On Sun, 11 Jun 2000, Thomas Heide Clausen wrote:
> for a long time have I been considering getting a hand-held light-meter to
> suplement those, build tinto the OM's in those really hard lightening
> situations. A recent acquicition of a medium format camera has emphasized
> the usefullness of sucha deci. However in my many years of photography, I
> have never had the chance to use such meters much.
>
> So what are the opinions? Which features should I make sure I get, which
> models and brands are good , what price-range is ok for such? Is it worth
> buying used, or should I definitely go for "new" ??
I've added a handheld meter to my toolkit this year, for similar,
but different reasons to yours I also bought some medium format
equipment and wanted a separate meter so I didn't have to carry a 35mm
body & lens around as well. However, I wanted flash metering so that I
could do some studio-type shots more easily.
I chose a Gossen Sixtomat Flash in the end, for the following reasons
The manufacturer has a good reputation (as others have also pointed out)
Does incident & reflected readings (as do most current models that are
not specifically spot meters).
Good low-light performance (down to EV-2.5 with 100ASA - that's 24 s at
F/2). Not as good as some of other models, which go down to EV-4, but
better than any others which also do flash and which don't cost a lot
more.
Contrast range measurement. A bit rudimentary, but a useful feature.
Does multiple flash measurements, i.e. measure the flash lighting and it
will tell you what aperture to set for 1, 2, 3, or up to (IIRC) 20
flashes. Most modern flash meters will do this too, likewise most
modern flash meters will record an ambient reading at the same time.
It's small & compact. No trouble stowing it in a camera bag, or you can
attach the pouch to your trouser belt or something.
Much as I like good old fashioned swinging needles these days, the LCD
display is probably less sensitive to mechanical shock an helps keep
battery usage down (1 buy-anywhere alkaline AA cell, btw I'd recommend
avoiding some of the older designs on the grounds that they use the
increasingly difficult to source mercury cells, and we'd rather save
those for our OM-1s, wouldn't we?)
Oh yes, at UKP138 it cost me about a tenner less than the roughly
equivalent Sekonic, which would have been my second choice.
Downsides: its sensor is located in the body of the meter rather than in
a swivelling head, which would have been nice; no optional spot meter
attachment.
Full details of the full range are on Gossen's web site at:
http://www.gossen-photo.de/uk/produkte/index.htm
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