advice please: used, decent light meter

[Riggaberto]

I will soon be getting a camera that doesnt have a reliable light meter, so I'd like to get a handheld. I wanna get something used, but fairly reliable, and as cheap as possible. It seriously just needs to work, nothing fancy.

Any advice on models?

 

[Big Mike]

Look at Minolta and Sekonic, there are other good brands as well. E-bay has many, many light/flash meters so there is a good selection.

 

[Don Simon]

If all you're after is a basic reflective & ambient meter, for flash and not for use in very low light, using dials instead of electronic display, there are some standard models that get rebadged for various photographic retailers. They're still suitable for most situations and fit your requirement of being very cheap, so you might want to take a look at retailer's 'own-brand' meters.

 

[Riggaberto]

If all you're after is a basic reflective & ambient meter, for flash and not for use in very low light, using dials instead of electronic display, there are some standard models that get rebadged for various photographic retailers. They're still suitable for most situations and fit your requirement of being very cheap, so you might want to take a look at retailer's 'own-brand' meters.

Are reflective and ambient the same thing?

Also I dont have any major retailers anywhere nearby, unfortunately.

 

[RacePhoto]

I will soon be getting a camera that doesnt have a reliable light meter, so I'd like to get a handheld. I wanna get something used, but fairly reliable, and as cheap as possible. It seriously just needs to work, nothing fancy.

Any advice on models?

Shouldn't matter that much. Find a used one on eBay and you'll save a bundle. Most of these have little attraction, so the price should be good.

Here's my one piece of advise.

Make sure the meter you get, uses a battery that you can still buy at some local store! Some of the older ones use discontinued battery sizes and styles. My Gossen Super Pro uses a PX13, which was a Mercury cell and they were banned about 10 years ago. Great light meter, no power.

Yes you can find replacements, that don't hold voltage, or batteries with the wrong voltage, so you'll need to compensate exposures. Or adapters. (which are probably the best answer) But the adapter is $29!

So check what battery the light meter uses, before you get into something "really, really good" that is a pain in the butt to find power for. :er:

 

[Frequent Traveler]

I have and use a Gossen Luna-Pro sbc light meter. It uses a 9-volt battery that you can buy nearly anywhere in the world (at least the places i've managed to get to anyway). This meter is easy to use, though a bit larger than i would like (slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes). I got mine on the electronic auction site as well.