Light meters

[Bounty]

I think I'm in the market for a light meter.

It doesn't have to be extremely precise or full-featured; I just need one that can tell me what aperture and shutter speed I should best use for a given film, something like the one on a Zenit.

So:

- Good brands I should look out for?
- Do they still make analogue light meters? I'm talking about the simple selenium-cell-and-needle type. I know they run out, but I prefer to keep it simple and cell meters is what I know and use now.
- What are the odds of a vintage light meter still working? Say, one with a sensor cover and a case. I've been looking at a Sekonic L8 but it's old enough to make me doubt it's worth a damn.

[Simplicius]

- Good brands I should look out for?

I can't tell you too much here since I've only ever used my Shepherd DM-170, but that one is uncomplicated enough that I could figure it out without instructions. It's of the LCD-and-dial type, takes an ordinary 9-volt battery, gives you EV from 0.1 to 19.9, and should be cheaply priced because it is a simple meter. Ambient light only, but reflected and incident readings.

I'm not using it to best effect at all, but I know what buttons to push and knobs to turn. Get it with an instruction book and you'll be in great shape.

You could also go to a broker's site like KEH.com and look at their selection and pricing for reference.

- Do they still make analogue light meters? I'm talking about the simple selenium-cell-and-needle type. I know they run out, but I prefer to keep it simple and cell meters is what I know and use now.

I've seen new all-LCD, LCD-and-dial, and needle-and-dial meters, but I think they are all CdS or silicon outfits.

The only new-make selenium meter I could find is the Weston Euro-Master II, but they are either scarce or expensive or both.

- What are the odds of a vintage light meter still working? Say, one with a sensor cover and a case. I've been looking at a Sekonic L8 but it's old enough to make me doubt it's worth a damn.

My guess would be "spotty at best" unless you could be certain that it had been stored in the dark and only driven on Sundays by a little old lady on her way to church...

There's a company in the UK that sells new selenium cells, though I don't know how their prices line up with your budget.

[Bounty]

Ah. That's a bit of a disappointment, really - I thought a simple light meter would go for $10 at best, seeing as how they were built-in to cameras. But checking eBay it seems I'm looking at upwards of $100 for a good one, and that's not money I'm going to spend when there is such a thing as a sunny 16 rule. Not for the shooting I do anyway.

Still, thanks for the trouble That cell replacement site would have been a nice challenge had I actually been able to solder anything worth a damn.

Unless I can find a confirmed, working meter for under $30, I guess I'll stick to watching shadows.

(it's funny really - you hear about how light meters degrade badly over time, but the two I have are almost spot-on. The one on the Kiev might've been serviced, but the Zenit one doesn't even have a protective cover, and it's still giving me usable readings. Dumb luck eh?)

[Simplicius]

The suggested exposures on the film data sheets have actually been quite useful when I eyeball my exposures, especially since transparencies are not as forgiving as negative film. I shot 2/3 roll of Provia 400F this afternoon at the recommended settings of 1/1000 @ f.22 for sun + snow, which seems a bit much for only an ISO 400 film, so I hope my luck with that continues to hold. I'm not too concerned about using my meter because I don't shoot much indoors or after dark, though that could someday change.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Ah. That's a bit of a disappointment, really - I thought a simple light meter would go for $10 at best, seeing as how they were built-in to cameras. But checking eBay it seems I'm looking at upwards of $100 for a good one, and that's not money I'm going to spend when there is such a thing as a sunny 16 rule. Not for the shooting I do anyway.

Still, thanks for the trouble That cell replacement site would have been a nice challenge had I actually been able to solder anything worth a damn.

Unless I can find a confirmed, working meter for under $30, I guess I'll stick to watching shadows.

(it's funny really - you hear about how light meters degrade badly over time, but the two I have are almost spot-on. The one on the Kiev might've been serviced, but the Zenit one doesn't even have a protective cover, and it's still giving me usable readings. Dumb luck eh?)

Selenium meters do degrade over time, but the amount of degradation seems to be pretty inconsistent. I also have a Kiev 4 from 1978 and it's meter still works perfectly. The mean for selenium meter degradation seems to be something around 25-30 years, but some do degrade faster while others may still work after 50 years. I have seen selenium Gossens from the 1950s that still work. Discrete light meters and the Kiev/Contax meters seem to last longer since they are typically not exposed to direct sunlight as much as unprotected meters. None of unprotected selenium meters from 1950s and early 1960s cameras I have seen worked properly. They were either very slow to respond or completely dead.

For authentic USSR feeling I could recommend Leningrad 7 or 8. Those are selenium meters from the 1980s and even early 1990s in the latter case. Most of them still work. The main problem with them is that they are quite big and have multiple metering ranges, which makes their use complicated. Leningrad 7 has 3 ranges, 8 only two. You can usually buy them quite cheaply from eBay, Craigslist etc. $10 is a possibility, but $15-$30 would be more typical for a one that is guaranteed to work by a reputable seller. They can do both reflected and incident light metering, but of course no flash metering or spot metering.

Another possibility from fUSSR meters are the Sverdlovsk (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) series. They are CdS meters with semiautomatic self-calibration in the latter models. The Sverdlovsks are somewhat less common than the Leningrads, since they were actually used even by professionals in the USSR. Still, sometimes you can find one cheaply.

I personally use a Sekonic Auto Leader L188 with all my vintage meterless cameras (which admittedly are way too many for my bank account):

http://www.camerahobby.com/Access-Sekonic188.htm

The article says everything there is to say about it; very light, small, accurate but not terrible feature-rich meter. I have use it to shoot slide film successfully and it works well when used properly, just as the article says. I paid 20 euros for mine.

[Bounty]

I guess it's pretty recent then? The current model is the -208, and they seem to skip twenty or so digits per iteration.

Where did you find yours? Brick-and-mortar store or on eBay?

[Marcus Aurelius]

I guess it's pretty recent then? The current model is the -208, and they seem to skip twenty or so digits per iteration.

Where did you find yours? Brick-and-mortar store or on eBay?

EBay. I think the L188 is actually a pretty old model, probably designed in the 1970s judging from the low sensitivity (min. EV 2.5) CdS metering cell, but it was made (or at least sold) for a long time essentially unchanged. The low sensitivity is also its worst shortcoming. I can live without incident light metering, but ability to meter EV 0-2 would definitely be useful in many cases. I have a Leningrad 7 for low light metering (it only goes down to EV 1 though), but usually I don't carry it with me unless I intend to do night shooting, so it doesn't get used much.