Light meter

[jdeed1]

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Just bought myself a nice M3 and after many years getting back into film. Although I will start using Sunny 16 and look to learn through trial and error it would be helpful to know what other members are using in the way of light meters. Ultimately may well buy but looking for something not too expensive. The Voigtlander VCII looks interesting.

John

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[richam]

I recently got a Voigtlander VC II. It may be a bit pricey for you, but it's a perfect accessory for my M3, M2 and iiif. It is well designed, simple, intuitive to use, and I like it much better than the Leica Meter MR, which I also have. And it's an order of magnitude better than the little plastic Gossen meter I bought years ago. The Gossen requires fiddling too much with the buttons, and is very confusing unless you train yourself and use it often. Go for the VC II if you can afford it.

[Guest cweg]

Alternatively you can use a Handheldmeter. For my M3 I got me a Gossen Sixtino for about € 12,- at ebay and it works pretty fine.

[earleygallery]

I would suggest looking for a meter which takes incident readings. I bought a s/h Minolta Autometer which is great, and gives readings in very low light as well. The Gossen digisix is one of the less expensive newer meters or if you want cheap and cheerful find an old Leningrad or Weston meter with the incident attachment.

[jdeed1]

Michael, Christoph and James, thanks for the prompt response. Will now look on e-bay and see what there is by way of used models.

John

[K Davis]

I have and use regularly a VCII on a IIIf and M2, 3 and 4's and it works well in conjunction with these, however I do find that the ISO selector isn't very tight and the meter will move from the selected ISO.

 

Hand held meters capable of spot and incident light readings are more versatile but the VCII takes no carrying, is always ready and gives a reading equivalent to a 90mm lens (I think).

[tobey bilek]

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You will always get perfect exposures with an incident meter if the camera shutter is in calibration.

 

Just make sure the meter is in the same light as the subject.

 

Reflected meters must meter a middle grey or you need to compensate for light or dark subjects. How much to compensate is an art unto itself. Basically it is the Zone System metering.

 

Sometimes you get get to the right place and a reflected meter is more appropiate. But movies are all done with incident meters where they can`t bracket and can`t reshoot. That should tell you something.

 

Sekonic Studio delux, selenium cell- no battery

 

Numerious others available

[tgray]

If you want to spring for a nice pocketable meter that takes AAs, the Sekonic 308 series is nice. I think the new ones are 308s, but there are older models which are essentially the same. Might be a bit more than you want to spend, but its a very useful and easy to use meter.

[dicko101]

Another vote for a VCII. Although mine has slipped off several times when pulling it out of my bag. Silver lining is that it's bashed in the ISO dial so now it doesn't change on me, that said, it should just be tighter in the first place.

[E.M]

I have a Sekonic Studio Deluxe and a Minolta IV . I use the Minolta all the time , because it is easy and fast . The Sekonic is better in extreme cold .

 

Etienne Michiels

[earleygallery]

Of course the other option is to buy a small P&S digital camera like the C lux, which shows the meter readings on its LCD, although it won't do incident readings of course. I sometimes use mine for this purpose and kind of as a 'polaroid' to check before shooting on film.

[Mab]

I'm not a fan of VC II meter. It's just as awkward in use as Leicameter. Get a small handheld meter like Seconic L-208 which is capable of incident metering. VC II is only capable of reflected metering which is sort of OK but incident metering is better.