while I'm walking and not using either of them.

Alan Edward Klein · Feb 15, 2020

So it doesn;t bang against your camera that's got a shorter neck lanyard.?

GRHazelton · Feb 15, 2020

Better too long a lanyard than too short! When I was a Boy Scout we made lanyards out of gimp, a plastic coated "ribbon" about 1/8 inch wide. These lanyards featured a "collar" which allowed adjusting the length. How about one in Pentax red and black for a Spotmeter? I'll have to look up the instructions.....They're on the web, of course!

BrianShaw · Feb 15, 2020

Sorrycharlie said:
Haha yes I understand that but I’m 6’3 and it’s past my butt when I hang it around my neck. On a shorter person it would be dragging on the ground almost.

I tie a knot in the lanyard. Having buckles that drag on the ground is enough for me.

Sirius Glass · Feb 15, 2020

My Pentax Digital Spot Meter had a wrist strap and fits in a holster.

DWThomas · Feb 15, 2020

(Well I just had to look ... ) My currently used meters are a Gossen Digisix and a Sekonic L-508. Both have lanyards about 17 inches/47 cm which doesn't drop them all that far. In fact it can be a PITA when trying to do incident metering in some situations. For those who are short (or have tiny necks ) the L-508 has a spring-loaded gizmo that allows shortening its effective length. The Sekonic also came with a fitted belt holster.

Andrew O'Neill · Feb 15, 2020

The lanyard on my Minolta spot metre is not so long. It goes around my neck, and metre slips in breast pocket. So, if yours is too long, just tie it shorter.

Sorrycharlie · Feb 16, 2020

Thanks for the replies everyone. I’d say from the above suggestions from agx and Larry, that the reason must just be it can be easily placed in your pants pocket while also still being attached to your neck and to also allow plenty of length to take incident light readings.

If you were leaning to take a reading against someone’s face you wouldn’t want to be bringing your own head in close to there’s and you also wouldn’t want to have to take it off your neck so this makes sense.

The lanyard I have is not aftermarket, it has Sekonic printed all over it and it is the original.

guangong · Feb 16, 2020

When using meter as an incident meter, it is usually held at arm’s length. If lanyard were shorter meter would have to be removed from neck. If only used for reflective measurements simply tie a knot at preferred length.

Vaughn · Feb 16, 2020

BrianShaw said:
I tie a knot in the lanyard. Having buckles that drag on the ground is enough for me.

Buckles or knuckles?

BrianShaw · Feb 16, 2020

Vaughn said:
Buckles or knuckles

Both, apparently...

That will inspire me to reed my posts twise before...

Rick A · Feb 16, 2020

Long lanyard to reach the case that is supposed to be on your belt, hence the "belt loops" on the case. It keeps your meter safe and out of the way until needed , and still attached to you so it doesn't get lost or dropped.

Vaughn · Feb 16, 2020

A long lanyard allows one to lower the meter gently into ones pack on the ground without having to bend over or drop it in.

Chan Tran · Feb 16, 2020

Never wear the meter around my neck but if I do I think it would be a problem regardless of how long the landyard is. If it's short that it hang around my chest then I can't make a measurement at arm length which I do often with incident metering. If it's long enough to hold the meter at arm length then it would hang at least around my belly and that would sling around too much.

John Koehrer · Feb 16, 2020

If you have a jacket with adjustable waist straps they may have a spring loaded clamp on the cord.
You could get one for your cord and still have full length and adjustability.
Joann fabrics carries a few.

Why do light meters have long lanyards?

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