Thinking of buying a Light Meter...

DavidUK

DavidUK

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Hello folks, been some time since I last posted...:embarasse

In my last photography nightclass our tutor was talking about landscape photography, and the subject of external light meters was raised.

She said she used one with both 35mm and Digital... and I've decided to take a look...

Can anyone recommend one that doesnt cost the earth? I use a D70 myself, and am a keen landscaper.I'm not looking to spend uber pounds, and ideally I'd like one for under a hundred quid.. any comments or ideas would be appreciated!
 
You get what you pay for in this world unfortunately - my Minolta Flash-Meter VI cost me £600 about ten years ago and I doubt you'll get much change out of £500 for a decent one these days.
TBH only purists use them with digital any more - trust your histogram.
 
Arkady said:
You get what you pay for in this world unfortunately - my Minolta Flash-Meter VI cost me £600 about ten years ago and I doubt you'll get much change out of £500 for a decent one these days.
TBH only purists use them with digital any more - trust your histogram.
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...I used to have a Fuji S7000 before my D70, this let you view the histogram in realtime as you were taking the photo.. unfortunately my D70 doesn't do this, I can only see it once the photo is taken. I imagine I could view it and them retake the photo...

It was remarked that you could pick one up for 60 quid! I imagine this would be a very poor one indeed! My tutor mentioned a "Winston Four" ? (I could be slightly wrong with this, I was rather tired in this weeks class :doh: )
 
I think she probably said Weston Master 1V Davey. :D
 
How old is this teacher of yours? :suspect1:
 
CT said:
How old is this teacher of yours? :suspect1:
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..ermm I would hazard a guess at late 30's (in case she comes on here lol :whistle2: ) but suffice to say she is a 35mm person at heart!
 
Well.. the Weston Master was a great analogue meter back in the 60s and still is I suppose, but it's left way behind by some of the digital meters you can get today. I have a similar meter and can't remember the last time I used it other than to confirm the accuracy of the meter in my camera out of curiosity.

I'm not saying she's wrong to advise you to get a meter, I just wouldn't advise that particular one today compared to what's available, but the better ones are big money!! There are times when a separate meter can be handy and convenient, but with the histogram function in your camera, (The whole idea is to take the shot, look at the histogram, then adjust exposure as required and take the shot again ;)) auto bracketing, and the exposure latitude which RAW processing gives you, I don't see you using a meter a great deal to be honest. It will look impressive though when you're waving it about. :D
 
If I was in the market for a meter Davey, I'd probably be happy with THIS although you can pay a LOT more. It has it's own viewfinder with zoom facility and the ability to take spot and incident readings, as well as flash exposure.

It can also take and hold more than one reading, so if the camera was on a tripod and you wanted to take two landscape exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground with a view to combining the two later, you could take both readings without having to use the camera (and make a note of the two readings before you started).

There's probably other gear you need which you'd use a lot more than a light meter though. :)
 
I've got 2 or 3 westons sitting around here somewhere.
 
That Sekonic is a great piece of kit and if you do want a light meter you'd be hard pushed to find a better all round unit.

I can't see you getting an awful lot of use from it though, unless you want to dabble in film too. No matter how proficient you become at getting the readings and working out what you want to do with them, it will never match the speed of shooting a frame, then adjusting according to the histogram.

If you really really want to get into shooting landscapes by pointing a spot meter around and musing about the best exposure for your Velvia, I have a very nice Bronica 6x6 kit that's about to go up for sale. :D
 
I used to wave the meter around before I started taking wedding groups. It impressed the [PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BYPASS THE SWEAR FILTER] out of everybody, but most of the time it wasn't switched on! :laugh1:
 
i like that CT..... a bit of bulls**t goes a long way
 
CT said:
I used to wave the meter around before I started taking wedding groups. It impressed the [PLEASE DON'T TRY TO BYPASS THE SWEAR FILTER] out of everybody, but most of the time it wasn't switched on! :laugh1:
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rofl :D
 
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