Hi

Kind of vonder what kind of lightmeter all you folks with the "nonmetered" Leicas uses? Any recomondation for a reasonably small yet accurate/reliable meter? (I do not like the Voightlander on top of the camera type)

Kaj

-- Kaj Froling (kf@draupnir.dk), April 28, 2001

Answers

Kaj,

When using my 3F instead of the M6, I use either a Gossen Luna Pro or a Gossen Scout. The latter is 1/2 the size of a pack of cigarettes and offers ISO 6-6400. It is a match-needle type and very accurate but has light-reading limitations in penumbrae. On the other hand the Luna Pro will read light from a candle but is bulky. It is extremely accurate,offers reflected and incident readings, two ranges (bright and dim lights) and takes a variable angle spotmeter attachment (30, 15 and 7.5 degrees). The current iteration is rather pricey but excellent used ones can be found on e-bay for a reasonable price.

J-D

-- Jean-David Borges (jdborges@home.com), April 28, 2001.

If your doing studio work with hot lights or outside set up shots, a hand held meter works great. It is also useful for landscapes if that is your cup of tea. I find a handheld meter clumsy for fast shooting, however, and like the later M4 style Leica Meters instead. You have to keep switching between the camera and meter every time you want to take a reading with a hand held meter. If it isn't a spot meter with a finder, I never am sure exactly what I metered when aiming a handheld meter in the general direction of the subject. Because the Leica meters are shutter coupled and hold the exposure, shooting is still very quick. I aim the finder at my subject, push in the button, and give a glance at the indicated f stop and make sure that's where the lens is set. The angle read by the meter is about what the 90mm lens sees, so you can tell where the meter is reading when framing the subject-like a "big spot" meter.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), April 28, 2001.

My favorite meter of all, bar none, is the Sekonic L-408. It is a weather-resistant digital 5-degree spotmeter that also reads incident and flash, but is palm-sized. I use the L-408 with my Hasselblad but it could be just as nice with a nonmetered Leica. I like the Sekonic L-208 for the Leica. It fits the hot-shoe and has a memory-lock like the old MR-4 Leicameter, so you can use the 90 framelines to aim it at eyelevel for a selective reading (the Voigtlander doesn't do that, a glaring omission IMO). Another very compact and full-featured meter is the Gossen Lunapro Digital F, which has a narrow reading angle (but unfortunately no aiming sight), reads both incident and reflected, as well as flash, and is about the size of a deck of cards. What I find when using (occasionally)my nonmetered Leicas is that I tend to take one reading, open up 1 to 2 EV (if there's a lot of contrast or the light's changing rapidly) and keep it there unless the light level drops drastically. Color neg can stand 2 stops over easily, and if the light drops 2 or even 3 EV I'll still get something printable. I used to be able to guesstimate for chrome film but I'm really out of practice and haven't shot it in a nonmetered body in ages.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 28, 2001.

Gossen Lunasix. I like a 'pointer' style meter as opposed to digital because I can see all my possible combinations at once, and of course being brought up in the world of calculators can't figure out the combinations of the digital meter quickly. As an aside, am I the only one who is annoyed at themselves when I grab a calculator to figure out what, say 5 X 15 is. One of the worst inventions ever! BACK TO METERS -- this is also why I like conventional B&W films such as Tri-X. One meter reading and even if the light changes a bit I don't worry about it, as the film has enough latitude to accept quite a range of variance. Try that with Tmax400 (ouch) :-)

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), April 28, 2001.

I like the Metrostar (made by Metrowatt, the people who made the Leicameters). It's the only moderate sized unit I know of which has a viewfinder for the field. Very sensitive and easy to use with one hand. I also use an MR-4 on my M-3.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), April 28, 2001.

Currently, I like the Gossen Luna Pro Digital F, very nice, accurate, compact, and sensitive in low light. I also have a Sekonic L-208 Twinmate which is great as it is so tiny, and a dream to use, but it suffer from a lack of low light sensitivity, and is somewhat fragile by virture of its meter movement.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), April 28, 2001.

I have the Voigtlaender, but I rarely use it now. The nice thing about meterless cameras is that if forces me to try to remember the exposure at any given situation. I meter by experience, and generally, I've been correct. The Kodak Professional Photoguide on available light and the outdoors exposure recommendations on film cartons have been my guide for setting the exposure. In typical situations, they're accurate. If you need a meter, the advices given to you have been good, but learn from the meter and try to memorize what the meter reads so that you can do it later yourself.

-- Ron Gregorio (rongregorio@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001.

It looks like everyone's got his/her own favourite lightmeter, but mine's the Sekonic L308B II. Pocketable, easy to use and gives perfect exposure every time with my M4-P.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), April 29, 2001.

I second Ron G's answer. Working without a light meter keeps your mind focused on what the light is doing. If your camera's at the ready, you almost subconsciously adjust your settings as the light changes, and when an opportunity presents itself, you're ready to shoot. Use the tables and the sunny 16 rule, and give it a try.

-- John Fleetwood (johnfleetwood@hotmail.com), April 29, 2001.

One of the best (photographic) things that's ever happened to me was on a 6 weeks trip to USSR in 1975. I had a new Nikkormat EL and an older Ftn. After 2 weeks it became obvious that the EL meter needle and the actual exposure (aperture preferred auto) often didn't agree. I was shooting Kodachrome 25 which has an exposure latitude of about 1/3 stop. I quickly intuitively learned when to trust the EL meter, and when to override it. If there was any question I used the Ftn to check it, but soon found that my sense of light/timing had perfected itself. So, while meters are handy, they aren't indespensable.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), April 29, 2001.

I have two Sekonics: the L208 and the L328. Both are excellent. The L208 is teensy and gives me the kind of analog readout that I appreciate the most, the L328 gives me digital precision, an optical finder for 10 degree spot reflect work, and flash metering.

I also would recommend the Gossen Luna Pro F ... direct readout with an analog dial of +/-3EV, makes looking for the right shutter@aperture pair a piece of cake.

Although, to be honest, I agree with the poster who said he finds he doesn't use the meter that much anymore. You get used to certain films, lighting conditions and exposure combinations pretty quickly, it becomes easy to guesstimate after a short while.

Godfrey

-- Godfrey DiGiorgi (ramarren@bayarea.net), April 30, 2001.

I put two regular 1.5V on my Gossen Lunasix 3. I know it supposes to be two 1.35V mercury batteries. Does anybody know how much the metering is off? Is it going to damage the meter? Where is the cheapest U.S. source to get the mercury batteries?

James Lin

-- 063057 (sigpe57@yahoo.com), April 30, 2001.

I have a minolta IV, that use in studio and take with me and the leicas just for dificult ligth situation check, other wise I live with the sunny f/16 rule, updated to interiors, diferent deep shadows and dime ligth, of course I once in a wile practice with my hand meter just to check me, but why do this if I could have a M6, first of all, the attitude of measuring light to some subject makes moments change, people react to pointing cameras even leicas, so the only way to rise point and shoot, and end up with a good exposed frame is to pre-everything, or automatic Hexar, or autoeverythingslr, just that I like to see, so I need a rangefinder, and still donīt trust average auto exposures, specialy in black and white, contrast and ligth are most important, even with the risk of misstakes.So the minolta stays in the pocket long.

-- R Watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), April 30, 2001.

A bit after the fact, but on the Sekonic L308IIB, how do you use the Lumidisc? I know one side is for real and the other for reflected light, but I've lost my manual and can't remember which is which.

-- Lisa (wavegirl@techie.com), February 20, 2002.

Lisa, if you receive no answer, contact me in one or two weeks: I wait impatiently this particular light meter; I'll send you a copy of the English using prescriptions.

Alain

-- alain.besancon (alain.besancon@chu-dijon.fr), March 19, 2002.