dougbev3 Loc: Pueblo, Colorado

I am looking to purchase a light meter. I see the price range goes from $20 - $600. Looking for help as to what , if any, that you use and why you choose what you did. Thank you

Silverman Loc: Michigan

Search eBay, Amazon for some good deals.

BebuLamar

History?
Back in 1979 I bought the Minolta flashmeter II. I bought it because I think it's the best flashmeter at the time and I wanted to measure flash. With it I learned how to use the incident light meter and it's an eye opener for me. It does measure ambient light but very limited.
In the mid 80's I bought the Minolta flashmeter III as it works better than the II in ambient light. Later on I bought the Minolta spotmeter M because I wanted to learn how to use the spotmeter. I don't have the spotmeter M any more although I still have the flashmeter III.
In the early 2000 I bought the Konica Minolta flashmeter VI because it offered both spot and incident and both flash and ambient.
While Gossen or Sekonic are good I stayed with Minolta.

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

I recommend the Kenko Auto Digi Meter Model KFM-1100. It is the same as the Minolta Auto Meter IV F. Really good meter.

Stan

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

I haven't used a separate light meter since the mid 60's when through the lens meeting (center weighted averaging) became available but based on the way thing were then, If you limit your search to light meters measuring the light reflecting from the subject, then your choices revolve around spot metering vs scene averaging. If you follow the zone system of exposure, then you probably want a tightly constrained spot meter (1-2 degree field of view) As far as I know, there is nothing available that is a compromise between spot and full scene averaging in a seperate hand held incident light meter (ie full frame averaging but heavily center weighted. All the spot meters have a look through window so you can see where the spot is aimed and make the appropriate adjustments to place the spot metered part into the desired exposure range (exposure compensation?)
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rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

I guess it depends on your budget and what features you're looking for. I went with the Sekonic 758 DR. It's ability to do both ambient/incident and spot metering as well as it's available software for camera/lens combination profiling. Built in radio trigger for Pocket wizards as well as other radio triggers for various brands of triggers available seperately. Even if you don't have any triggers you can tell the unit to measure a flash and it will wait for you to trigger the flash manually to take it's measurements.

Sekonic's Data Transfer Software is used to create and edit camera exposure profiles and then transfer them to your L-858 series, L-758 series or L-478 series for extremely accurate control of exposure. Along with the sensor's dynamic range, it records the unique variations of your digital camera, such as the effects of shutter speed and aperture mechanisms as well as the characteristics of the lens in use. The adjustable graph function makes quick work of viewing and modifying profiles. The meter can store up to three profiles at a time.

It comes in very handy for studio work when trying to set up lighting ratios as it can store multiple readings and do lighting averaging. It can also do the same with spot/reflected light (1° spot with view finder display) metering in the field. Good luck with your selection, and happy shooting to you.

Vietnam Vet

Used a Gossen Luna Pro back in the film days. Now I use a Sekonic. I rarely use it because I can check the lighting from a preview.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I still have and use my very old analog Gossen Luna Pro. I have been looking for a more modern replacement and am intrigued by the smartphone plug ins like the Luxi or Lumu.

Bill_de Loc: US

I recently gave my last light meter to a fellow Hogger. It is a Sekonic that could read incident, reflected, flash and had a variable spot function. I used it continually for many years. I made a clamp set up to hold it onto my gimbal.

With the metering capabilities of today's cameras I only took it out once in a while to make sure it still worked.

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GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

If I ever needed another meter, that would be my choice as well. I had the Minolta IVF. Awesome and so easy to use!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

If you’re asking get the cheapest used digital you can.
If you need a $600 meter you would be upgrading, not asking.
Just what I would do!!! Good luck
SS

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I still have my first Minolta Flash-meter,that I purchased in 1979- I use it in the studio to verify light outputs- check ratios etc. It has a rare accessory probe that enables spot readings taken from the ground glass at the back of a view camera. It's a simple and accurate meter- I took the little pesky button batteries out and replaced them with an 9 Volt outboard battery. I use Sekonic 508 for location work- it works well in ambient light as well as flash and has reflected (spot) and incident reading options. My old Luna-Six is my spare meter for ambient light only.

I'm sure there are updated models of my Sekonic meter, however, I find theses older standard models are doing the job well enough. All of the better current makes and models are accurate and stable, however, the success in using any of them is in understanding how your meters work in terms of how and where to how to make readings in any particular scene or subject. There are advantages to both incident and reflected ligh readings. You shoud understand the use of an 18% gray card and how the light collector on a incident light meter interprets the gray scale.

Some of the latest meters can accumulate readings and average them out. Others can integrate flash and ambient ligh readings as well. I tend to do all of this manually and do my own calculations. Whatever meter you decide on, make certain your metering technique is on point.

If you have more that one meter, you can calibrate them to jibe and or calibrate them accordingly with you camera's metering system.

I mention my older meter, in the event you are also considering the used market as well. The old Minoltas are sturdy and accurate enough. The Sekonic line is fine, perhaps not as durable in heavy rugged usage.

Haydon

What application are you hoping to use the meter for. Reflective? Incident? I use a Sekonic 758 mostly for studio work. A very popular basic is the Sekonic 358 although it's strictly to measure incident. Some of the research you will have to do yourself and decide how it will be purposed.

Bipod

What kind? Light meters can be used for different purposes, so a lot of
different kinds are available:


Some light meters offer most or all of the above modes of operation.
Virtually all offer some kind of exposure calculation, to turn an EV measurement
into a Shutter Speed/Aperture pair, based on your the ISO speed:
1. Mechanical dial calculator (older type, but good for visualization)
2. Digital calculator with LCD display (newer)

In both cases, the calculator needs to support the ISO speeds (sensor of film)
that you will be using.

With the electronic ones, there are there are several modes that may be supported:
1. Still photo mode
2.. HD Cine mode
3.. Cine mode
4, Spot meter two-reading "split the difference"

Finally, if you will be using it in low light, then it will need to be sensitive.
Older light meters (without batteries) were not sensitive -- but work fine in
brighter light.
1. Selinium cell (not sensitive, does not require battery)
2. Silicon photocell (slightly more senstiive, does not require battery)
3. Cadmium sulfied photoresistor (sensitive, but requires battery)

Or if you prefer: what kind of phtography are you doing?

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

The 3 meters I mentioned in my post.