Which light meter?

ascheucher · 2012-03-12T02:12:12+00:00

Hallo, erst mal willkommen hier! Ich heiße Andreas, komme aus der Digitalfotographie und bin gerade dabei meine ersten Schritte in der analog Mittelformat F...

ascheucher

Hello, First of all, welcome here! My name is Andreas; I come from a background in digital photography and am currently taking my first steps into analogue medium-format photography (apart from a bit of dabbling a few years back). To this end, I’ve got myself a Bronica SQ-B with a rangefinder, taken a few shots and even developed them myself (not entirely successfully, due to streaks on the negatives. Probably a light leak into the developing tank...). But that’s a slightly different topic... So far, I’ve been using my Sony Alpha 100 or my Sigma DP2x as a light meter, but that’s rather awkward because they don’t cover the aperture range of the Bronica lenses and, of course, have completely different options when it comes to exposure times. As holiday reading, I’ve been getting to grips with Andreas Feininger’s *The Great Book of Photography*, in which he argues that one should test-expose and develop every film to determine its true ISO value. Apparently, manufacturers state the speed too high, if I recall correctly. What’s your experience with this? Is that still the case with modern films? The book is, after all, quite a few years old. This also means, however, that even with a light meter, you need to be able to set the ISO values freely and not just stick to the standard values specified by the film manufacturers (25, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, ...). Are there any such models? Can anyone recommend one that isn’t too expensive, and can do object, light and perhaps spot metering (this could also be added as an aftermarket feature)? I’d be grateful for any recommendations, as I don’t really have a clear overview of what’s available or what’s important yet, and I want to avoid making an expensive mistake. Thanks in advance! Best regards, Andreas

piu58

- Regarding the streaks: You may not have agitated the film enough during development. Development tanks don’t have a light leak. - Regarding film speed: It’s still the case that the specified values are usually impossible to achieve in practice. You can’t go wrong if you start by exposing the film to half a stop to a full stop more light, depending on the developer and how much detail you want in the shadows. - Regarding the Beli: The ‘big’ Beli unit is called the Gossen. I’m not sure what you mean by ‘not too expensive’. The smallest model, the Digisix, is available for around 150

TiMo

I bought a second-hand Minolta Spotmeter F. The ISO settings can be adjusted. The measurement angle is approximately 1 degree. It only offers spot metering (which is all I need). It has a memory function and settings for shadow metering and particularly bright shots. I never use those, though. It is powered by a AA battery. After a bit of fine-tuning of the ISO settings depending on the film and developer used, thanks to this handy little device I now get almost all my negatives at grade 2 or 2.5. Conclusion: Very happy with it.

ascheucher

Thanks for the quick replies! -Schlieren: You’re probably right. I’ve got a Jobo 160D, and apart from a few eBay listings, you can’t find a thing about it online. It seems to be so old that it was on the market long before the digital era. It isn’t 100% airtight and has a knob on top that lets you turn the reel in one direction, causing it to jump in a sawtooth pattern (to knock out air bubbles? So that the developer – provided the direction of rotation is correct – is pushed inwards through the film spiral?). I tilted it first and then just turned it. That’s probably why it was both. The lid was screwed on crookedly, as I then saw in the kitchen under proper lighting... In any case, I’m currently on the lookout for a second-hand canister for tilt-and-turn development. -Wetting agent: I’ve got one from Ilford lying about, the name of which can’t be found online either. Apparently it’s quite old too. Can something like that actually go off? I haven’t dared to use it yet... -ISO: I’ll start by performing a slightly longer exposure than the measured value. Once I know which film I’m sticking with, I’ll measure it to see what the speed is really like... This is probably really interesting if you want to pull the film to expand the dynamic range. The exposure needs to be spot on so you don’t lose the extended range again. Am I right about that? -On the actual topic: I’ve noticed the Minolta light meters too. But they cost €150–200 second-hand.

Urnes

Hi Andreas, It’s always best to get it right first time. Otherwise you end up buying twice. OK, unless it’s something really cheap just to try out. If you want to measure contrast, you need a light meter that can do that. So either a spot meter like Tim’s (also available from Gossen or Pentax; I’d advise against Soligor) or something like the Sekonic L-408 with a 5° spot (that’s the one I have); Gossen also makes something similar. Sekonic is the other major manufacturer. Minolta was taken over by Kenko. And in the budget range, there’s also Polaris. I myself have the L-408; it can actually do everything, including flash, and is protected from splash water. Digital models have the advantage that they have no moving parts that can break. With the old Gossen devices, you have the problem with the mercury batteries that Piu mentioned. I myself rarely need the spot meter, perhaps just to measure the lights in the dark. With light metering, I get a gradient of 3 to 3.5 in 95% of my shots – that’s enough for me. But that’s a personal preference and shouldn’t stop you from measuring and testing. Regards, Sven.

TiMo

-On to the main topic: I’ve noticed the Minolta light meters too. They cost €150–200 second-hand, but they seem to be very capable. Multi-point metering (I assume spot metering) helps you determine the exposure range, doesn’t it? I suppose it works in a similar way to the zone system (which I’m only very vaguely familiar with, mind you), only automatically. Does that sort of thing even make sense for landscape photography? Can you even aim accurately enough at such long distances to get meaningful results?

Quality comes at a price. But then I’ll have it for the rest of my life (hopefully). I look for a dark area where I still want to retain detail (= Zone III). Then I read the shutter speed at the corresponding aperture and calculate the shutter speed for my Zone III (since the light meter measures at Zone V). I can save this value as a reference and then use the light meter to target other points and read the difference from the spot I previously defined as Zone III in EV stops. Then I know which zones the bright areas will fall into and can plan for the print later on.

ascheucher

Thanks for the explanations! That’s a great help. I’ve just come across a Gossen Sixtino that I can get for 15

piu58

'Cave' means 'beware' in German! This is not a model of light meter. You might come across it occasionally in *Asterix and Obelix*. As an alliterative phrase, for example: *Cave canem* – 'Beware of the dog'.

ascheucher

The die is cast! And I thought I knew my Latin, like Asterix and Obelix ;)

cfb_de

I wouldn’t buy a Sixtino or any other older model with a selenium cell (you can tell by the fact that they don’t need a battery): after a few decades (the Sixtino, for example, is from the 1960s), the selenium cells are faulty. Spare parts are no longer available, and at first you’ll only notice a fault from underexposed photos. Similarly, I wouldn’t buy a Beli that requires mercury cells. This applies to almost all models with a CdS light sensor (e.g. Lunasix). As Uwe already mentioned, you can use hearing aid batteries or expensive wine cell batteries in them, but I find that too much of a faff in the long run. A Profisix (which you can pick up for a fiver if you keep an eye out) or a Lunalite (its smaller sibling, usually cheaper) from Gossen takes a 9V block battery and they still work even in a dark trouser pocket. The little Voigtländer (http://www.voigtlaender.de/cms/voigtlaender/voigtlaender_cms.nsf/id/pa_asan6lwmhu.html) that clips onto the camera is also quite smart. The two small bike speedometers (Gossen Digisix and Digiflash) can do the same, if you buy the stand as an accessory. As a general rule: quality comes at a price. If you don’t encounter any critical lighting situations: an exposure chart (see below – I mean the round ones: http://photobutmore.de/vintagephoto/belichtungstabellen/) can, when used correctly, get within +/-0.5EV of a ‘proper’ reading and is actually sufficient. And it costs little more than the postage required for delivery. Best regards, Franz