Light Meters

[Liam]

I am looking for a light meter to use with my newly acquired beast of a camera the afga billy. I thought a hasselblad was hard to use but with this you have to use feet to get something in focus, no viewfinder other than a metal square that pops up.
Anyway I am looking for a cheap and small light meter can anyone recommend one?

Thanks.

[cherryrig]

L-358 are really good light meters, basically any Sekonic light meters are worth getting. Some are a bit more than others thou!

[Flashman]

Yup, Sekonic are good.

I have an L-308 (http://www.sekonic.com/products/products.asp?ID=3). Very pleased with it, nice, compact and simple. Not too many bells and whistles but does just the job I want it to. The only reason I would have gone for the bigger L-358 would have been for the optional PocketWizard compatability... but I use Bowens Pulsar's so not a lot of benefit to me.

[Liam]

Ok, do sekonic do a light meter without the flash function as I will never use it, I just want one for ambient readings.
Thanks.

[cherryrig]

I don't think they do. Just flash/ambient. Why do you just want it for ambient?

[Liam]

As I mentioned in the op I have an old slr which doesn't have exposure meter, so I am having to take other cameras to get the exposure right.

[CT]

Another vote for one of the digital Sekonic meters. All the meter you'll ever need, and you can disable the flash function usually if you want to.

It's worth checking out 2nd hand prices - big savings to be made - Ffordes usually have a selection of used ones.

[cherryrig]

Minolta do some just ambient meters, but you can only get them 2nd hand. Have a look on eBay, but it would just be easier to get a flash/ambient meter and not use one of the features.

[mho]

I use a Gossen F2 very nice meter and very accurate, Gossen do an Ambient only meter as far as i know unless its been discontinued.

[Liam]

I will never use the flash function so there is no point paying for it. I will have a search through ebay now, and this is the camera if anyone is interested.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/linus4/IMG_9033.jpg

[tel48]

Don,t want to highjack the thread, but could someone point out the benefits in real terms using a light meter as opposed to the one built into a high quality digital camera such as a D300 or 40D, bearing in mind they can cost quite a bit what can they do that the inbuilt one can,t :thinking: thanks in advance

[CT]

Well the better ones have a white cone so that they can take reflected and incident light readings.

But an obvious practical advantage is where the camera is on a tripod and you want to take two exposures -one for the sky - one for the foreground. As it is now you'd need to take both readings before you put the camera on the tripod (to avoid moving the camera between readings) and either remember them or jot them down. Sometimes the light can change appreciably while you're doing that, but it's easy peasy to point that meter anywhere you like to obtain a reading.

Truthfully, in - camera meters are pretty good these days in most situations, and I wouldn't advise getting one if you're not going to use it, but they can be invaluable at times and learning how to use one will probably teach you more about exposure than anything else.

Spot meters in cameras are usually around a 5 degree spot, whereas better handheld meters have a 1 degree spot so it's possible to take very accurate readings from a particular tone in your scene.

[B_M]

Liam, sounds to me you want a cheap and functional lightmeter like the one I got years ago from Jessops. Simple, mechanical and spot-on. Not digital and - as CT said - I learnt a lot about exposure by learning to use it with an all-manual SLR.

I still take dreadful photos, however, but that's a difefrent matter!

Have a look at:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JESSOPS-LIGHT-METER_W0QQitemZ270226963432QQihZ017QQcategoryZ708Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[fletch5]

I will never use the flash function so there is no point paying for it. I will have a search through ebay now, and this is the camera if anyone is interested.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f217/linus4/IMG_9033.jpg

so where does the memory card go??:coat:

[Shorn]

I have one of these you can have for just the cost of the postage.
taken from previous reply...http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JESSOPS-LIGHT-...QQcmdZViewItem

[Liam]

Typical, well I just bought one from London Camera Exchange for £5, its an old style but works fine, now does anyone have any links on how to use them???

Thanks.

[Shorn]

Which one did you purchase Liam ?

[cherryrig]

It would help if you tell us what light meter you bought or add a picture. There are soo many out there. Thanks :)

[joxby]

£10 says its a Western Master selenium

[cherryrig]

Why do you think it's that joxby?

[joxby]

Why do you think it's that joxby?

"London Camera Exchange for £5, its an old style....."


there are millions of them, they work great or not at all, and they're cheap.
kinda fits with the camera too


also, they look complicated....but they aren't.

[Shorn]

I use the Weston MasterV, oh and anyone in need of the incident dome, I have a spare one.