Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/01

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Exposure Meters? What is the LUG Consensus?
From: Martin Howard <mvhoward@mac.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 21:10:43 -0700

Jack McLain wrote:

> I want something rugged. small, and I dont need flash function, but 
> would
> like ideally to use a meter with a spot attachment.

If I were buying a new meter today, it'd be a toss-up between small 
size and spot capability, depending upon whether I was going to use it 
with Leicas, or with MF cameras.

In the small size department (i.e., meter for use with Leicas), the VC 
meter that sits atop my M2 is great.  I've played (a little) with a 
Gossen Digisix (or whatever it's called: the tiny "round" one) and it's 
nice because it has an incident mode that the VC meter doesn't have.  
The Gossen is around $100, the VC meter I think sells for about $150.  
Neither has flash capability, although the Gossen exists in a version 
that does (for a few $$$ more).

I currently use a Sekonic L-308B II because I use incident metering a 
lot.  But if I didn't have this and were looking at buying a new meter, 
I'd look long and hard at both getting the new L-358 with 1 degree spot 
attachment, or finding an L-508.  While the L-358 is a bargain at 
around $200-$250 new, but the spot attachment is a steep $150 on top of 
that... which puts it firmly into L-508 territory.  If you want to 
splash, B&H has a second hand unit of the frilly new L-608 meter for 
under $400 available at the moment.

The cool thing about the spot attachment for the L-358 is that you can 
get it in three different versions: 1, 5, and 10 degrees.  Most spot 
meter attachments are in the 5-15 degree range, which makes them pretty 
useless.  The spot meter in the L-508 and L-608 is a variable 1-4 
degree "zoom" spot.

M.

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