Rolls-Royce of light meters

[BrianShaw]

Which is "right"?

Both. K is a manufacturer-selected constant that is chosen to maximize photographic success, in their individual experience. Same with C. The difference is negligible in practical terms.

 

[Chan Tran]

Which is "right"?

There is no right or wrong. They are just difference. As long as the meter is conformed to its specs that is all I want. As Brian said Sekonic uses C340 for the dome and C250 for the retracted dome. Minolta uses C330 for the dome and C250 for the flat diffuser. Now with C250 and K14 it's the 18% gray. That is if you use a reflected meter with K14 to measure an 18% gray card the reading should be the same as an incident reading with a flat diffuser with a C250.
So for the Sekonic RR meter you would have to use a 16% gray card to have the same reading with the spot meter and the incident meter with the dome retracted.

 

[choiliefan]

This one may be the Trabant of meters:

TTArtisan Light Meter II review : "If budget matters most, this is a serviceable light meter for film cameras"

The TTArtisan Light Meter II might not be perfect, but it’s still one of the cheapest and easiest-to-use reflected-light-measuring devices on the market

www.digitalcameraworld.com

 

[Chan Tran]

This one may be the Trabant of meters:

TTArtisan Light Meter II review : "If budget matters most, this is a serviceable light meter for film cameras"

The TTArtisan Light Meter II might not be perfect, but it’s still one of the cheapest and easiest-to-use reflected-light-measuring devices on the market

www.digitalcameraworld.com

Looks quite good though. The article has it mounted on the Nikon FM which I am quite sure has a superior built in meter (I had several FM's and FM2 and all of them have accurate meter).

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I couldn't find the information on the Gossen. Also Gossen on some of their meters have direct readout of the luminance cd/m^2 and doesn't show how to convert between EV @ ISO 100 to Cd/m^2. For a K14 meter EV0@ISO100 is 0.14 Cd/m^2 and for K12.5 then it's 0.125 Cd/m^2. I know Minolta and Pentax use K14 and Sekonic uses K12.5.

Thanks for looking. FWIW, MY GOSSENS (4) ALL READ THE SAME AND agree with the SeonicL858D within 0.1 f/stops. I, therefore, assume Gossen lightmeters are also calibrated to a K value of 12.5 and that Gossen goes by the assumption that an average scene reflects about 18% of the light falling on it (known as middle gray).

 

[Chan Tran]

Thanks for looking. FWIW, MY GOSSENS (4) ALL READ THE SAME AND agree with the SeonicL858D within 0.1 f/stops. I, therefore, assume Gossen lightmeters are also calibrated to a K value of 12.5 and that Gossen goes by the assumption that an average scene reflects about 18% of the light falling on it (known as middle gray).

Well it could well be K14 (the 18% gray is more related to the K14. K12.5 is related to 16% gray) as you know the difference between K14 and K12.5 is 0.16 stop.

 

[Tom Taylor]

Before I sold the Pentax spotmeter I tested it against the new Sekonic 758DR by comparing reading from different objects in the room. Now and then I may have noticed a very slight difference which I attributed to not having one pointed from the exact same location as the other. But any difference was insignificant and otherwise each agreed with the other. Previously I compared the reading from the Pentax digital spotmeter with the Pentax 67II meter by comparing spot readings and average readings - taking several spot readings of a scene and averaging them. Both gave the same results.

Besides the batteries, the new 858 is able to read lower light thresholds which is useful in night photography.

 

[Bill Burk]

I would suggest the Rolls Royce of light meters is the Western Master II

If I ever get one to calibrate I will let you know.

Buying guide:

Black ones with screws on back cover seem to have movements of solid gold. If so, the value exceeds the price you would pay for one. But most have bad cells.

Gray ones with sticker on the back cover almost always have the “good” selenium cell (with the “W” logo you can almost make out in some pictures, but definitely when you get it home). These are the ones that are close to being able to be calibrated.

 

[Taylor Nankervis]

Before I sold the Pentax spotmeter I tested it against the new Sekonic 758DR by comparing reading from different objects in the room. Now and then I may have noticed a very slight difference which I attributed to not having one pointed from the exact same location as the other. But any difference was insignificant and otherwise each agreed with the other. Previously I compared the reading from the Pentax digital spotmeter with the Pentax 67II meter by comparing spot readings and average readings - taking several spot readings of a scene and averaging them. Both gave the same results.

Besides the batteries, the new 858 is able to read lower light thresholds which is useful in night photography.

According to a Sekonic product engineer who communicated with me in 2012 (and also mentioned in closing that both models were "pending [sic] in discontinuation"), neither the 758D or DR use identical or same metering systems for spot/reflected or incident. Further to this, the reading from the spot meter is "below 18% gray" and like [sic] incident is also below the 18% gray reference". What he was saying is that the systems are not reading strictly to the gospel 18% grey, nor using one system but from later clarification, 13.5% spot, 15% incident.

This is why there is the ability to make very fine [+] or [–] baseline adjustments for either/both spot or incident. Additionally, this allows the meter's upper- and lower-end Ev to be adjusted to read in bright or low light, similar to the 858 you mentioned.