# Cheap but reasonably good light meter?



## warheit12

Basically I no nothing about light meters or which ones are good and which ones are bad. but shooting film alot and I would really like one. I am looking to spend 20-30 dollars on one, there is some wiggle room there of course. but basically I dont want to break the bank on the light meter. I no I might not get the best one, i just need one that can tell me what to set the exposure to and such before i waste the film.

Thank you in advance for any help =)


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## Helen B

At that price there isn't much available new apart from lux meters that you could use with a table to convert between lux and photographic exposure. Even used there isn't much that would be reliable. How much could you go up to?


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## pgriz

In my slide-shooting days (yeah, that dates me), having the exposure right was critical as there is no post-processing with slides.  So I learned pretty quickly that I needed to get a good idea of the light variation and where in that range the subject would be located.  A good incident light meter was one of the basic tools, and my Lunasix Pro was used (in conjuction with the camera meter) to get the correct exposure reliably.  When I got lazy, the number of poorly exposed shots went up, and there's nothing like seeing a once-in-a-lifetime shot captured with the wrong exposure, to remind you that good technique has to be practiced all the time.  If you don't need the added functions of flash metering, there are lots of used incident light meters on the market.  I'm with Helen on this - you need to raise your budget a bit to get something that is reliable.


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## xyphoto

You are not going to find a good light meter in this price range. I would recommend getting a gray card.


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## Tee

Hold your laughter for what I'm about to suggest.  Do you have a smart phone?  For grins and giggles, I got the Fotometer Pro app for $1.99 and you know what?  It's pretty gosh darn accurate outside.  I got the app because a lot of times I'll be outside for work and stop and wonder what settings I would use for a shot if I had my camera.  I'll pull out the handy-dandy app and compare notes, then finally break down, run to my car and see what the camera meter says.  You may begin laughing now.


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## 2WheelPhoto

My budget light meter I bought is the Sekonic 358. I LOVE it!  I wanted the high-end one but as a student couldn't justify it.


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## tirediron

Head on over to eBay; there are [literally] thousands of meters for sale.  If I were you I'd look to spend closer to the $100 range.  That will get you (with a little patience) a nice Gossen meter. Look for something like a Luna Pro F which will do both reflected and incident as well as flash.  If you do go this route, make sure you get one which uses either an 'AA' or 9v battery, NOT one of the old-style, hard or impossible cells.

Also, while they will be cheap and tempting, I would stay away from the slew of old selenium meters.  The sensitivity of the selenium degrades over time, and older ones can be very innacurate (if a light meter doesn't need a battery, it's probably a selenium-cell meter).


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## warheit12

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. it looks like if i want to buy one I need to get a higher budget. 

But honestly after researching alot about light meters I think I can make one myself. They do not seem that complex and I think I can get most of the parts for free(being a student gets you free samples lol) that are very high end. 

It should be fun in the very least, I will post my results once I have finished it ^_^.


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## pgriz

Well, that depends.  Is your real name McGyver or Goldberg?


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## tirediron

It won't be difficult to built a basic reflective meter, no, but calibrating it might be a whole 'nother story.


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## bhop

Are you using a meterless film camera?  I have a couple external meters, but honestly rarely use it unless i'm using it with one of my old cameras without meters.  It's still good to have one and learn to use it, but if you've got a camera with a meter it's not a necessity for shooting film.


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## Josh66

warheit12 said:


> Ok, thanks for the suggestions. it looks like if i want to buy one I need to get a higher budget.
> 
> But honestly after researching alot about light meters I think I can make one myself. They do not seem that complex and I think I can get most of the parts for free(being a student gets you free samples lol) that are very high end.
> 
> It should be fun in the very least, I will post my results once I have finished it ^_^.


Interested in seeing the results of this...



bhop said:


> Are you using a meterless film camera?  I have a couple external meters, but honestly rarely use it unless i'm using it with one of my old cameras without meters.  It's still good to have one and learn to use it, but if you've got a camera with a meter it's not a necessity for shooting film.


Comes in handy a lot with flash...


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## greybeard

Tee said:


> Hold your laughter for what I'm about to suggest.  Do you have a smart phone?  For grins and giggles, I got the Fotometer Pro app for $1.99 and you know what?  It's pretty gosh darn accurate outside.  I got the app because a lot of times I'll be outside for work and stop and wonder what settings I would use for a shot if I had my camera.  I'll pull out the handy-dandy app and compare notes, then finally break down, run to my car and see what the camera meter says.  You may begin laughing now.


I have a freebee from called beeCam for Android phones.  Free from the Android market.


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## warheit12

My smart phone does not have a light meter so i cant use any of those apps i believe. kind of sucks, with beeCam I can just input how many lux i think there are and it will tell me what setting i should put it at.


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## MTVision

warheit12 said:
			
		

> My smart phone does not have a light meter so i cant use any of those apps i believe. kind of sucks, with beeCam I can just input how many lux i think there are and it will tell me what setting i should put it at.



My phone doesn't have a light meter either (at least I don't think) but I can still use the light meter apps....

What kind of phone do you have?


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## bhop

O|||||||O said:


> Comes in handy a lot with flash...



Oh yeah.. :blushing:


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## warheit12

It is a sony ericson X10. that is weird that you are able to use those apps without a light meter. maybe it somehow uses the phone camera? My phone does have a camera, but all the apps i tried to dl didnt work. my friends phone does have a light meter and it worked for him. maybe i need to actually try the ones that cost money lol.


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## Proteus617

Look for an old Gossen Luna Pro, but you are not going to get one for $30.  The best cheap light meters are SLRs.  It's easy to find a SLR with a great meter for $10 or $20.  I have a Gossen, but I usually carry an old 35mm just for metering purposes when I shoot 4x5.


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## Tee

warheit12 said:


> It is a sony ericson X10. that is weird that you are able to use those apps without a light meter. maybe it somehow uses the phone camera? My phone does have a camera, but all the apps i tried to dl didnt work. my friends phone does have a light meter and it worked for him. maybe i need to actually try the ones that cost money lol.



I'm confused.  The light meter is an app not an already installed function of the phone that requires an app to activate it.  If you're able to download apps from an app store, you're able to download a light meter.


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## Mach0

Tee said:
			
		

> I'm confused.  The light meter is an app not an already installed function of the phone that requires an app to activate it.  If you're able to download apps from an app store, you're able to download a light meter.



I have one on my phone........ Ehhhh it's ok I guess. It works. I've only tried it once without an issue. It just seems weird lol.


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## tacticdesigns

tirediron said:


> Head on over to eBay; there are [literally] thousands of meters for sale.  If I were you I'd look to spend closer to the $100 range.  That will get you (with a little patience) a nice Gossen meter. Look for something like a Luna Pro F which will do both reflected and incident as well as flash.  If you do go this route, make sure you get one which uses either an 'AA' or 9v battery, NOT one of the old-style, hard or impossible cells.
> 
> Also, while they will be cheap and tempting, I would stay away from the slew of old selenium meters.  The sensitivity of the selenium degrades over time, and older ones can be very innacurate (if a light meter doesn't need a battery, it's probably a selenium-cell meter).



+1 !!!

The other thing about the older match-needle style light meters is that it gives you all the equivalent EV combinations of f-stop + shutter speed at a glance (Which is really nice and easy), and its really (and I mean really) a lot faster to change the ISO setting.

I got the Gossen Lunasix F because it was the type my sister taught me on. I went and got a newer (although still old) digital Gossen after that, but I find I use the older match-needle one more because it actually goes really nicely with digital cameras and their ability to change ISO for every shot, if you want.

In the old days, you'd stick in your film, let's say ISO400, and then you'd set your light meter to ISO400 and you'd be set for the rest of the film. But now, with my digital dSLR, I can change ISO for every single picture if I wanted, at least change it for each lighting environment. Changing ISO on the Lunasix F is a breeze. Just rotate the dial. You're done! Even if I've already taken the reading, I can say . . . if I want to be at 1/125 shutter, what's the lowest ISO I can go with the cheap lens I have on my camera? No problem, just rotate the dial and watch the numbers zoom by, and stop where I'm happy! On my digital, I have to go to the ISO setting, change it, and then come back to the reading. So when I want to play like that, I put down my digital light meter and pick up my analogue light meter.

The Gossen Lunasix F also measures flash, but there's some really complex calculations you have to do if you are different than its standard shutters speed? Which I basically ignore. (I'm too lazy!) And because I'm shooting digital I just compensate after the fact.


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## warheit12

Tee said:


> warheit12 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is a sony ericson X10. that is weird that you are able to use those apps without a light meter. maybe it somehow uses the phone camera? My phone does have a camera, but all the apps i tried to dl didnt work. my friends phone does have a light meter and it worked for him. maybe i need to actually try the ones that cost money lol.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm confused.  The light meter is an app not an already installed function of the phone that requires an app to activate it.  If you're able to download apps from an app store, you're able to download a light meter.
Click to expand...


well some phones have the ability to use those apps and others dont. Its because the android devices are all different. So even if i am able to download it i cant actually use them. All I can do is input a LUX value and it will tell me what setting are good. It would actually read the LUX like it would on my friends phone. 

Its similar to how some apps require a certain type of camera on the phone or some of the apps will say you need a certain amount of processing power to use them. the phones without them can still dl and install them but they cant actually use them properly or use them at all.


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## greybeard

On my phone (Motorola Eletrify) there is a sensor to set the screen intensity vs the ambient light.  The app is a little computer program that uses this sensor to mimick the functions of a incident light meter.  Works fine.


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## sofa0ne

Personally I like the older Pentax Spot Meters but it depends on what kind of shooting you are going to do. 
Good luck finding one in the $20-30 range on E-bay, I would try local thrift stores, pawn shops, flea markets, garage sales, AKA places where the people don't know what they have.   
I have been using an expensive Gossen that will even trigger strobes and it's pretty nice and should be it cost $300+, glad my friend loaned it to me, it's beautiful for studio / close work but it's worthless if you have a landscape to shoot.  
Taking off the dome and pointing it is far from accurate.  

As some have said already...
 My Droid Incredible phone will do metering too with an App however and checking it against the Gossen,  it's normally off by a stop or more depending on the direction of light.  Perhaps if I had a ping pong ball dome it would work better.


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