Sekonic twin mate (or other small meter)

[grahamc]

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Hello 

Can any users give me their opinions on the Twin Mate, please. Or any other very small external meter recommendations ?

Thanks 

[hepcat]

The inexpensive Chinese TT Artisan Voigtlander knock offs do a good job, and of course the Voigtlander meter itself is excellent for digital shoe mount meters.  For small hand-held I've used a Sekonic L-308B for twenty years.

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[Jul]

Never used the Twin Mate but a quick glance at the specs says EV3-EV17.
Gossen Digisix II starts at EV0.

[madNbad]

23 minutes ago, grahamc said:

Hello 

Can any users give me their opinions on the Twin Mate, please. Or any other very small external meter recommendations ?

Thanks 

The L-208 is a fine and capable little meter. The battery last a long time and the analog readout is convenient for choosing a range of settings. You can also mount it to the accessory shoe. 
The Gossen Digisix is about the same size but with a digital readout. The Digiflash is the same size but offers flash metering in addition. Both the Twinmate and the small Gossen meters both have an incident dome. They’re a handy pocket size and either will give you a good reading. The Digisix also has a setting that lets you average a scene.

The somewhat larger options are either the L-308 do it all meter or my favorite, the L-398A Studio Deluxe.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any additional questions. I’ve owned a lot of meters over the years.

[madNbad]

I can also recommend the little Reveni cube meter with some caveats. It’s based around the same type of sensor that is used in phone cameras, giving it a wide (45 degree) angle of acceptance. Battery life is also problematic but manageable. It has a bright, easy to read in any light, OLED readout, the 3D printed nylon body and accessories are lightweight,robust and reasonably priced. The developers are based in Canada and are working on new products and are responsive to communications. I have owned both the initial Kickstarter version and the later update. They are fine little meters that have one of the widest ISO range of anything on the market. Just be sure to carry a spare battery.

Edited January 16, 2023 by madNbad

[andrew01]

I have a Twin mate and Voigtlander VC-ii. Some pros and cons as follows:

 

Vc-ii

Pros: small, light, metal build, can attach to the camera, easy to use, long battery life, intuitive interface.

Cons: Easy to dislodge from the camera shoe when taking the camera out of the bag. It can also be dislodged by the camera bumping against your clothes.  Easy to accidentally change the ISO.

 

Twin mate:

Pros: Small, light, fits in pocket easily, long battery life, inexpensive, trusted light meter brand

Cons: build feels a bit cheap, meter takes a few seconds to settle, probably not as accurate as a digital meter due to meter needle wobble and error transferring reading to dial (but good enough for negative film).

 

The Gossen Digisix could have been the perfect meter, but unfortunately the display is always on, meaning the batteries only last 6 months.  If only they had a 15 second timeout of the display after the metering button was pressed. Then the batteries would last years.

Edited January 16, 2023 by andrew01

[Ouroboros]

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Twin Mate is an excellent little meter with the bonus of having a sliding invercone for incident readings.  This alone makes it more useful to me than other shoe-mounted meters such as the Voigtlander which can only meter reflected light.  

[madNbad]

I’m fairly new to the Digisix. I found a used one for a hundred usd and normally use it with my Retina IIa  because of its small size. I learned from the Reveni to keep an extra battery with me. I like its size, it’s fairly easy to read in most light and the dial interface offers the choice of settings like a full analog meter. I’ve never tried the VC II but have always been interested.

[105012]

I use incident metering (to check my own estimate of the light) and find the Twinmate 208 a good option. The analog dial is super simple to use and much better than a digital display for me. A battery (CR2032) in it lasts for many years and is widely available at supermarkets etc when you need a new one.

I wish it were thinner and fully sealed.  If you leave it in a pocket for a few years it can result in lint making its way into the meter. This can be cleaned out by (careful) disassembly. Another con is the ISO dial, which is fiddly to set and yet can be bumped to the wrong setting too easily.

It's the best meter that I know of for my needs, but not perfect.

[Mikep996]

"Or any other very small external meter recommendations ?"

 

Since most folks carry a smart phone wherever they go, you might consider an app.  I'm very pleased with myLightMeter Pro https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mylightmeter-pro/id583922375

[Mute-on]

I use the L-308. I actually prefer the digital screen and greatly appreciate the ability to very quickly scroll through combinations of aperture and shutter speed on the fly (saves having to calculate them when working quickly).  I tend to use it as an incident meter. 

[madNbad]

3 hours ago, Mikep996 said:

"Or any other very small external meter recommendations ?"

 

Since most folks carry a smart phone wherever they go, you might consider an app.  I'm very pleased with myLightMeter Pro https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mylightmeter-pro/id583922375

I have the app on my iPhone and it works well, even better if you spend the time and match it with a known meter. Like the Reveni, it has a fairly wide angle of acceptance.

[madNbad]

18 minutes ago, Mute-on said:

I use the L-308. I actually prefer the digital screen and greatly appreciate the ability to very quickly scroll through combinations of aperture and shutter speed on the fly (saves having to calculate them when working quickly).  I tend to use it as an incident meter. 

I had both the S and the latest X versions. It’s amazing how much that little meter can do. Sekonic combined all of the features of previously separate models into one meter. Plus it runs forever on a single AA battery.

[Pyrogallol]

I have three of them, one in each bag, and will buy another at the right price. 

[atournas]

Since you've posted your question in the Leica forum, I take it you're planning to use the ext lightmeter with a Leica camera. My experience (Sekonic meters) shows that, with Leicas, their internally light measurement is more than enough. With film bodies, the film tolerance "covers up" any deviation; with digital, I guess post-processing will do the job.

[250swb]

Although I have a shoe mount meter it's a bit of a pain, especially when I want to use an accessory viewfinder, they never handle well hand held off the camera. But I do have a L-208 and it's been reliable and accurate for many years now. The batteries seem to last for ever and it's just the right size that you feel you've got hold of something but small enough for a pocket. I wouldn't say it's my main meter though, that is an L-308 or a Gossen DigiPro F (I prefer the L-308, again bombproof, reliable, long battery life).

[LocalHero1953]

Sekonic L398, bought used. Does the job, no battery worries. It came without the slider insert for bright light measurement - fortunately I found one on ebay, but worth checking it's included. Can be difficult to read in low light (tiny text).

I also use the iOS app PhotoFriend, which takes a picture of a scene and meters it.

Edited January 17, 2023 by LocalHero1953

[Fotoklaus]

I used several meters over the years but I´ll stick with the Digisix. Small, lightweight, accurate and capable of metering incident light wich is

very important, I think.

I own also the VC Meter II which is very well made, good looking and fits perfectly on an M. But it tended to be more comfortable for me to use the digisix.

The dials on the VC meter sometimes move when pulling the camera out of the bag and have to be adjusted again before metering.

I can use the EV- readings from the digisix directly for my Rolleicords and the Rolleiflex T (and some other cameras).

Nothing gets unintentionally adjusted when resting in your pocket or your bag. One click, setting the camera up and that´s it.

[grahamc]

5 hours ago, Mikep996 said:

"Or any other very small external meter recommendations ?"

 

Since most folks carry a smart phone wherever they go, you might consider an app.  I'm very pleased with myLightMeter Pro https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mylightmeter-pro/id583922375

Funny you mention myLightMeter as it’s what I’m using at the moment. Oddly, it consistently gives me a reading 1 stop different to all of my M bodies when I use a test item eg grey card.  With ISO and aperture set the same my M bodies match eachother , but always indicate my shutter speed needs to be one stop slower than the reading I get from myLightMeter pro). 

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[grahamc]

10 hours ago, madNbad said:

I’m fairly new to the Digisix. I found a used one for a hundred usd and normally use it with my Retina IIa  because of its small size. I learned from the Reveni to keep an extra battery with me. I like its size, it’s fairly easy to read in most light and the dial interface offers the choice of settings like a full analog meter. I’ve never tried the VC II but have always been interested.

I like the idea of digisix but read some user reports saying they wish they’d bought the twin mate due to the battery life. The digisix is 3x the price of the twin mate here - do you see any compelling reason to steer toward the digi ?