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Lightmeter recommendation
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Not sure if this is the right place
I am looking for a light meter,
Ideally something with a spot meter
I have looked at the polaris ones
firstly are they any good??
if not what should i buy
Been reading about this…some folk are saying this…
http://www.sekonic.com/products/products.asp?ID=3
http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/SE4031.html
If not…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule
I’ve got a Sekonic L308. Its small, simple, easy to use and relatively cheap to buy. I got mine on ebay from China cheap (although not hassle free with the seller!). If you dont need swivel head light meters or anything with bells and whistles this is the one for you, although, it doesn’t have a spot meter function.
On another note with the L308….I thought it had died on me shortly after getting it. Just to be sure I changed batteries wth one I knew was fresh (rechargeable battery about 2200 mah) and it still wasn’t working. I brought it to the repair shop beside D.M.L. in Prtobello in Dublin to see if he could do anything with it. He popped in a Duracell and it worked fine. I felt pretty stupid but the moral of the story is that this light meter doesn’t work with rechargeable batterries (at least my one doesn’t!)
Rather than a combi-meter, I have two separate meters – a Gossen Spotmaster and a Minolta Flashmeter V. Most of the time I use the Minolta meter; the spot meter doesn’t really get used as much as it did when I shot slide film. It’s very accurate once you know how to use it properly (definitely wouldn’t recomend using one blindly) and the Spotmaster also meters flash, which can be useful, although it’s generally easier and quicker to use an incident meter. Ask yourself if you really really need a spot metering function and if you don’t then the Sekonic L358 is probably one of the most versatile and best value meters out there.
I use the Polaris model with the 5 degree spot meter and I am very happy with it. Ideally a 1 degree spot would be better but taking into account the cost and that I needed a flash meter for studio, the Polaris is fine.
Peter
I’ve a Sekonic L-608 that I got off a guy that couldnt figure it out :D
Its a good all in one.
FFordes always have a good selection of used meters
Does anyone know off hand anywhere in town to buy a light meter second hand…well…one for under about 100 euro’s? Excluding Ebay…
JohnnyMcMillan wrote:
Does anyone know off hand anywhere in town to buy a light meter second hand…well…one for under about 100 euro’s? Excluding Ebay…
I suppose it depends on what they have in stock at the time. I purchased my Minolta Flashmeter V second hand in Conns several years ago. I might be selling it in the near future as I’m trying to get hold of a Sekonic L-358 (already ordered in fact). Why? Because the L-358 can be incremented in 1/3 stops as opposed to the Minolta V 1/2 stops and because I can fit a Quantum radio slave card inside the Sekonic, which will be useful for studio work sometime in the future. I’ll miss the Minolta V simple battery though (it operates of a readily available AA battery!).
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