pendennis

Above all, avoid any selenium cells meters. While there's a lot of debate out there about whether the cells actually "wear out", there are problems with older solder joints within the meter.

I use a Gossen Luna Pro SBC, a Honeywell (Zone VI) Digital Spot, a Soligor (Zone VI) Digital Spot, a plain Soligor Digital Spot, or a Sekonic L508. They're all great meters, and I generally keep them with different cameras (Hasselblad 500 C/M, Bronica SQ-A, Mamiya RZ67, Mamiya C330s, etc.).

The Luna Pro SBC is a great reflected and incident meter, and the prices are generally dirt cheap. They use the null method for measurements.

When I was shooting weddings and portraits, I used a Minolta Auto Meter III, then traded it for the Auto Meter IV-F. Those maintain a great value, and the flat disc and spot attachments (10 and 5 degrees) are very handy.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I use the spot meter function in my camera - works 99%-100% of the time - the proper adjustment (exp comp) is reflexive - been doing it this way since 1967.

agillot

from KEH i got a gossen pilot , was cheap enough , work well , basic .

MidnightManiac

I use the Sekonic L-308 all the time...Had it about 2 years and find it accurate. Think it was under $200.00...

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

I have a few old light meters and I sometimes use them (especially with large or medium format film), but to be honest, the best meter I have is in my relatively new digital camera, so I use that to meter either spot, area, or general scenes. You can even use a broken camera of any kind if the meter works. Otherwise, I would certainly want it to do both incident or reflective light--but if you meter the reflected light on a gray card, that gives you incident light too. (Same with white cards.)

Bipod

Decide if you need:
1. Averaging meter or spot meter?
2. The ability to meter low light levels?
3. Incident measuing capability? (in addition to luminance)
4. Cine mode (takes into account frame rate)?
5. Flash metering capability?
6. Dial mechanical calculator or LCD display?
7 Special requirements: weatherproof, shockproof, miniature, etc.

Light meters are useful in a lot of different situations, so it comes
down to what question(s) you want the meter to answer.

I own meters made by Sekonic, Gossen, Minolta, Pentax, Vivitar,
Weston and GE (the latter two are relices). The two I use most frequently
are an old Pentax SpotmeterV and a Sekonic Flashmate L-308B.

Beware of "zombie brands" -- companies that are out of business but
some unrelated company has somehow obtained rights to the brand name:
"Vivitar" is now Sokar Corporation, not the defunct Vivitar Coporation of
Santa Monica, USA (founded in the 1930s as Ponder and Best). Also
beware of brands nobody has ever heard of, or that are not known for
making optical instruments.

Spotmeters are required by Ansel Adam's Zone system.. But even if you
don't use that system, they can answer questions such as "how dark is
that shadow?". They tend to be expensive, large and delicate.

Spotmeters are extremely useful, but only only do one thing. If you need
a spotmeter, nothing else will do -- but you'll still need at least one more
lightmeter for averging metering, incident light metering, flash metering.

In studio work and setting lights and in motion picture, incident light meters
are extremely useful. All have a translucent dome over the sensor. But
not have the proper directionality.

If you need to meter in low light, that rules out all meters without batteries.
Only silicon photocells or LDRs can meter in low light--and they require
a battery.

The battery in a light meter can power:
1. the photocell and a needle (galvinometer).
2. the photoccell and an LCD display
3. the photocell, a microprocessor and an LCD display
The last kind of meter drains batteries much quicker.

New spotmetes made by Sekonic or Gossen are very expensive.
I bought mine used.

Older used meters can be a bargain, but there are a view things to know:

1. Units of measure:

There were/are more than a dozen units of measure for luminance and illuminance.
Modern luminance meters are in exposure value (EV). Anything else
is more trouble than it's worth.

Some illuminance meters are intended for industrial and commercial lighting.
They typically read in lux, ft-candles, or lumens per sq ft. -- more trouble than
it's worth. Illuminance meters intended for photography read in equivalent EV
(EV that would produce that level of luminance falling on an 18% gray card).

2. Photocell technology

Very old (1940s and 1950s) meters had selenium cells which have mostly
stopped working due to age (red selinium changing to its allotrope, grey selenium).
Sometimes they can be rejuvenated by taking them apart and baking the
cell in an oven--but this is a job for an expert. (Selenium is rather toxic.)

The next generation (late 1950s and 1960s) had cadmium sulfide cells,.
Many of these still work, but aren't very sensitive.

3. Calibration

Any meter more than a few years old is likely to be out of calibration.
Be aware that different brands of meters are calibrated to slightly different
values -- the standard allows this. And luminance and incident light
meters are calibrated to different standards.

But even a simple 1980s Vivitar averaging meter without batteries that can
be had in a thrift store for $2 is a good thing to have in your camera bag.
Borrow somebody's brand new $300 light meter, set them side by side,
and calibrate the Vivitar by turning the screw.

Any meter that works is better than no meter (or one that doesn't work
because it has a dead battery).

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

I have a Polaris something or another. I got it used for about a hundred dollars and it also has Spot. Otherwise it's pretty basic. Good for film!
I use it for studio or location work.
I can tell you the model # if you needed to know!!!
SS

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I have had a number of different light meters over the years... My regular "users", all discontinued models AFAIK (might be found used), are:

Sekonic L-298 "Studio Deluxe"... incident meter with analog display, no battery req'd... but it is not usable for flash and studio strobes. Mine is ancient, yet it's still as accurate as when it was new.

Minolta IV F... incident meter with digital display, battery req'd, meters flash too. I also have and previously used an older Minolta III F which is similar (4LR44 battery), but it's ISO/ASA and shutter speed range are best suited to film and it can only read out in 1/10 stops, so a shutter speed like 1/125 shows as 1/120. The III F was hard on batteries because it doesn't have a power off button, just powers itself down after 2 minutes. I have accessories for it that allow it to read reflectively through a viewfinder or at a film plane, which have been handy in the past for macro and large format photography, especially. Some of those accessories also can be used on the IV F, which I updated to some years ago.

Nearly identical to the IV F, the later Minolta V F (2002)also sold under the Konica-Minolta name after they merged (2003) and again as the Kenko KFM-1100 after 2006, when the Konica-Minolta photography division was sold to Sony and they in turn sold off the metering division to Kenko, who still make the meters today. The IV F can only show 1/2 stop increments, which is fine with film (and maybe with digital, if camera is set to 1/2 stop increments). The V F can be set to display either 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments and would be a better choice for use with most modern digital. Nice thing about the IV F and V F models is that they both are easy on batteries and they both use a single AA alkaline. (Note: Minolta/Konica-Minolta/Kenko also made Color Meters with similar model names... much more expensive, but able to read light temperature.)

Sekonic L-358... incident meter with digital display, battery req'd (CR123A), meters flash too, range is great for digital and it can be set to read out in full, 1/2, 1/3 or 1/10 stops. This model also can optionally be fitted with a radio device to interface with some Pocket Wizard and Radio Popper strobe triggers. I think the current Sekonic L-308 is essentially the same, without the radio trigger option. There have been several different versions of the L-308... I don't know the difference between them.

I've also used Minolta and Sekonic 1 degree spot meters (still have one of them... somewhere). Reflective meters only, I primarily used them with large format film when using the Zone System. I think there was a flash capable version of the Minolta... but mine wasn't. Over the years I've had some Gossen too, which are also excellent. Polaris seems a good brand, too... though I don't recall using any of them.

If you pick up a used meter and need a manual for it, check out http://www.butkus.org/chinon/flashes_meters.htm Many are available there as PDFs (free to download, but donations are gratefully accepted).