what is a good light meter?

[OceanRider]

Can anyone recommned a good, simple, cheap light meter. I need the name/type so I can find it used somewhere (e-bay?). New ones are way too expensive new up here in Canada.

I was at an old camera trade show last week and there were a ton of older (but excellent quality) ones for 50.00 and I should have picked one up.....so I hit Henry's, trying to find one and found the same one just newer model and it was three times the price and 1/3 the quality (they make things so cheap today...) Cheers

Joel

[KevC]

I'm in Canada too :)

I'm thinking of buying the Sekonic L-358 from BH....

[iwatkins]

Do you need a light meter for studio use ? I.e. do you need a flash meter or just a light meter ?

Anything by Sekonic is good as is Gossen or Minolta. Just check you are getting what you need.

Ian

[snibbetsj]

I looked into this for a couple of months before I settled on the Sekonic 358 from B&H. It's an excellent meter and on sale for 220.00 USD. Not sure if that's cheap enough. ;)

[Vegas Poboy]

I've owned the 358 for two plus years and its a great meter @ a good price. Light meters is a must for studio work you can save a great deal of time when setting up for a shoot.

[chtgrubbs]

An incident meter is the best choice to supplement the in-camera meter. You can't go wrong with a solid-state Minolta or Sekonic meter. The older meters with a moving needle are prone to damage of the delicate needle movment. I have a Minolta flashmeter 3 which is over twenty years old and still accurate. If you want to use it for flash a Minolta AutoMeter F can be bought for about $75 at camera shows.