Light Meter for the M3

[stvn66]

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Hi,

I have never needed to use a handheld light meter before.

For my newly purchased M3, can someone please recommend a new light meter that is not too complicated but is reliable?

Thank you,

Steve

[Pyrogallol]

As mentioned in another thread, I use a Sekonic TwinMate L208, very good and easy to use, I just bought a second one.

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[stvn66]

I'm bad, sorry I have already been advised but totally forgot...Voigtlander MC Meter II

[alb59]

Sekonic Studio Deluxe III is a classic, inexpensive, doesn't need batteries, small, built to last, and totally reliable. I can also recommend an iPhone app called My Lightmeter Pro.

[TomB_tx]

The VCII is the best modern clip-on meter for a Leica. I prefer the old Leicameter MR, but finding one in good working condition isn’t easy.

for a handheld the Twinmate is very good. Similar size is the Gossen Digisix, but mine eats batteries, so I prefer the Twinmate.

[pico]

1 hour ago, stvn66 said:

I'm bad, sorry I have already been advised but totally forgot...Voigtlander MC Meter II

I found the ISO dial to be loose which rather spoiled its use until I put a sliver of paper below the dial. Best of luck to you!

[250swb]

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The Twinmate L-208 is the best. You can pre-meter the scene with it more easily than a shoe mounted meter, it's also easy to scan the dial and weigh up possible alternative speed aperture and ISO settings.

[earleygallery]

Get a hand held meter which you can also take incident light readings with.

[jankap]

An iPhone app, perhaps? /Jan

[stvn66]

Is it feesable as a temporary method to use my digital compact Nikon p300 meter readings and simply transfer these to the M3?

[Martin B]

I am also using a M3, and I have used first a free cellphone app for the Android system called LightMeter which is unfortunately not free anymore. There are a few others which do the same job with the cellphone camera. Now I am using a new external light meter from Gossen, The Digisix 2. It's a good one but has too many unnecessary electronic functions like alarm etc which can be pressed easily by accident. Setting the needed ISO on the meter is also a bit painful since you have often to roll through the whole list to get to the desired value. But otherwise it is very accurate, I use it mostly in the reflected metering mode. 

[Martin B]

On 3/2/2019 at 4:22 AM, stvn66 said:

Is it feesable as a temporary method to use my digital compact Nikon p300 meter readings and simply transfer these to the M3?

Yes, but over time you will find it cumbersome. The exposure is the same no matter how big the film plane or sensor size is! As long as you have set your Nikon DSLR to the same ISO setting as your film and use the same f-stop, you will get the exposure readout which you can directly use on your M3. 

One slight difference can occur which has to do with the angle how the reflected light is measured by the meter or the camera. The DSLR will have several meter functions, and some use a more narrow meter path than others which use a wider one of the field of view. So there might be a slight discrepancy in the EV number (or exposure) between both devices.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Martin B

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the Forum.

Why don't you look into & read about both the Gossen Digi Pro F2 and the Kenko 1100?

Both are pretty similar in what they can do: Reflected light, Incident light & flash.

Both cover a wider range of exposure determination requirements than most people need & because of that: As your interest & ability increase: They will be usable.

They are both larger than many of the other meters suggested here. All of the other meters are perfectly capable in many situations. Altho all of the others do not work equally well in all of the 3 categories that I listed above. Both of the meters that I mentioned are about the size of 2 regular cigarette packages put end to end.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited March 4, 2019 by Michael Geschlecht

[Ko.Fe.]

Seconik TwinMate. I have it for years now and only replaced original battery few months ago. 

 

For Flash, I'm not sure it it needs to be complicated to the level of meter with same size as of the camera, if not bigger.

Even single use P&S and Lomo cameras gives fine results with flash. Any old flash with Auto mode will do if M3 is set on 1/50 and f8.

 

[Michael Geschlecht]

36 minutes ago, Ko.Fe. said:

Seconik TwinMate. I have it for years now and only replaced original battery few months ago. 

 

For Flash, I'm not sure it it needs to be complicated to the level of meter with same size as of the camera, if not bigger.

Even single use P&S and Lomo cameras gives fine results with flash. Any old flash with Auto mode will do if M3 is set on 1/50 and f8.

 

Hello Ko.Fe.,

You are right. Most people don't need a meter pretty much of the the size of their camera body every day, but:

A meter of the type that I have suggested allows a person to explore a variety of areas of photographic exposure that they may, eventually, learn to do without a meter.

A person can not only learn the "ins" & "outs" of exposure more quickly with a meter with expanded abilities but they can also learn to better understand things like contrast ranges, complicated lighting arrangements & the like.

Best Regards,

Michael

Edited March 5, 2019 by Michael Geschlecht

[stvn66]

Thanks guys, a lot of very interesting points for me to consider. 

Has anyone ever used the early Gossen Sixtomat, it is cheap and may be a good meter to start with?

 

[Ko.Fe.]

1 hour ago, stvn66 said:

Thanks guys, a lot of very interesting points for me to consider. 

Has anyone ever used the early Gossen Sixtomat, it is cheap and may be a good meter to start with?

 

Avoid old meters. Especially those without batteries. They were nothing good back then and now it is nothing good either.

[Adrian Lord]

Light meter app on phone is ultra convenient and works. Sunny 16 and intuitive learning is even more convenient and amazingly works brilliantly after a while too!

[Martin B]

4 hours ago, Adrian Lord said:

Light meter app on phone is ultra convenient and works. Sunny 16 and intuitive learning is even more convenient and amazingly works brilliantly after a while too!

Really? I never got hooked with the sunny 16 rule. It works only well in very limited scenes - on sunny days and when being on a more southern latitude. In Europe and North America it is more like a Sunny 11 rule if this even fits. And it doesn't work well on very contrasty subjects anyway where more accurate metering is absolutely needed. 

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Hallo,

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[Ko.Fe.]

2 hours ago, Martin B said:

Really? I never got hooked with the sunny 16 rule. It works only well in very limited scenes - on sunny days and when being on a more southern latitude. In Europe and North America it is more like a Sunny 11 rule if this even fits. And it doesn't work well on very contrasty subjects anyway where more accurate metering is absolutely needed. 

It all comes down to practice. Plus huge exposure latitude of film.

I'm taking pictures with film, no meter cameras, no meter in Canada and USA. It took few years of practice with Sekonic handheld meter and used to be free iPhone app.

In December 2018 I went to Boston and up North with M4-2 and Jupiter-3. No light meter. I took pictures indoors and outdoors at night and during snowy or sunny days. No problems.

If not sure, always "overexpose".

Oh, originally I started to take pictures, while back in Moscow and else, with nothing but FED-2 and ORWO slide film. I knew nothing, zilch, nada about exposure. All I used was S16 print which came with every ORWO roll. It worked.

One hint, if you look at f16 print, it is f16 for lots of Sun. It means Sun, no clouds, open area.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Ko.Fe.