I thought using one on my M6, I think the M6 lightmeter is alright but sometimes I like to do my settings from the waist walking to the scene, I used to with some cameras like my good old Rollei 35s.
Is it something of a foly to put a lightmeter on a lightmeter or some of you do it?
Sonnar-7 wrote:
I thought using one on my M6, I think the M6 lightmeter is alright but sometimes I like to do my settings from the waist walking to the scene, I used to with some cameras like my good old Rollei 35s.
Is it something of a foly to put a lightmeter on a lightmeter or some of you do it?
What about a small hand held? A Gossen Digisix fits in the palm of your hand, is easy to read and offers the option of incident metering. I haven’t used a film camera with an internal meter since 2018 and have tried all kinds of different meters. My favorite is the Sekonic 308 but it’s a bit large. I use a Reveni cube meter with my Kodak Retinas. It’s tiny but easy to read and the MK2 has a rechargeable battery. You could also look at the Voigtlander shoe mounted meter or one of the clones. They offer the ability to take a reading while looking at the top of the meter.
It’s nice to have the internal meter. A shoe mount or hand held affords more flexibility.
Sonnar-7 wrote:
I thought using one on my M6, I think the M6 lightmeter is alright but sometimes I like to do my settings from the waist walking to the scene, I used to with some cameras like my good old Rollei 35s.
Is it something of a foly to put a lightmeter on a lightmeter or some of you do it?
I did it for years. I measured the ambient light, set the speed on the M6 and was ready to shoot any scene quickly, especially when using hyperfocal.
The built-in lightmeter was very convenient sometimes with longer lenses or with very uneven light.
madNbad wrote:
My favorite is the Sekonic 308 but it’s a bit large.
Same here but it is still small enough to fit in a pocket.
madNbad wrote:
What about a small hand held? A Gossen Digisix fits in the palm of your hand, is easy to read and offers the option of incident metering. I haven’t used a film camera with an internal meter since 2018 and have tried all kinds of different meters. My favorite is the Sekonic 308 but it’s a bit large. I use a Reveni cube meter with my Kodak Retinas. It’s tiny but easy to read and the MK2 has a rechargeable battery. You could also look at the Voigtlander shoe mounted meter or one of the clones. They offer the ability to take a reading while looking at the top of the meter.
It’s nice to have the internal meter. A shoe mount or hand held affords more flexibility. ...Show more →
Thanks for the insights, I will look the Sekonic up. I did think of a hot shoe one, I wondered what was the most convinient, some have a +- dials with arrows and some a digital reading, it moght end up being the same in use, my hipster side longe for the dials but idk.
Glad to know that the all idea is no foly.
pmeheut wrote:
I did it for years. I measured the ambient light, set the speed on the M6 and was ready to shoot any scene quickly, especially when using hyperfocal.
The built-in lightmeter was very convenient sometimes with longer lenses or with very uneven light.
Same here but it is still small enough to fit in a pocket.
Thanks, it’s nice to learn about the habits of Leica users, my M6 still wonders where it ended up.
The two lightmeters option sounds good.
Desmolicious wrote:
I won’t be that guy and say just use an M7.
Just in case you're not actively searching for a M7, the 308X is a phenomenal pocket sized meter. It has photo, cine and video modes plus wireless and wired flash metering. About a decade ago I bought one to help meter a strobe setup an was impressed with it's accuracy. I still use the flash mode occasionally to check my ancient Vivitar. Incident mode works well and the X has backlight for readings in dim light. It offers readings in both shutter and aperture priority and EV. It's adjustable for full, half or third stops. The single AA battery last a long time and after trying a bunch of other meters and selling a couple of other 308's, it's the meter I settled on.
Of course, it doesn't offer AE like the M7.
I have a Hedeco Lime 2 for my M4, which is very nice and compact. It has one benefit over the builtin light meter on the M6/MP - it does show a more detailed +/- scale than the simple over/under display of the M6.
But for those type detailed measurements, a separate light meter is even more useful. The Gossen Profisix or Lunasix F line - although a bit on the bulky side, gives a real advantage of fast metering with a +/- 3 stop scale and in later versions the addition of a zone metering scale. And best of all, those light meters are working with a 9V block battery which is easy to get.
Another useful variant is a Konica Minolta Autometer IV or V (I have the V), which is very versatile for ambient light metering too and uses a single 1,5V AA battery.
I also have the Hedeco Lime 2 and like it except for one major issue: it is impossible to read in bright light. You have to cup your hand over it to provide some shade (after you take your reading) so you can read the numbers, and in really bright conditions (sunny day in winter with snow on the ground) even that's not enough.
I assume the same is true for other meters with OLED displays on the top of the meter.
Has anyone found a workaround for the "can't read Lime 2 in the sun criticisms? As somoene who lives in the desert, I was about to purchase this but feels like a non-starter, given the need to shade the light meter would likely impact the accuracy of the reading itself.
kevinsherm1 wrote:
Has anyone found a workaround for the "can't read Lime 2 in the sun criticisms? As somoene who lives in the desert, I was about to purchase this but feels like a non-starter, given the need to shade the light meter would likely impact the accuracy of the reading itself.
Here's what I do: there's a setting in the Lime 2 that allows you to set the button so it doesn't take continuous readings; it takes a reading only when you press the button. That way you can take a reading and then shade it with your hand (or turn away from the sun so you're casting a shadow over the meter) so you can read it.
I have two of these, the silver one and the black one (for different cameras). The black one is easier for me to read; the silver one reflects a lot of light and makes it harder to see the numbers, for me anyway.
The newest models that he's selling now address the other common problem with this meter: if you wear your camera on a neck strap, the little wheel rubs against your chest as you walk and it changes the f-stop or shutter speed (depending on whether you have it set to aperture priority or shutter priority) quite dramatically. He added a little shield for the wheel, which makes it slightly harder to spin but at least you won't change your settings accidentally.
It's a great meter, despite the difficulty in reading in bright light. I have found it to be extremely accurate and it looks perfect on a Leica.
One "hidden" feature (described in the manual) is that if you change the setting back to the default so the button takes continuous readings, and if you set it to manual mode, you can meter and entire scene, pointing it at different areas (shadows, highlights) so you can figure out an average reading for tricky lighting conditions. Almost like a spot meter, but its angle of view is too wide (equivalent to that of a 50mm lens) for accurate spot readings.
