Which cheap light meter?

travellingcello

travellingcello

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Just got given a Zenit B and Industar 50 3.5 in great condition by my girlfriends grandfather which was a nice surprise, it looks like it might be in full working order - but because it has no built-in exposure meter I need to invest in a cheap and cheerful light meter I think .

Can somebody recommend me a light meter? The cheaper the better since its not going to be something I'll be using that often. I had a quick look on eBay and it seems like I can buy these old Leningrad light meters for £15ish - is that a good buy or not?
 
Buying an old used light meter over the internet is a tricky business. You might get lucky and its a perfect meter, with the (often) selenium cell still doing the job well, or you might find the meter reads wildly off. The best eBay listings will be from people who have checked it against a reliable source, but predictably those listings will go for significantly more £££. It might be worth putting in a Wanted ad in the Classifieds, hopefully someone will be able to sell you a cheap light meter and can vouch for accuracy, or maybe try and look for any in local ads that you can test yourself before you buy. Failing all of that, try and bid only on listings that offer returns.

Personally, I don't think a Leningrad meter is worth £15, maybe a fiver tops? I use mine as a rough guide and it does the job for negative film fine - but it isn't worth £15 used. The world of used light meters (and inevitably selenium cell light meters, by virtue of being cheap and plentiful) can vary wildly.
 
dont forget, if you have ANY other camera with a light meter in, you can use that as a light meter. DSLR for instance.

If nothing else, it's plenty good enough to get you started :)
 
sunny 16? its all I have ever used and its never let me down!
 
If you have a smartphone check the app store. I have a lightmeter app on my iPhone that is relatively accurate.
 
Will give the Leningrads on eBay a miss then. I'm in Estonia at the moment, so I might go to the market to see whether I can find anything interesting...

I obviously do have a dlsr so can use that for metering but I don't want to rely on it!

Does anybody know any light meter apps for android that work well?
 
TheBigYin said:
I've got the free beeCam Lightmeter for Android on my Wildfire S, and it comes in pretty close to the readings from my Sekonic L-358.

I've heard that the Tiny Lightmeter (£1.99) is supposed to be better still, but it's incompatible with my smartphone.
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:plusone: I tried the beeCam Lightmeter on my Wildfire when I found out the Tiny Lightmeter was incompatible and found it gave good results
 
Chris L said:
:plusone: I tried the beeCam Lightmeter on my Wildfire when I found out the Tiny Lightmeter was incompatible and found it gave good results
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I just got the tiny light meter as the exact opposite was true with me, works great now!
 
Does anyone know of a light meter app for Nokia e63?
I foolishly gave away my accurate light meter when I bought a prettier one and am struggling to get decent results from the others I have...
 
travellingcello said:
Just got given a Zenit B and Industar 50 3.5 in great condition by my girlfriends grandfather which was a nice surprise, it looks like it might be in full working order - but because it has no built-in exposure meter I need to invest in a cheap and cheerful light meter I think .

Can somebody recommend me a light meter? The cheaper the better since its not going to be something I'll be using that often. I had a quick look on eBay and it seems like I can buy these old Leningrad light meters for £15ish - is that a good buy or not?
Click to expand...

£15! :eek: I could buy another camera with a meter and with a better lens for that. ;) ........anyway if you must have a meter, look out for Weston III or IV for about £5-15 it's VG except for dim light but make sure it's working and you can send it back for a refund.
 
I have one but it's all gibberish as it's not in iso etc. but it's not in the old Gost ussr type of things. will need to double check .
 
Starastin said:
I have one but it's all gibberish as it's not in iso etc. but it's not in the old Gost ussr type of things. will need to double check .
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GOST was always quite close to ISO/ASA - for instance, ISO 100 is GOST 90. Once you know the GOST figures of common ISO speeds it's no problem at all. I regularly shoot ISO 400 film, which I know is also DIN 27 and GOST 350 - so I can always use whatever meter I feel like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_speed#Conversion_between_current_scales
 
It depends on the age of the lightmeter though as GOST changed slightly throughout the years, after 1987 (the right year I think) when it was updated again its actually equivalent to ASA/ISO.
 
will have a look tmrw, you 2 got me interested. now that I think about it - might have been the DIN's .
 
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