pwrstrkman

I bought this meter a couple years ago and could never figure out how to use it. Overwhelmed with frustration i placed it back in the bag and have never tried it again. I reached out to Manfrotto who owns this division of Gossen and did not get any help from their Saddle River NJ office. I searched on YouTube for videos but came up empty. Does anyone own/use this meter? Anyone have informative videos/directions on how to operate this? I initially paid $800.00 for this and it has since come down in price to $630.00 now. Any help with anything would be greatly appreciated. Thanks....David

Stardust Loc: Central Illinois

Just PM to you manual I have - hope it helps. (Actually sent you two - attached wrong copy first time).

krl48 Loc: NY, PA now SC

Full operating instructions and a condensed version of the instructions are available as downloads on the Gossen website.

https://gossen-photo.de/en/starlite-2/

ecurb1105

Is this your first handheld light meter? Are you asking about general use or are you measuring something specific?

BebuLamar

Very nice meter. I assume that you bought it new (the $800 price) so you should have the manual with it. Just read the manual.

rfmaude41 Loc: Lancaster, Texas (DFW area)

You can find the manual (online) at :

http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/gossen_starlite.pdf

AP Loc: Massachusetts

Hi, David! I see you're having problems operating your Gossen LUNA-STAR F2 light meter. I bought the same light meter more than 30 years ago, still have it and use it! Works fine, very accurate!

Could not find my instructions book, but, I bought one used on ebay, used $10.00. If you cannot find one, maybe I can copy the pages you. You have a classic hand-held light meter. It reads: Reflective, Incondesent, Flash. Accessories: Spot & case for spot attachment while attached to meter.

I also have the spot attachment and fiber case. Simple to operate . . . AP

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

According to this guy, the Starlite 2 was introduced in 2008.
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/my-new-gossen-starlite-2.65943/

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

That's not a light meter that I use personally, but looking at the above link it appears to combine several different types of meter in one: incident meter, flash meter, reflective meter, 5 degree spot meter (reflective), 1 degree spot meter (reflective). Some of those are pretty specialized or duplicate what you probably already have in your camera. What you might want to do is concentrate on learning the most versatile and useful modes.

To me, that would be the incident meter, either for ambient light or for studio strobes & flash.

An incident meter is used to measure the light falling onto the subject, rather than what's being reflected off of it. This largely eliminates the need to dial in Exposure Compensation, which is often needed with meters that measure the light being reflected off of a subject, because they are strongly influenced by subject tonality. A light colored or white subject reflects a lot of light, which a reflective meter reads and tries to make into a mid-tone, causing under-exposure.... so some plus Exposure Compensation is needed. Conversely a dark tonality or black subject reflects very little light, absorbs most of it, and the reflective meter will again try to make it a mid-tone, causing over-exposure.... some minus Exposure Compensation is needed. It would be easy, except that most images are a mix of tonalities, so the photographer needs to guess-timate how much E.C. is needed.

With an incident meter you point the little dome on the meter toward and take a reading of the light source, instead of the subject. Just make sure you are holding the meter in the same lighting that's falling onto the subject... for example, if it's sunlit you would get an incorrect reading standing in the shade.

With most meters you first set the ISO you'd like to use, then either choose a shutter speed or an aperture. If you choose a shutter speed and take a reading, the meter will tell you what aperture to use. If you choose an aperture and then take a reading, it will tell you what shutter speed to use. Some meters might let you choose both shutter and aperture, then will advise you what ISO you need to use with those parameters.

It appears that meter can be set to read out either in 1/10 stop or 1/2 stop increments. If you have your camera set to 1/2 stop increments, you will probably want to set the meter the same way. If you are using 1/3 stops on your camera, the 1/10 increments on the meter will probably be the easiest to use. 1/10 stop is provided for use with studio strobes, some of which are adjustable in those increments. But it's also fully usable with ambient light.

Hope this helps!

NOTE: No, this isn't the same as a Gossen Luna-Star flash meter... This is a Gossen Starlite 2 meter. Whole different animal, though it basically serves the same purpose. The Starlite 2 is a current model, a much more "modern" style of meter with digital readout instead of analog. The Starlite 2 also has built in reflective spot metering (5 degree and 1 degree). It also appears to have a number of advanced features. I HIGHLY recommend first learning to use it simply as an incident meter, as described above. This will probably be the most useful mode for someone with a modern DSLR, with built-in reflective metering and probably with partial and spot metering modes, same as the meter. The incident metering method is a helpful alternative, augmenting what you already have available rather than simply duplicating it.