Light Meters, advice ?

[chrisgavin]

In all my times using super8 cameras, I've shot almost everything (with a few exceptions) in Auto exposure mode. It's just one less thing to think about and my Nizo does a pretty good job most of the time.
However I'm now eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first 16mm camera (A Kiev Alpha 16 ), I believe it's got some kind of light meter built in, but I'm expecting to be taking manual readings and setting the f-stop on the c-mount lenses. As yet, I've got no idea if the built in meter will work and even if so, what obscure battery it might require.

So, what I'm looking for now is a separate light meter. In the spirit of DIY and 'for fun' film-making, I'd like it to be really cheap, simple to use yet be able to take both incident and reflected readings.
Oh yes, and it mustn't be powered by any obscure batteries either...

I notice lots of cheap digital 'Lux' meters around on ebay etc., but I don't know if these deal in the iso/shutter/f-stop calculations that we're used to in photography terms.

So I appeal to the collected experience of this group. Any suggestions for a cheap but effective light meter would be most welcome...
Thanks in advance,

Chris

[BAC]

If you have an iPhone there is a free "Pocket Light Meter" app that I use most of the time with great results. If you want an older light meter that doesn't use batteries I would recommend the Weston Master V. The only problem with selenium cell light meters is they can become inaccurate over time. I have a few that I trust because I checked them against my iPhone light meter. Sekonic and Gossen both still make light meters that use modern batteries. The Sekonic L-398A Studio Deluxe III Meter is still manufactured and doesn't use batteries.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... e_III.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Light ... 4025915107

http://www.westonmeter.org.uk/

[71er]

You will find countless different light meters for reflected readings, but for incident readings the number is not so big.
I bought a Gossen Profisix for 60 Euros and I'm very happy with it - very fast and easy reading. You can also use it in low light conditions when selenium cells don't give you a reading anymore (mostly for photography). And most important: it takes a standard 9 V battery block.

[verydarkroom]

I'd like it to be really cheap, simple to use yet be able to take both incident and reflected readings.

If you're using Android: Really cheap as in, free. Modes for both incident and reflected, accurate enough (depending on your smartphone) for most situations but I won't use it for really critical work. Nifty old lightmeter UI too so feels right at home. Give it a try, "LightMeter Free" by David Quiles. There's no free version with incident metering for iPhone (hah), but he has "myLightMeter PRO" which is supposedly "most accurate light meter app around" for $3.99.

http://xyzdq.blogspot.com.es/

If you want a real light meter, then yeah Gossen or Sekonic.

[chrisgavin]

Many thanks for all the advice folks...

In the past couple of days I've followed-up these ideas and others and have rapidly gained a good feeling of the options out there, ranging from the free apps right up to the Sekonic devices.

Unfortunately I don't have a smart phone of either flavour yet, but that would indeed be the way to go I think for the kind of projects I'm doing. Handy, probably 'good enough' and free; difficult to beat.

Then there are the vintage Weston meters... These indeed look lovely and the 'no battery' idea is great! I had a nice look around the site all about them and discovered that for a while some of them were even manufactured here in my home town (Enfield UK). But I'm a little wary of buying these old ones and not knowing the state of the Selenium cell. Also, apparently they're not so good in the dark(!) and the separate invercone looks a little bit fiddly to use. Still, I might yet go this way if I find a later model one... possibly...

The Sekonic options (at least at the new prices) are probably a bit overkill for my needs, but maybe I could find one of the lower end digital ones second-hand for a reasonable price...

There are also some older simpler digital meters (from Gossen etc.) that show up on ebay and one of these might suit too.

So I'll keep an eye open and many thanks again for anyone who has already or wishes to still add info here about their light metering tools and experiences...
Chris

[nikonr10]

Many thanks for all the advice folks...

In the past couple of days I've followed-up these ideas and others and have rapidly gained a good feeling of the options out there, ranging from the free apps right up to the Sekonic devices.

Unfortunately I don't have a smart phone of either flavour yet, but that would indeed be the way to go I think for the kind of projects I'm doing. Handy, probably 'good enough' and free; difficult to beat.

Then there are the vintage Weston meters... These indeed look lovely and the 'no battery' idea is great! I had a nice look around the site all about them and discovered that for a while some of them were even manufactured here in my home town (Enfield UK). But I'm a little wary of buying these old ones and not knowing the state of the Selenium cell. Also, apparently they're not so good in the dark(!) and the separate invercone looks a little bit fiddly to use. Still, I might yet go this way if I find a later model one... possibly...

The Sekonic options (at least at the new prices) are probably a bit overkill for my needs, but maybe I could find one of the lower end digital ones second-hand for a reasonable price...

There are also some older simpler digital meters (from Gossen etc.) that show up on ebay and one of these might suit too.

So I'll keep an eye open and many thanks again for anyone who has already or wishes to still add info here about their light metering tools and experiences...
Chris

Like any thing that good and of quality come 's at a price same with good light meter"s , you get what you pay for ? also better to go for one with cine mode
have the Gossen variosix F2 very good and can do spot metering as well ,

[carllooper]

I've got an old digital Sekonic light meter which I've had for last twenty years - and it still works today as perfectly as it did the first day I used it. Was about $100 at the time. My only fustration with it is that I can't set it exactly to compensate for the Bolex prism - has fixed ASA stops and time stops - where I otherwise need an in-between value to exactly calibrate the thing - so have to do a small fraction of a stop compensation in my head - not that anyone watching the film would ever notice - or that I myself could ever notice. But I just feel more secure (or more happy) knowing it's right on the mark my brain is otherwise saying it should be. A purely irrational (or is it rational?) thing.

Consistency they say is more important than any particular reading. So, for example, when lighting a scene you would light for all the shots that are going to take place in that scene and lock it off - rather than adjusting the lighting on a shot by shot basis. And you would (in general) select a single f-stop you would use for all the shots that will take place in the same scene rather than changing it on each shot.

However I don't actually like consistency. I prefer every shot, whether in the same scene or not, to be custom lit and exposed. I like the discontinuity that results from such. The light meter becomes invaluable in this respect. It allows one to control the extent to which the shots will differ (or not) from each other. One can create a kind of weird sense of space and time. Shots that are otherwise narrationally following each other, but exhibit a visual discontinuity, or shots that look as if they do belong to the same scene but are narrative wise far apart.

Carl

[Andreas Wideroe]

You should checkout @lumu on twitter. Very cool gadget.

[wahiba]

Maplin do a universal light meter for about £30. Values in lux but should not be too difficult to convert to photo use. One of the given uses is for photography so there might be conversion information with it.

[chrisgavin]

@wahiba
Thanks for that idea too. I saw quite a lot of cheap modern digital 'lux' meters on ebay too, but I think I'd need a more 'photography' oriented one to be able to dial in ASA and shutter speed and get an f.stop value in return.
These 'lux' meters seem to be geared towards checking lighting conditions for building safety regulations and such.
But then maybe these light meters do have a proper 'photography' mode too?

I think when my 16mm (manual) camera does come, I'll do my first few tests using my Canon DSLR camera to act as a light meter.
Then later on, I might have joined the 21st century and bought a budget smart phone of some kind and I can try a few of those .app suggestions too.

For the Kiev Alpha 16 camera I'm waiting for, I found this site
http://www.erkanumut.com/?s=rus
where the 24Fps shutter speed is stated to be 1/51 second (let's call it 1/50)

I've also learned (from the forum) that the viewfinder will steal half the incoming light. I have some old 400ASA film to shoot.

So, I think I'll put 200ASA (to account for the viewfinder) and 1/50th shutter speed into my CANON DSLR and see what f-stop it suggests.

I'm hoping I can get some reasonable readings this way at least for my first few test shoots.

Many thanks to you all for sharing your suggestions/ experiences.