light meter

[tirediron]

@tirediron unfortunately I have to go with @Derrel on the light meter app, with the caveat "Depending on use". I've had the free version of the Light Meter app on my phone for several years now. For what it does, it does it very well...

Fair enough; I may not have tried the right ones, or had the best 'phone, but regardless, in general, I prefer single-use tools.

 

[Derrel]

Buy a light meter. It looks really cool when it hangs around your neck. Make sure to pay way too much money and get a model with a hemispherical dome.

The idea that a telephone light meter cannot do anything well is absurd and shows a real lack of understanding of what one thing means. If one thing is determining the amount of light and recommending a given shutter speed and aperture for a given ISO level, then the app that I recommended does that exceptionally well, and even allows you to snap a photo of the metered scene and indicate the area that the meter is actually reading. There is no purpose- built light meter in the world that does that .So as I said as far as "doing one thing well" it does one thing exceptionally well . Note my use of the word exceptionally,as in exceptionally. I am actually quite tired of arguing about this.If you can't understand that technology advances over time, then fine. Let's all go back to pre-internet times, shall we?

 

[Derrel]

Imagine reviewing your very own Library of Real World scenes with red brackets indicating your meter's reading area and the suggested f-stop and shutter speed and ISO... you will not get that capability from a traditional single use light meter, but you will have that capability in the app that I recommended to you above. And that is in a free app. Imagine what you might get if you paid $3.98 for the full version. You do not have to save photos if you do not want to, but why not? Imagine a light meter application on your smartphone that serves as a learning tool with the capability to record any scene you snap and decide to save. Let's compare that ability to the dumb read-only capability of a light meter made by Sekonic or Gossen or Minolta, or God forbid a cheap piece of crap like like a Shephard.

Single use tools are fine, but tools are an area in which there is occasional advancement. For example in the 1950s there was only the fountain pen, but the 1960s ushered in the era of the ballpoint pen,a much better tool in many ways, and yet there are those who steadfastly insist upon the superiority of the fountain pen. The typewriter is a great single-use tool,but I would not trade my computer for a typewriter. A compass is a single-use tool, but it is nowhere near as valuable as a modern-day GPS based navigation system, with turn by turn directions available, making it possible to get driving directions to any address that you enter, within seconds.

 

[tirediron]

... I am actually quite tired of arguing about this...

You're free to stop any time...

I'm having trouble understanding your passion on this topic. You like the green jelly beans, I like the red ones. The OP asked which colour jelly beans he should buy with his allowance. You gave one option with your supporting arguments, I gave another with mine. I don't really see this as either of us being wrong (or right for that matter), merely having a difference of opinion and sharing our viewpoints with the OP.

 

[Derrel]

The analog style Sekonic light meter has been with us for decades now, and is typified by the new Sekonic L-398 III, which currently retails brand new for $208 from B&H Photo, and for quite a bit less as a used item. The advantage to the analog style meter is in the display, which shows the user multiple exposure combinations which are equivalent, and all at a glance. The drawback is that it does not read Flash. So yes, to answer a question posed above, there is an analog Sekonic light meter, and there has been one for decades now.

 

[Christie Photo]

I still have a Gossen in my case. I seldom use it; only when setting up for portraits on location.

Am I the only one using the in-camera meter? I do read off a grey card. Hmmm.....

-Pete

 

[Derrel]

The OP no longer trusts the built-in meter in his Voigtlander Vitessa and was thinking about getting an external light meter.

It's kind of amusing that two of my sarcastic comments were misinterpreted as being sincere. the idea that a Chromebook that costs $249 is the equivalent of a MacBook Pro and the idea that a Kia was equal to a Mercedes Benz, both of those comments were not offered as being true statements of my actual opinion, but were thought to be so. I guess Designer is right when he says that sarcasm often does not translate well on the web.

 

[AlanKlein]

I use a Minolta IIIF incident and 10 degree reflective meter with flash testing as well with my RB67 film camera. Of course I've used it for a number of years before cell phones even were invented. I did try a cell phone meter app a few years ago but found it fidgety. I suppose if I worked with it longer, it would get easier. I recommend trying the phone app and see if it works for you. If not, then spend the money and buy a dedicated unit.

Note: I've tried my P&S digital camera to get exposure settings. But it only goes to around f8 or f11 and is fidgety as well. Plus the fractional settings it selects if on auto never match the whole stops on my film camera like a dedicated meter does.

One thing I've started to use my cell phone video program for is to voice record the f stops and shutter speeds and other info when I take film shots. It's easier than pulling out a piece of paper and pen to write down the settings especially when it's freezing cold and you want to get the hell out of there. I can also do a quick clip of the subject at the same time. Then when I get home and warming up with a cup of coffee, I transfer the details to a sheet of paper to keep with my negatives or chromes after they are developed.

Curious, what cell phone apps have you guys tried for a Samsung (Android)? Do they have reflective, incident, spot etc? IS anyone making a display that show something like what an analog shows with all the f settings you can use against the shutter speeds. Now that would be handy on a cell phone.

 

[AlanKlein]

I still have a Gossen in my case. I seldom use it; only when setting up for portraits on location.

Am I the only one using the in-camera meter? I do read off a grey card. Hmmm.....

-Pete

My camera doesn;t have an internal meter. Yes, I'm a boomer.

 

[Braineack]

The OP no longer trusts the built-in meter in his Voigtlander Vitessa and was thinking about getting an external light meter.

It's kind of amusing that two of my sarcastic comments were misinterpreted as being sincere. the idea that a Chromebook that costs $249 is the equivalent of a MacBook Pro and the idea that a Kia was equal to a Mercedes Benz, both of those comments were not offered as being true statements of my actual opinion, but were thought to be so. I guess Designer is right when he says that sarcasm often does not translate well on the web.

to be fair, i somehow still make it to work and back...

 

[limr]

I use a Minolta IIIF incident and 10 degree reflective meter with flash testing as well with my RB67 film camera. Of course I've used it for a number of years before cell phones even were invented. I did try a cell phone meter app a few years ago but found it fidgety. I suppose if I worked with it longer, it would get easier. I recommend trying the phone app and see if it works for you. If not, then spend the money and buy a dedicated unit.

Note: I've tried my P&S digital camera to get exposure settings. But it only goes to around f8 or f11 and is fidgety as well. Plus the fractional settings it selects if on auto never match the whole stops on my film camera like a dedicated meter does.

One thing I've started to use my cell phone video program for is to voice record the f stops and shutter speeds and other info when I take film shots. It's easier than pulling out a piece of paper and pen to write down the settings especially when it's freezing cold and you want to get the hell out of there. I can also do a quick clip of the subject at the same time. Then when I get home and warming up with a cup of coffee, I transfer the details to a sheet of paper to keep with my negatives or chromes after they are developed.

Curious, what cell phone apps have you guys tried for a Samsung (Android)? Do they have reflective, incident, spot etc? IS anyone making a display that show something like what an analog shows with all the f settings you can use against the shutter speeds. Now that would be handy on a cell phone.

The one Derrel is talking about is available for Android. It used to be free but now it's $1.99, but it's worth the cost. I have used it for years and it's quite good.

 

[pocketshaver]

Twould be nicer if people responded to what is actually asked these days. Cell phone apps CAN be nice if your willing to download crap to a phone, or if you actually believe every cell phone app is real.

Still remember when people paid money to download a cell phone app that claimed to be a breathalyzer by having them blow into the microphone jack....

Also remember when people went online with their new release I phones that DIDNT HAVE a head phone jack in it, and downloaded instructions on DRILLING a hole into it to supposedly give them a head phone jack. All they did was drill a hole into their cell phones microprocessor.

 

[limr]

Twould also be nice if some people had open minds and were more respectful when an answer to their question challenges their preconceived notion of what the answers should have been.

In other words, people did answer your question. You just didn't like the answer. Doesn't make us gullible fools. Tread lightly.

 

[dennyr]

I carry a Sekonic 308. It does Inc. as well as Reflec.
It also will meter flash. It is small, accurate..... a real life saver. I shoot 35mm and typically use the in-camera meter, but there ARE times when the hand-held is a welcome addition.

www.amazon.com/Sekonic-L-308X-U-Flashmate-Light-401-305/dp/B079YWCZNC/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlaHUqeiL5gIVUh6tBh3P_gqUEAAYASAAEgJz3fD_BwE&hvadid=174217949685&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9032437&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=6551163443185708941&hvtargid=kwd-1315550563&hydadcr=24664_9649023&keywords=sekonic+308&qid=1574906616&sr=8-1

 

[pocketshaver]

Twould also be nice if some people had open minds and were more respectful when an answer to their question challenges their preconceived notion of what the answers should have been.

In other words, people did answer your question. You just didn't like the answer. Doesn't make us gullible fools. Tread lightly.

oh yeah cell phone apps is REALLY related to questions about analog light meter....