Need advice for a semi-cheap light meter

streetwaves · Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 57

Hi guys. I just enrolled in a film class at my college, and I'll be needing a light meter. I usually just go by what I think is right (and that works most of the time), but it's a requirement. It's to be used alongside my Yashica-D. Can anyone recommend a good light meter for $150 US or less? If I need to buy used, that's alright, but let me know what model I should look for. Thanks a lot in advance!

hk300 · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 1041 Location: Hong Kong

i would first check with your teacher and class mates, what models they are using.

Rob Leslie · Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 1103 Location: UK Swindon

There is often a load of rubbish talked about hand held meters. The best and most expensive model is useless to somebody who doesn’t know how to work out their correct exposure, likewise a real cheap one will be better than the expensive one in the hands of somebody who knows what they are doing.
But that isn’t really the answer.
First your budget is way too high, you can find a tool to do the job for as little as $5 at a garage sale but what you really need to study the craft in the correct way is a meter that will do Incident light readings and a spot meter.
An incident light meter only measures the light falling onto the subject so is not influenced by dark or light shades, reflections etc. A spot meter measures the light reflected by a small area in your subject frame allowing you to meter highlight and shadows and work out the exposure you want.
Don’t be tempted to blow your budget on a all singing dancing electronic wonder that will also act as a flash meter as well as normal meter. Do try and find a modern spot meter but also look for a good old Weston Master or Euro which is still about one of the best incident light meters made. You should find one for $10-20, but check that the needle is steady and gives the same reading when held in opposite positions. Also check and adjust your meter.
Finally remember a good meter and using it correctly should be giving you accurate exposure to one third of a stop but many lenses, particularly zooms and telephotos don’t have accurate aperture stops (Due to light loss from construction) so test you lenses. (Another example of why some talk a load of rubbish about how good their super expensive model is!)
I would talk to your class mates about what they are using but take their replies with a pinch of salt! I’m sure they know less than you do so their opinion isn’t going to be much use is it (Blind leading the Blind)
If you have a chance do take a list of your possible choices and your reasons for them to your lecturer or their opinion. you may find the class isn't covering the subject that well and just about anything will be ample to give you a good gues and what the light is doing. Not a bad thing as exposure is often 50% measurement and 50% correction which all comes with just a little experience and a bit of knowledge

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

One thing to keep in mind is what battery the meter uses. Keep away from ones that use hard-to-find, discontinued, or super-expensive batteries. There are plenty of other meters out there!

Also, like Rob says, you don't need to pay a ton, especially used. There isn't a huge market for these after all.

The two big brands are Sekonic and Gossen. Just about anything from either company will be more than sufficient and accurate enough (though check the battery thing!)... I have a Vivitar I picked up ultra cheap, and apart from the ASA dial not staying put, it is as accurate and useful as my two Gossens, within its lighting range.

Farside · Expire: 2013-12-27

In the spirit of recommending what one has, I can heartily vouch for the Gossen Luna SBC. Used, available well under your budget and uses easily available PP3 batteries. It's a cracking meter, and has several add-ons if needed.
On the other hand, I have a couple of ancient batteryless selenium cell meters, a Sekonic and a Horvex3 which tally well with the readings from the SBC and are much smaller, so more convenient. Some old meters have dead or inaccurate cells though.

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Do you need to measure ambient light, or flash, or both?

streetwaves · Joined: 17 Dec 2008 Posts: 57

Thanks guys! I'm actually not sure how much use I'd give it now that I think of it, it's just required for the class. I either need an in-camera meter or one that's handheld... maybe I'll ask the instructor if I can go on without one.

Rob Leslie · Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 1103 Location: UK Swindon

Oh dear. Although cameras have had good TTL metering for many years and in camera spot metering is pretty good and accurate I still occasional use a hand held meter. In short it is often actually quicker and an incident light reading can’t be beaten for getting things right.
Working out correct exposure is one of the most important parts of getting technically correct pictures especially with colour transparency and digital.
Digital has little or no latitude, a third of a stop out and you have thrown a couple of stops of DR away, a full stop out and you have almost halved the cameras potential DR range. This isn’t noticed so much when shooting in camera processed JPEG but is often the reason some claim digital hasn’t much DR, when in fact it has the best DR of any medium ever used.
Then they think they need HDR etc to get things right!
The Canon 5D has a potential fantastic almost crazy DR of 14-15 stops, compared to 3 or 4 with colour transparency.
If you are doing a class try to start off right. Learning about exposure even with a dirt cheap handheld meter is far better, easier and the only correct way of quickly getting to grips with it and understanding it fully.