Accuracy of tiny Voitlander lightmeter

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Bought one of those tiny Voigtlander lightmeters that attaches to the hotshoe.(suppose to be good for old leicas without a lightmeter ). When compared to my Sekonic 508 lightmeter the Voightlander is very inaccurate off by 2 stops at least ! I know the Sekonic is accurate from the results on print.

Is there a way to recalibrate the Voight ? Or is its tinyness the cause and it is inherently not so great ?

-- Yip (koklok@krdl.org.sg), June 04, 2001

Answers

Probably an unnecessary question, but are you absolutely sure you're comparing the meters fairly--using reflected metering on both, and reading a very large consistently-lit object (I use a wall of my house, indoors and out, and the sky. Just pointing both at random objects, as you would in normal use, doesn't work well, in my experience because of differences in coverage angles.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), June 04, 2001.

Just to get a basic idea if the meter is that inaccurate you might try the Sunny 16 rule.

-- Gerald Widen (gerald@sfa1.com), June 04, 2001.

And as another general rule of thumb if you do not have a gray card, you can point the meter at the clear north sky (in the Northern hemisphere) from 10 to 2 when the sky is effectively neutral gray, and should give you a "sunny 16" exposure reading.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), June 04, 2001.

You can get dissimilar results from two meters for a number of reasons. The reflective meter will not interpret the scene before it, so you must assure that you are metering a mid level tone (18% gray), while the incident meter only measures the actual light, so it is not usually "fooled" as easily as the reflective meter.

The biggest hindrance for accurate metering when using the Voigtlander meter is that, (unlike the great MR-4 meters from Leica), the field of view is not as certain, due to the requirement for you to balance the f-stop and shutterspeed manually while looking down at the diodes. It would be very possible to not be pointing the meter at the correct tone within the scene while lowering the camera / meter combo to perform this step. The meter has an angle of view of a 90mm lens, so just a few degrees of movement could allow enough variation to cause erroneous metering. I looked at the Voigtlander meter when it came out, but I believe the flaw in the device that the diodes are not on the back of the meter, (ala Bessa L), which would allow you to view and meter accurately.

As long as you can fill the frame with a mid level tone, it should be fine. I often use surrogate metering with my M6, pointing it down on a green lawn, or on a brick building, recompose while ignoring the meter and shoot.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), June 04, 2001.


What Al said. I use my M6's meter much like I use my spot meter with my large format equipment, and generally get results as good as the most sophisticated muti-pattern SLR meters. The secret lies in knowing the meter value or "zone" of the primary subject you are metering for. ie; You expose 2 stops under for your black labrador, 1 stop under for very dark skin, 1 stop over for caucasian skin, two stops over for snow; while Asian skin, old red brick, grass, faded asphault and dirty cement are right on...

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), June 04, 2001.


I have heard others complain that the VC meter is inaccurate, even aimed at a blank wall, compared to known and trusted meters. The fact that it has a somewhat narrow reading angle no way to lock it while aiming through the finder, so must be guess-aimed, makes it even less likely to get an accurate reading of what you want. I have thte same issue with the Gossen Luna-Pro Digital F (no aiming viewfinder) but I use it velcroed to the prism on my Hasselblad and it does have a lock-and-hold function. My choice of clip-on meter for the meterless M's is the Sekonic L208 Twin-Mate. It's not as esthetically pleasing as the VC meter and mostly plastic, but it does let you aim at eyelevel with the 90 framelines and the reading stays locked for long enough to set the dial.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 04, 2001.

FWIW, I have the Cosina Voigtlander VC meter & it has been just as accurate in my experience as my Gossen Luna Pro F or the built-in meter in my Contax G2. The only time mine was inaccurate was when the batteries were about die (you might want to test yours w/fresh batteries). However, I would concur w/others who have noted that the VC has a relatively narrow field of view (equivalent to 90mm, not 50mm like most clip-on meters) & one must take care in aiming it @ your subject. That said, if it's still on warranty, I would recommend getting a replacement.

-- Christopher Chen (furcafe@cris.com), June 04, 2001.

I have one of these and have found it quite accurate. Unfortunately, it's next to worthless as a clip-on because the reading doesn't lock, and you can't see the reading while you're looking thru the camera. Usually, I wind up (as others here have mentioned) aiming it at an expanse of grass or brick, just to get a starting point.

Voigtlander does offer a clip-on strap, to make it more convenient as a hand-held meter. Not sure whether that would be helpful or not.

-- Scott Paris (asparis@ix.netcom), June 04, 2001.


I've got one, and it's spot on against my Sekonic Digilite F throughout the whole range.

If no one else is going to provide digging experience, I've had the shutter speed dial off on mine, and possible corrective measures on that side are limited to a complete half-turn, which would make a 10- stop adjustment. I don't know what's under the shutter speed dial, though. If I were building it I'd make it so the shutter speed dial sat on a splined shaft that would permit it to be put on differently in 1-stop increments. Anyone want to dig into theirs and take a look? I'd do it, but I'm at home today. I wonder what's under that little door with the serial number on it? An adjustment, maybe? There's gotta be some way to handle the problem.

(Can you tell that I'm the kid who was always tearing clocks and stuff apart to see what was inside?)

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), June 04, 2001.


I pointed both meters against an evenly lit blank wall. But they gave significantly different readings.

I am also tempted to take it apart, there are some small scews at the back which I think once removed will reveal the innards.

I can't use the Voigt as it is now, ruining my shots.

The sunny f16 rule does not work for me, Too much guessing involved.

-- Yip (koklok@krdl.org.sg), June 04, 2001.



Yip

I would use the Leicameter MR for an older M series - it is coupled to the shutter and you can frame with 90mm lens frame and lock the reading and transfer the aperture to the lens. It worked very well for me with my M3 - despite many people decrying its appearance, reliabilty, expense etc. I think the VC meter is handsome to look at but not a lot of use really. Otherwise you can go with a real handheld meter.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), June 05, 2001.


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