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Light meters: HELP!


John Atala

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So, i'm sort of light meter shopping. firstly let me state my needs:

I'm constantly taking still pictures with my 35mm cameras, on a professional level... in that area the meter would be great. second, i'm also a videomaker, constantly the DP of various projects...would a light meter have any use shooting video, besides the fact that sometimes I take my Bolex H-16 out of the garage and take it for a spin with a borrowed meter.

 

all those reasons took me to the net and i found out that quite a few brands are out there.

Sekonic, gossen, minolta, and polaris are a few examples. the sekonics seems great (...)???

 

i guess that my question is which one to get, keeping in mind the description and the eventual usage of my 16mm camera.

 

which one(S) do you guys have? do you recommend it?

 

p.s. a must have feature is the spot metering, are the ones which offer both options any good?

 

 

thanks for you time

 

jon

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Well your built in spot meter requirement kind of limits you. You pretty much have answered your own question as the Sekonic is the only one that offers that feature (I believe).

 

I have had a Minolta IVF for 12 years and it's been flawless. I calibrate it once a year. Before I could afford a spot meter, I bought a 3? spot atachment for the Minolta which you put on in place of the ball or disk and look through. It wasn't ideal, but it does the job and was affordable.

 

The Sekonics are good but in my opinion has too much stuff you really don't need that also jacks up the price of it. Also, if you drop your meter (if you haven't yet you will) you might be out 2 meters instead of just one...you have no backup. Having a separate spot meter ensures some level of safety.

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Hello Zhivago,

I have been a professional photographer for over 20 yrs now. I shoot manual

outdoors with a Nikon F4S and I use the camera's built in meter with great re-

sults and of course I bracket up or down(change exposure- -1,+1 etc.)if called

for keeping in mind the lattitude of my film. For color negative film I expose for

the shadows,for slide film I expose for the highlights(I bracket mostly for slide

film with creativity in mind). My camera meter has never left me down. In the

studio I shoot 35mm with two Nikon FE2's and of course for strobe I use a min-

nolta flash meter. If I photograph a subject(portrait) using just window light and

reflectors, I will use the meter in the FE2 camera. I can actually move in to the

subect with the camera,meter the face,hold that reading,step back and shoot.

If I'm shooting by the window with b&w, I shoot while keeping in mind that I will

be developing the film and making the print in my darkroom. For outside work

with b&w I use a spotmeter either a Pentax or a Minolta F. Often I use the Pentax

because it was given to me by my mentor(no longer living). If I shoot with my

4X5 camera I use one of the spotmeters. Pentax and Minolta are fine,there are

many other brands. You will have to make your own choice. For serious work

you need to be sure spotmeter is calibrated properly. I use a Sectra 4a for video

and its okay but recently I have stopped metering with video due no need for it.

I will use the Spectra 4a when I get my 16mm camera. Greg

Edited by pd170user
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Personally, I use the Sekonic L-558 C...that would be the ILM/RLM combo. I'm very happy with it and it suits me well. I also carry the classic Spectra meter, on me. In case something goes wrong with my L-558 C.

 

I find it convenient, and reliable. I do recomend it.

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I used the L-508C Sekonic since it came out. I never had any trouble with it and it was plenty sensitive. Other people have reported that it isn't accurate in low light. It was getting old and I decided about a year ago to go with the classic Spectra IV-A and Minolta Spot-F team.

 

I got a giggle from trying to get the Minolta spot in a still photog store as I hadn't been to one in awhile and fogot how amature they can be. The guy behind the counter said "What do you think you need THAT for?" as if I had no idea what I was buying.

 

I got one off ebay for $250 practically new. If you get a Spectra new make sure you get the latest version, it's more sensitive.

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I use a Sekonic 508C.

 

I love it. It has taken a beating over the years. The only thing that has not held up is the case, which I will be replacing soon. I have had it in rain, dirt, dirt, and more dirt, cold, hot, thrown around, transported on plains, trucks and cars. It still matches the readings I take against other peoples less used/ newer meters.

 

 

Kevin Zanit

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I have a spectra 4 and a minolta 5, and a minolta spotmeter 5.

 

I had the minolta 3, then 4 and pentax spotmeter before.

 

I like much better having a seperate spotmeter - I like even having only the old pentax one rather than the minolta accessorie - because it's the only way I know for measuring on 1 degree, and I find this very usefull. The minolta 5 has the accessorie, I have it, but it measures only on 5°...

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I agree, I've yet to see anyone use a Sekonic! We had somebody come on to the stage to demo one of them. It had some sort of zoom facility (?) on the spotmeter section which fell off in the guys hand. Poor guy never stood a chance after that. It also looks very big? They seem to have battery issues from what I've read, though I've no experience myself. I'm really surprised to read so many people using them.

 

I caryy 2 Minolta Flashmeter V's, 2 Minolta Spotmeter F's (one of which must be nearly 20 years old and has never missed a beat, maybe using 10 batteries in that time... incredible thing) and a Minolta Color Temp Meter 3. All use standard AA Batteries which seem to last forever. I also carry my old school Spectra Combi 500 which I saved up for while still at school in the 70's. Its still spot on. Where did Spectra go wrong? They seemed to dominate the market at that time.

 

Highly recommend the Minoltas

Edited by TonyBrown
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It looks like the spectras' times have gone... I remember that not so long ago, may be 10 to 15 years - you wouldn't find a DP without a spectra ! Even if they would have Minoltas, they wouldn't show them on the set, they were looked at like baby toys, gadgets... I think one point about how the began to be more and more visible is because of their price, compared to spectra, and that people had to admit that they were just as good technically !

 

I remember the time DPs had to have two spectras : one for standard lighting, one for low light, since faster stocks appeared (and I'm not even mentionning the time you needed seperate grids for different stocks, instead of having a digital process inside the meter). may be Dops found the japanese stuff was more versatile ? Should even one consider that spectra is not so good as minolta or sekonic nowdays, or is it just a question of price or versatility ?

 

Kevin ? Dan ?

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I know guys who still use spectra?s. It just comes down to preference; some guys swear by them others have newest toy.

 

Me personally, I don?t care all that much. As long as the reading is accurate, and the meter is easy to use then I am happy. All the extra bells and whistles are just icing on the cake, so long as they don?t get in my way (they don?t on my meter . . . at least as to me).

 

 

 

Kevin Zanit

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I have a Sekonic 398M Studio Deluxe and Minolta Spot F.

 

I prefer the separate meters for security if one is lossed/dropped/damaged/etc. and to double-check each other's calibration when an external calibration source isn't present. (Don't forget. Even if you can't check your meters' calibrations against an external reference, be sure they at least match each other.)

 

I'll start with the incident and flat disc receptor on the key light, confirm it with the spot meter and a grey card, continue lighting by eye, confirm a reading towards the camera with the dome receptor, continue lighting by eye, and finally, check my latitude with the spot meter.

 

There is a great article by Gerald Hirschfeld, A.S.C. about metering technique here:

 

http://www.sekonic.com/Cinematographer_booklet.pdf

 

Michael Morlan

http://michael-morlan.net

Edited by mmorlan62
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