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Light meters for Flashes ? any old recommendations ?
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:14 pm    Post subject: Light meters for Flashes ? any old recommendations ? Reply with quote
hi..
I wanna buy flash/light meters.
Sekonic L308-S is one of the most recommended around..
But i am sure there must be some good alternatives that are available for cheap.
Can some one advise me on this one..
I have no experience with them whatsoever ....


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well I opted for accurate over cheap and got the L358.

Fantastic gizmo, but I am a geek.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Shepherd fm1000 - cheap as chips but does the job.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Flash meters all do the same basic job and are as somebody has said 'Cheap as Chips.
A couple of months ago I picked up a new old one for £2. A Jessop FMA flash meter which is small and fits in the pocket, which I like because I do a lot of multi flash set ups 'On location'
I also have and use a simple Bowens Bometer which is a bit larger. Both meters work in the same way, most of them do.
You can pay lots more for a flash meter but IMO you will not get any benifit from spending the extra.
Even with digital a flash meter is great tool and saves a lot of time when balancing the light set up. Using a flash meter I can set up 3 manual flash units and get the balance spot on first time in less than a minute or so. If I messed about doing it by trial and error with the Histogram it would take an age.

IMO the old simple style is still the best. Have the flash meter set at the right iso, place it or hold at the subject position, fire flash and read off aperture. Any that offer more are only making a very simple job hard.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I agree with Rob. I usually use an old Minolta Flashmeter and while its exterior shell seems to come from the Vietname War it still do its job flawlessly.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have an old Honeywell/Wein WP500B flashmeter which cost next to nothing off ebay. It works quite well, for being dead old. Actually, it looks as if it was hardly ever used.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
thank you guys for the replies,
I am watching a few on the bay right now.

just relative query, i am lookin for flashes, though now i have a couple of them,
I am looking at something like Viv 275HV, which i can use at full, half, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 power.
Just if there is cheap as chip's solutions Embarassed !!


PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dakoo wrote:
thank you guys for the replies,
I am watching a few on the bay right now.

just relative query, i am lookin for flashes, though now i have a couple of them,
I am looking at something like Viv 275HV, which i can use at full, half, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 power.
Just if there is cheap as chip's solutions Embarassed !!


I am not aware of a ‘Cheap as chips’ equivalent to the Vivitar 285HV, the 285 is a very good flash unit which IMO is already dirt cheap for what it offers. The Vivitar 283 has the same power but S/H usual fetch about the same price.
However there are Cheap as chip alternatives which can be used just as well.
For example you don’t need power settings. For half power a white handkerchief over the head will do the job. For ¼ power two folds of the white handkerchief.
The other concern is flash sync voltage. This is easily overcome by keeping an old powerful flash gun away from the hotshoe. Use cheap radio slaves or optical slaves set off by a low powered ‘Safe’ gun or if your camera can do it the inbuilt flash.
Flash is useless when used on camera anyway so why worry about using high sync voltage guns. Most studio flash units are 300/400v which never bothers anybody as they don’t plug cameras into them.
I use 2 Vivitar 285HV and 2 Vivitar 283 units. I also have a couple of Vivitar 2500 which are smaller and handy to carry about or just use as fill ins. I also have a couple of really powerful old Braun unit. I have studio heads but hardly ever use them now. If you are just learning flash I would look at getting 2 Vivitar 2500 units (They are low sync voltage) and an optical slave. Later buy the Cactus radio slave units and look for Viv 285HVs.
You can get together a multi flash set up which will cope with virtually any situation and cost you less than a single dedicated unit. I regularly use 3-4 and even 5 flash units for lighting. I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to do that with dedicated units


PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 12:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Rob Leslie wrote:


I am not aware of a ‘Cheap as chips’ equivalent to the Vivitar 285HV, the 285 is a very good flash unit which IMO is already dirt cheap for what it offers. The Vivitar 283 has the same power but S/H usual fetch about the same price.


I have previously used both as a friend has them, have been looking for them ever since, apparantly the market to look for them is in india it seems.
There they sell around 15-20 pounds used.

Rob Leslie wrote:

However there are Cheap as chip alternatives which can be used just as well.
For example you don’t need power settings. For half power a white handkerchief over the head will do the job. For ¼ power two folds of the white handkerchief.

Idea :Very Happy: !! good idea, another solution is the free gels we can get from ROSCO & LEE Filters. They have some ND ones..


Rob Leslie wrote:

Use cheap radio slaves or optical slaves set off by a low powered ‘Safe’ gun or if your camera can do it the inbuilt flash.
If you are just learning flash I would look at getting 2 Vivitar 2500 units (They are low sync voltage) and an optical slave. Later buy the Cactus radio slave units and look for Viv 285HVs.

Yeah i got the Cactus V4's .. That is why i have been trying to find some flashes of ebay. But all i got till now are without the light stops so the query..
I was wondering with the knowledge about old camera stuff here. There must be a few who know flashs that had this feature, So that i could try to hunt them on the bay..

I did manage to find a working viv 2500, for chips Razz, but as u know they lack the light stops buttons.


Thank you rob as always for your detailed reply. This shot is very well taken, composed brilliantly IMHO.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[/quote]
Thank you rob as always for your detailed reply. This shot is very well taken, composed brilliantly IMHO.
[/quote]

Thank you. The shot was done with the MF Pentax SMC-M f1.7 50mm lens


PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a Gossen Luna Pro F, which I've owned for nearly 20 years. Great meter, but even used, they still fetch a decent price on eBay. I've seen them sell for as cheap as $40 and as high as $140 there.

Best,

Michael
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