What is the most reliable, easiest to use, hand-held light meter?

This strikes me as something of a "how long is a piece of string" question.

What do you want to use your light meter for? If, for example, you want to get a rough idea of exposure values in a certain set of lighting, and want to use that as a base-line for exposure of B&W negative film, then I rather like a CV VC II meter (not so much hand-held, as cold-shoe mounted on, say, my M3). It works great for getting a baseline EV estimate while, say, outside on a sunny day, allowing me an initial idea of exposure I can then vary by "judging by eye". It also allows me to set a new baseline if I change things a lot by, for example, moving indoors.

But if I wanted an incident light meter (rather than reflected) and wanted precision, and wanted -- well, lots of other things -- then I'd look for something entirely different in a light meter.

As it happens, and just for me, in my personal usage, that VC II meter is just fine. But it might not be for you...

...Mike
 
Most reliable?
Only a Weston Master III failed on me after 40 years service anything else has been fine, I think unreliability is a none issue mechanically and electronically but perhaps you actually mean gives consistent results you can trust?

Easy to use?
Again in what way? Do you need to be careful how you point it or wave it about because of the acceptance angle? Is the "readout" easy to see fstop/speed combinations or do you want clear EV values.
Do you want Zone type calculations so combining highlight and shadow or some calculation of where Zone V is in relation?
Do you want incident or reflected or both in one meter or do you want a spot meter? Maybe add flash, maybe not.
Do you want very low light to register?

What are you doing now light measurement wise? Is it not working for you, what problem do you want to solve?

I'm sorry but very simple questions without much, any, context are impossible to answer sensibly and invite just a chain of posts about a, or more, favourite meter/s a photographer has settled on to meet their specific needs related to some, perhaps more than, the above that may be perfect for them and useless for you.

Perhaps ask what is your favourite meter and why and try to find a match with you, or post, replying to the above, and get some specific recommendations.
 
Can't tell you what is the "best." But I can tell you what I have used. I had a Gossen Luna Pro SBC for many years that I used in incident mode regardless of the camera I was using (Pentax, Nikon, Leica etc.). They can be had used on eBay for around $50. This particular model ran on a square 9V battery and ran for years. I traded it in on a Gossen Luna-Star F when I wanted flash-metering capability. The Luna Star-F, which also runs off a 9v battery, is sitting on the table in front of me and has been working flawlessly for the past 20 years. The little plastic notch on the battery cover broke off at some point. I just use tape to keep the battery compartment closed. What I liked about the Luna Star-F was being able to dial in exposure compensation for long bellows extensions or extension tubes in medium format. The Luna Pro SBC has that capability too, but I found the Luna Star-F more intuitive to use. I also have a Minolta studio meter kicking around. It is larger than the Luna-Star F but has many whiz-bang features that seemed important at one time.

If you don't like the idea of a battery, have a look at the Sekonic L-398M incident meters. It functions like an updated Weston, I guess. Super durable, but also magnetic. I have one of these too, just because I love the design. Also available used on eBay in the $75 range. These are less sensitive in really low light, in my experience, but work well in most situations.

I will gently agree with the posters who asked for more context. You can get meters that will calculate multiple light sources, mixed light sources, flash, multiple flashes, color balance . . . really anything that the pre-digital professional photography world wanted to measure. Remember, in the old days, you had to match your color balance to the film materials you were using and there was no "chimping" to check for exposure. Back then, it was Polaroids or your own hard-won experience. With any of the meters I mentioned, you still have to engage your brain, understand the meter's function and your light source, have a sense of the results you want, etc. This is not, "fire and forget."

Also, all of these devices are somewhat delicate. You can't pound nails with them, they will break if you drop them from a great height, submerge them in liquid, or otherwise abuse them. My sense of my own is that the longest lived were also the most expensive, not because they were imbued with magic durability-dust but because I don't abuse my expensive stuff.
 
I used Seconic Twinmate. Working because it is not old technology and it is nice accessory to match steampunk appearance with TLR or/and Zenit.
But mobile phone metering app rivals all of the handheld meters. Assuming it is needed for film photography.
 
For best reliability, get a digital meter, not one with a moving needle. The moving needle types are easily broken by dropping or rough handling. Digital meters have no moving parts and are pretty indestructible. I'd recommend buying a new meter over a used one if you can afford to do so. Most used meters I see are out of calibration, and many older meters cannot be serviced because the manufacturers will not work on them and since Quality Light Metric closed, no independent meter calibration services exist in the US now. As for new ones, stick to Sekonic. Gossen metes in my experience are more prone to electronics problems as they age, and every Gossen meter I have tested was excessively sensitive to infrared, causing underexposure in warm lighting, like incandescent or halogen lights.

The Sekonic L-308S is a good, inexpensive, reliable meter.
 
I second the Sekonic 308 series. It is probably the gold standard as far as reasonably-priced hand-held meters go. I have had mine for a long time and it works great. It is designed to be primarily an incident meter, although I believe that was some attachment for reflected metering as well. The new ones are nice because they run on AAs, instead of the lithiums like the older models.
 
das said:
It is designed to be primarily an incident meter, although I believe that was some attachment for reflected metering as well.
Click to expand...
??
Built-in opal hemisphere slides in/out at the push of a finger for incident or reflected metering.
 
I haven't used many but this is my favourite. Slightly chunky but light. Meters both reflective and incident light and has been very accurate for what I need it. Uses 4 LR44 batteries.

I have been using it for more than a decade and I haven't mollycoddled it.

16969583772806110341318379003412.jpg
 
For negative film, the most reliable is the film box. Other than that, the Gossen Luna Pro series have only failed me after a dunk in water. I have other light meters, including an L308 and a Minolta Flashmeter somethingorother, but I prefer the Luna Pro.
Collect them all and figure out which one works best for you.
Phil Forrest
 
As others have said, the Sekonic L308 is extremely handy--and quite good. Fits in a trousers or shirt pocket, or a small camera bag. Or can easily be hung about your neck. And it's just as useful in the studio as on the street, given its ability to do cordless and corded flash metering. And can be found very reasonably priced, given its versatility and capabilities. I carry one almost all the time when I'm out and about.
 
wrs1145 said:
What do you recommend?
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"... most reliable, easiest to use, hand-held light meter ... "

I have no idea how to rate reliability and ease of use in a general sense. For example, a meter with no features is in one sense the easiest to use and in another sense the hardest. A meter with a battery in it is usually the one that dies of internal corrosion when it sits in a drawer and the battery leaks; a meter with a photovoltaic cell in it is usually the one that dies when the cell dies, or when it's dropped and the moving needle readout is thrown off its pivots.

I've owned and used many, many, many different light meters in the past 60 some years. Nearly all have worked fine until I a) dropped them, b) forgot and let the batteries leak in them, or c) the photovoltaic cell died.

Right now, I have my Sekonic L-328, Sekonic L-358, and Sekonic L-478D on my desk. This thread inspired me to check all their batteries ... and recharge the ones in the 328 and 478D (the 358 takes non-rechargeable lithium cells). My Voigtländer VC Meter II battery is fresh, as is the Leica MR-4's battery. My Norwood Director's selenium cell is LONG LONG LONG dead, the Sekonic L-398 is working fine and protected in a doubly-wrapped set of foam cushions to protect it against shock damage in the storage cabinet. Somewhere in the jumble which is my equipment cabinet the Gossen Luna Pro F (sans batteries) and Sekonic L-208 are hiding, protected against damage by not being findable without a major effort... LOL!

When push comes to shove, the meter that most frequently leaps into my hand, and has for at least two decades now, is the Sekonic L-358:


Sekonic L-358 Light Meter
with Incident Dome fitted, Reflected Light lens alongside​

It's a fairly hefty size which fits my hand well, has big controls, is reasonably light, and has few enough features that I remember how to use most of them, most of the time. It takes an easily available CR123A Lithium battery which lasts for several years in my use, and has ambient, remote flash, and wired flash metering capabilities. It is my reference meter and produces absolutely spot-on readings. The incident dome switches between spot and normal reading modes in an instant, and the LCD gives simple, direct readouts depending on what you've set (aperture priority, time priority, or EV). I think I bought one of these as NOS for a young photographer friend for $120 a year or so back, and I can't think of anything much better for anywhere near that money.

With any meter: Read the manual thoroughly and keep it handy for reference use. Use it a lot and it will become easy to use, even the most feature filled and complex of them.

Good luck!
G
 
I used to own the basic Calculight XP. It worked very well. Then I started using a Pentax digital spotmeter. It is a very good meter that I depended on with hundreds of transparency rolls of film.
 
A different slant on the original question: Any incident-light meter will be both the most accurate and easiest to use, IF it's always conveniently possible to hold the meter in the same light that's falling on the subject. If you can do this, an incident meter will completely eliminate the need to adjust your meter readings to compensate for the brightness/darkness of the subject. It will quickly give you a reading you can pretty much use as-is, unless you want to tweak your settings to add a little more detail to a very dark or very light subject.

If you can't always put the meter in the same light as the subject, the most accurate and easiest way to get an exposure (IMO) is to use a spot meter to measure the most important highlight area and the most important shadow area, then average those readings.

So for the sake of convenience, you'll want to look for a meter that combines incident and spot reading capabilities. Minolta used to make one, the Flash Meter VI, which was so good that after Minolta got out of the meter business, Kenko bought the rights to make it; good luck finding a clean-and-working Minolta version now, though, and the Kenko version's availability seems to have become spotty. That leaves you looking at several current high-end Sekonic meters such as the L-858; sadly, these are expensive and much bulkier than the Minolta/Kenko meter, but at least you can hit up your favorite retailer today and buy a new one with a warranty...
 
ranger9 said:
A different slant on the original question: Any incident-light meter will be both the most accurate and easiest to use, IF it's always conveniently possible to hold the meter in the same light that's falling on the subject. If you can do this, an incident meter will completely eliminate the need to adjust your meter readings to compensate for the brightness/darkness of the subject. It will quickly give you a reading you can pretty much use as-is, unless you want to tweak your settings to add a little more detail to a very dark or very light subject.

If you can't always put the meter in the same light as the subject, the most accurate and easiest way to get an exposure (IMO) is to use a spot meter to measure the most important highlight area and the most important shadow area, then average those readings.

So for the sake of convenience, you'll want to look for a meter that combines incident and spot reading capabilities. Minolta used to make one, the Flash Meter VI, which was so good that after Minolta got out of the meter business, Kenko bought the rights to make it; good luck finding a clean-and-working Minolta version now, though, and the Kenko version's availability seems to have become spotty. That leaves you looking at several current high-end Sekonic meters such as the L-858; sadly, these are expensive and much bulkier than the Minolta/Kenko meter, but at least you can hit up your favorite retailer today and buy a new one with a warranty...
Click to expand...
I thoroughly agree! I own a Luna Pro Digital F, primarily used as an incident meter (and highly recommended for ease and accuracy!), and a Minolta Spotmeter F. I'll bring whichever one seems most appropriate for the situations I anticipate, and often, both. Medium format color transparency film is expensive and unforgiving!
 
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