gossen luna pro

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

Hi,
can you please explain me in the
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GOSSEN-Luna-Pro-LIGHT-METER-with-Leather-Case-/321760265652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aea6805b4
see first image
the EV indicator at the bottom is for?

I have started using this light meter and is quite fun to play with
Alex

Minolfan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 3437 Location: Netherlands

You had better downloaded the manual from the site of Butkus:
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/flashes_meters/lunasix3/lunasix3-splash.htm
And you find the trics to use this nice lightmeter!

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4748 Location: Cheshire, England

EV is an exposure value. On some cameras in the 1950's the shutter speed and aperture could be locked together. You read the EV from the meter and set the EV on your camera. If you changed your shutter speed the aperture followed. It has no application for cameras without the EV settings, and is of academic use only. The manual may tell you this.

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

Thanks. I have printed manual to read on my train ride.
I have to look for the small yellow mark. This corresponds to a 30 degress metering.

I just wonder how this can be used to measure specific zones (if that is possible at all)
and
what should I do on cases with very mixed lighting and high contrast region.

I will start using it more and post back
Alex

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

You see the green and red circles next to the yellow triangle, above that curved yellow window? These correspond to the 7.5 degree and 15 degree angles of view that are found on an accessory angle-of-view restrictor that was available for the Luna Pro. I have one for mine, and I consider it to be an important accessory if you don't have a spot meter. Gossen calls it a "Variable Angle Attachment." See this listing on eBay:

Click here to see on Ebay

That's a fair price, by the way.

If I'm not mistaken, your old Luna Pro takes the now-discontinued 1.35v mercury PX625 battery. Unless that meter has a bridge circuit, it will give you incorrect readings if you use one of the 625 batteries you find now because they're 1.5v. You can buy the rather pricey Wein replacement for the old battery. It's a zinc-air battery, with an output of 1.4v, which is close enough to be accurate. The downside is that it lasts only about 9 or 10 months. And then you get to buy another expensive Wein battery. OR -- you can use the 675 hearing aid batteries. They're also 1.4v zinc-air batteries, but the big difference between them and the Wein is they're cheap. They last just as long, but they're a lot cheaper. I buy a card of 40 for $10 at Costco. Yep, 40 cents apiece. The biggest physical difference between the 675 and the old mercury 625s is size. They're about the same thickness, but the old 625 has a larger diameter. Most of the cameras that I use with the 675 batteries have springs that hold the battery in place, so it really doesn't matter. The voltage contacts are on the two ends. So, this works fine. It is possible to center the battery in its compartment if desired by using an o-ring, or snipping off a piece of about 20 ga. wire, coiling it up, and putting it in the bottom of the compartment. The only real problem you may have with a 675 is if the Luna Pro picks up the + voltage from the side of the battery compartment instead of the cap. And even then there's a solution. There's a fellow who sells these little rings that will fit around the 675 that will give it the same girth as the old 625s. Here's his website:

http://www.paulbg.com/Nikon_F_meter_batteries.htm

Anyway, you've got a great old meter. Very useful, very accurate. The Luna Pro was my first good meter. And I still use Luna Pros. I have a Luna Pro SBC and a Luna Pro F that I use nowadays.

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

great answer thanks. I got the meter for a forum member that he informed me that he has built already the equivalent circuit so I can use a normal 1.5v replacement battery too. I also plan to test it also against my light meter of my camera.

I also ordered the item you have recommended you have suggested me

I still try to understand though how I should measure in a complex scene.
Let me give an imaginary example.
You have a scene that has two extremes only. Very very bright white and very dark shadow. Assume also that these do not fall in the film latitude, meaning you have to pick what you save (The darks or the bright spots).

Assume also (I said is an imaginary example) that these regions are tiled in a chess like manner. If you just use the meter at the same place where my camera is that would give me a metering that would turn all the tiles to grey (black to greys and whites to grey).
How I can pick only that part of the image when I have no visual confirmation from my meter what is exactly included in the metering procedure?
My camera, film or digital has the matrix metering and even though many times can be off (as it is an average) I can see through my viewfinder what the camera have used for metering. Any meter like my gossan luna pro does not give me a "monitor", "viewfinder" to look through

I will write once the new accessory arrives.
Regards
Alex

RSalles · Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 1:42 am Post subject:

Hi Alaios,

Glad to know the Gosen Lunasix is being useful to you - I have 2 spare Lunasix meters, as we never know if this wonder will vanish one day from the market.

When face to very challenging situations where the only measuring unit you have is a average reflected light meter as yours, I'll probably slide the small round white globe for incident readings, walk 'til the subject, point the meter to the the camera or the place where I intend to take the shot from and make a incident reading with the meter. This will give you very accurate mesures toward the amount of light being received by the subject in relation to your camera angle position. Make a try and report the results,

Cheers,

RSalles

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

RSalles describes one handy feature of a hand-held meter that can't be done with a camera's meter, namely incident light reading. This can be very valuable because it's reading the light falling on the subject and not the subject. I've found it very useful in situations where I was n ot at all close to the subject but where I was being illuminated by the sun in the same fashion as the subject, so by taking an incident reading from where I was standing, it would have been the same as taking an incident reading where the subject was. Saves a lot of headaches when you have this sort of situation.

Any hand-held meter, when used in reflective mode, is just going to average the scene -- unless you use the variable angle attachment that I mentioned in my last post -- and then, all it does is tighten up the metered area -- it's still going to average the scene within the angle indicated.

So these hypothetical examples you present will be handled the way any straight averaging meter would handle it. As for your checkerboard, rather then come out with just shades of gray, I think you'd get white and black because you're averaging the scene. Averaging white and black will give you gray, and that's what the meter should indicate -- an exposure intermediate between the two extremes, which should give you the correct exposure actually. Or so it seems to me.

This reminds me of another useful accessory you might want to think about picking up from your local camera shop: an 18% gray card. When a meter "sees" a scene, it converts what it sees into ideal exposure, which is 18% gray. This is true whether it is a handheld meter or a camera's meter. So when you're in a setting that you need to meter, perhaps an unusually lit scene for instance, holding up an 18% gray card for the meter to read will give you correct exposure for those lighting conditions. I find it handy if I don't have a card with me to know other things I can meter that will be the equivalent of 18% gray. On a sunny day, the sky away from the sun is exactly 18% gray. Green grass is 18% gray. When I'm doing outdoor photography, I can usually find one of these two things to check my meter against.

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I don't know what you mean by "have you confirmed them" -- I depend on them. These aren't theoretical abstracts.

As for using your gray card, it has a variety of uses. You can use it to check your meter's accuracy. You can use it to meter off of instead of taking an incident reading, or if the lighting on a subject is complex. There's lots of ways it can be used.

If you just want to use it to compare readings of the gray card against the blue sky or green grass, then just take the gray card outside. Set it down some where in the sun and position it so there's no glare coming off the surface, then take a reading off the card. Compare this reading to that which you get from the green grass around you or the sky above you. They all should agree, or at least be very close to each other.

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

I meant for metering. Have you meter grass against a grey card to see that their meterings are the same?
I checked you gallery very nice stuff there.
Btw last evening this small accesory came at home and I am happy.
I have easily attached but to be honest I am not sure how to use it. I thought it would allow me to see the scene through it so to see where I am pointing it at. I only see brightness levels but then does not really allow me to point it where I want it to be.
I have checked also at the links above with the manuals but there is only one short paragraph about this accessory and does not explain in details what I do Smile

I am sorry if this sounds silly but I do not know how to use it

Regards
Alex

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

I do not recall specific instances of checking the grass against a meter, but like I wrote before, I depend on these values as being accurate. In other words, the results I get are what I expect. And yes, I have checked my meters against the sky. That's a good way to tell if a meter is accurate. Because I know the sky is.

As for your variable angle accessory -- you should be able to look through the clear lens in the middle at the scene in front of you. You'll see red and green circles, which correspond to the angles that are selectable. There's a switch you slide back and forth to select between 7.5 and 15 degrees.

Now, if all you're seeing is brightness levels -- I don't even know if this is possible -- I don't think it is? But you did move the round white incident bulb off to one side, didn't you? With my SBC, that variable angle accessory won't mount unless the incident bulb is moved out of the way. There's a little pocket on the underside of it, as I recall, where the white bulb fits.

alaios · Joined: 24 Jan 2014 Posts: 724

Haha . I am so naive. I was putting my eye very close to the "viewfinder" But is not. I have to be at a distance to see where I am pointing it at.

This spot meter is only useful for reflective measurements or also for incident ones (I would guess not)

Regards
Alex

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Right, reflective only. You need to slide the white bulb back in place for incident, which cannot be done as long as the Variable Angle adapter is installed. Just be sure to pay attention to the EVs that it's indicating for the different angles. Otherwise your exposure will be off by a substantial amount.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28

My first light meter was the Gossen Lunasix F (somehow comparable to your model). I very soon bought the spot metering accessory for that and after a while I've traded it for a real spot meter, the "Soligor Digital Spot Meter" with a more precise metering method of only 1 degree FOV and very handy to use with it's nice optical view finder. Some time ago I had the chance to get the Minolta Spotmeter F for little money, so I bought it additionally. That one is one of the best I've ever seen.
However, for the start almost every light meter will do. But as soon as you start to dig into more depth of e.g. B&W photography or even try to learn the "Anselm Adams method" for high sophisticated landscape photography you will reach the borders of your present model anyway. BTW, it's a very interesting topic and the results can be stunning. Comparable to the HDR (multi exposure) photography in digital.
Just my 2 cents....

bernhardas · Expire: 2017-05-23

Edited

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Hey Bernhardas,

Well, as you know, while it is difficult if not impossible to play around with the exposure/developing of an individual 35mm negative, much of this can be accomplished if printing in the darkroom by using dodging/burning techniques. I'm sure you're experienced at this, so I'm just mentioning it in case others here might not have had the fun of dodging or burning in their prints -- and it can be quite fun, in fact. If you're willing to invest in -- or find -- a wet darkroom, that is.

When I lived back in Southern California, there was a community center local to me that had an extensive darkroom setup for pretty much anybody that wanted to could use it. But this was back in the heyday of film. I wonder if it still exists . . .

Hey Thomas,

Your Lunasix F is I'm pretty sure called the Luna Pro F over here. I have one, and I'm quite fond of it. One thing I like about it is it takes an easy-to-find 9V battery that seems to last forever. I bought it because I found I really needed a flash meter and it's worked very well in that regard. The Luna Pro SBC I also have, I picked up much later -- only a few years ago, in fact. I found it in a camera shop's junk bin with a note appended to it that it was reading 4 stops off. I bought it for $5 and figured I might be able to get it fixed. Then after playing around with it a while, I noticed that the EV dial had been moved off zero to, guess what? Four stops low. Heh. Surprise, surprise -- the camera shop didn't realize that a dial was moved off zero.

The SBC (dunno about the F) can take Gossen's Multibeam accessory, which includes the 15 and 7.5 degree views, as well a 1 degree spot setting. But it's a hard to find accessory.

For over twenty years now, I've owned a Pentax Spot Meter V, which unfortunately takes the 1.35v PX625 mercury battery (not a problem though, I just use 675 hearing aid batteries instead). It uses an analog scale with needle to determine the light value of a scene, which then has to be transferred manually to the dial on the side of the meter. Not as convenient as a digital, but back when I bought it, I could afford it (paid $75 for it), and I couldn't afford the new digital models. I see though, that nowadays, even this old thing goes for pretty good prices on eBay these days.

Speaking of the zone system, one of the nice things about this old Pentax spot meter is you can buy (or make your own) paper templates to place over the scale on the meter to convert it to the zone system.

tb_a · Expire: 2019-08-28