A question about light meter vs exposure meter.

Hadley

Hadley

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James
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I've just bought a MF camera, and I now need a way to meter for the correct exposure.

A friend of mine said (and what I thought was the only option was) to get a "light meter" or flash meter.

However being a student my budget doesn't really afford me one, and I've observed that on ebay there are "exposure meters" for a more reasonable price.

I don't ever really see my self using flash, so would these exposure meter do?

:help:
 
I'm not aware of any difference between a 'light meter' and an 'exposure meter' beyond the minor change in terminology.*

As to why they should be listed with different prices on eBay I have no clue.

A flash meter, however, is designed to allow you to separately measure the level of light provided by flash lights. Useful if that's what you're doing, but not essential by any stretch of the imagination if you're not.

* actually, I suppose there could be one, as an Exposure Meter would be calibrated to read in EV (f-stops and aperture) while some light meters may measure in Lux for non-photographic, interior design, health & safety, etc. use (checking illumination levels at desks, etc). You'd be after one for photographic use, which are probably more common and cheaper.
 
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Hi James,

My advice is to get a good working WESTON MASTER V or WESTON EURO MASTER off eBay. They are great meters and still do the job well.

You will need to measure the light in relation to the ASA/ISO speed of your film, so as to expose the shots correctly.

Best of luck

Alistair
 
Musicman said:
I'm not aware of any difference between a 'light meter' and an 'exposure meter' beyond the minor change in terminology.*

As to why they should be listed with different prices on eBay I have no clue.

A flash meter, however, is designed to allow you to separately measure the level of light provided by flash lights. Useful if that's what you're doing, but not essential by any stretch of the imagination if you're not.

* actually, I suppose there could be one, as an Exposure Meter would be calibrated to read in EV (f-stops and aperture) while some light meters may measure in Lux for non-photographic, interior design, health & safety, etc. use (checking illumination levels at desks, etc). You'd be after one for photographic use, which are probably more common and cheaper.
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I only used different terminology due to the different responses it creates on ebay. The exposure meters tend to look much older, but if they work it's probably what I'm going to buy.
 
alistair.o said:
Hi James,

My advice is to get a good working WESTON MASTER V or WESTON EURO MASTER off eBay. They are great meters and still do the job well.

You will need to measure the light in relation to the ASA/ISO speed of your film, so as to expose the shots correctly.

Best of luck

Alistair
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Cheers, I think I'm going to buy one.
 
I use a Westom Master II bought from this forum.. the only slight disadvantage is that Weston used their own version of ISO ratings for a while. But it's not difficult to compensate, so far I've just set the Weston rating to the ISO -1/3rd stop and it's working ok (so for ISO 100 set to 80 Weston). A Master II is £5-10 on Ebay.
 
I have a couple of Westons. They're lovely instruments, but I do end up using my Sekonic L-358 at lot more for the convenience of a digital scale, multiple readings (with an average) and better low-light accuracy.

Getting Westons serviced is now difficult. I believe the last company in the UK doing replacement selenium cells went out of business last year.
 
If you're a poor student and already have a 20D you can always use that to get your readings or I've got an old Lenningrad you can have, it's a bit tatty but seems reasonably accurate.
 
As a student I'm sure you've got an iphone4 ;) There is an app you can buy, not tried it but cheaper than a light meter?
Otherwise a Weston is a no brainer, just try and get it calibrated against a new one just to be sure.
 
Edtog said:
As a student I'm sure you've got an iphone4 ;) There is an app you can buy, not tried it but cheaper than a light meter?
Otherwise a Weston is a no brainer, just try and get it calibrated against a new one just to be sure.
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I've got an iPhone 3 and the free light meter app is excellent, if you want more bangs and whistles light meter pro is also very good.
 
Well I have the Weston III and IV and they are VG as long as you don't want to measure very dim light, also they don't need batteries.
 
Apparently Newton Ellis & Co can replace the cells in Weston meters and re-calibrate them in case anyone wants to know. Don't have a clue how much it would cost but noticed it on their repairs page:

http://www.newtonellis.co.uk/
 
s162216 said:
Apparently Newton Ellis & Co can replace the cells in Weston meters and re-calibrate them in case anyone wants to know. Don't have a clue how much it would cost but noticed it on their repairs page:

http://www.newtonellis.co.uk/
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Ta. That's useful to know. The company in Feltham that used to do it charged around £90 to do it with a full service (including replacing broken glass) and calibration IIRC.
 
Musicman said:
Ta. That's useful to know. The company in Feltham that used to do it charged around £90 to do it with a full service (including replacing broken glass) and calibration IIRC.
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WTF £90..you can buy a Canon T90 and use it for [FONT=Arial, helvetica, verdana, geneva]centre Weighted, [/FONT][FONT=Arial, helvetica, verdana, geneva]partial metering[/FONT] and [FONT=Arial, helvetica, verdana, geneva]spot metering[/FONT]. :LOL:[FONT=Arial, helvetica, verdana, geneva][/FONT]
 
Musicman said:
Ta. That's useful to know. The company in Feltham that used to do it charged around £90 to do it with a full service (including replacing broken glass) and calibration IIRC.
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PMSL - for £90 i'd be getting a Sekonik L308 or putting a few bob more in the pot and getting a L358 I think!

 
Weston V meter......I use mine simply to obtain an EV (Exposure value) then I calculate the relevant increase/decrease in stops, shutter speed etc based on the sunny F/16 rule.....Works for me.
As said in very low light they are not the ideal meter but I've used them to obtain some long exposure night shots without to much of a problem.
For the price you can get them for, they work well wether you are shooting film or digital.
 
Cheer for all the advice, in the end I bought a weston.
 
Yes they are good meters. Check it out if you can before buying (if it's a local camera store etc)

Don't forget - we take a reading and go; the light will stay pretty much the same and you will soon notice if a change comes i.e. gone dark or now the sun's full on etc.You will soon get a hang of adjusting for the light rather than keep taking your meter out and getting a reading every other shot. Also, the film lattitudes these days are excellent.

Good Luck

Alistair
 
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