Voigtlaender VC light meter opinions

ron gregorio · January 3, 2001

Happy New Year everyone.

I'd like to get people's opinion on which lightmeter to use for a Leica M2. I've been doing some research on lightmeters and I've narrowed down my choices to either three:

1. Voigtlaender VC;

2. Sekonic L-208 Twin Mate; and

3. Gossen Pilot 2.

I chose the three above because I'd like to be able to attach the meter on the camera's flash mount. Which would you recommend of the three? Are there other lightmeters that you can recommend if not any of the above?

ron gregorio · January 3, 2001

Sorry, the title should have said "Lightmeter opinions for M2" only.

albert_smith · January 3, 2001

Ron,

One of the other participants on this site and I had a talk about

this before, but I couldn't find it in the archives, so maybe it was

off-post via personal e-mail. Essentially, after many inquiries and

much correspondence, we found out that for all of the positive

reports on the Voigtlander meter, it has one important weakness. The

meter must be aimed for the subject, (the meter has an angle of view

matching the 90mm lens), but unlike the leica MR meter, you must

match diode meter by turning an f-stop and shutterspeed dial on the

meter while watching the LEDs. The problem?... How do you maintain

the aim while looking down at the meter? If you hold the camera at

eye level to aim it, you can't see the meter... if you look at the

meter, you can't sight it. The narrow angle of acceptance of the

meter could lead to an inaccurate reading if not aimed at your true

subject... especially in tricky lighting. The MR meter was better

because you sight the camera, and while still at eye level, press a

button on the meter, which caused a needle to deflect to indicate the

correct exposure. Upon releasing the button, the meter froze,

allowing you to set the f-stop / shutterspeed combo for the subject.

My feeling is, if you want a camera mounted meter, this is the best.

Another advantage is that it mounts and couples to your shutterspeed

dial, so you need only set your f-stop after checking the meter

needle.

I also have a Sekonic L 308. I love it. It has incidence,

reflective and flash metering. After the reading, you can toggle

through all of the possible combinations for the exposure, picking

the best for the subject. It goes to a tenth of a stop, and is

smaller than a deck of cards.

andrew_schank · January 3, 2001

I agree with AL and am a long time user of the Leica meters. The

only drawback to any of the shoe mounted meters is that you loose the

shoe if you wanted to use a wide angle finder or flash. You also need

to be careful putting it on and off especially on a pristine camera--

people even put tape on the top plate to prevent scratches. The

later, battery powered Leica meters are very accurate even in fairly

low light, and I really like the fact that they are shutter coupled-I

can work almost as fast as with an in camera meter. I usually get

every single shot on a roll exposed correctly with the Meter MR I

have on my M3. It is very handy that the meter holds the reading of

what you aimed at while looking through the finder. If the

Voigtlander does not hold the reading, you might as well just carry a

small meter in your pocket or hanging from your neck. For the $200

they get for it, you could get quite a nice meter.

jay_. · January 3, 2001

The Sekonic L-208 Twin-Mate with the same angle of acceptance as the

MR-4 Leicameter has a button which locks the reading for a short

time, long enough to aim at eye-level and then hold the camera where

you can read it, just like the MR-4. A minor advantage to the MR-4

is that it is coupled to the shutter speed dial. Major disadvantages

to the MR-4 are the high price for one in good shape, the need to

find Mercury batteries or use a substitute or adaptor, the lack of

some parts availability so that repairs involve cannibalizing another

meter in worse shape, and the relatively slower reactivity of the CdS

cell as opposed to the silicon cell in the L-208. The Sekonic is by

far the best clip-on meter available new today. The only

disadvantage is the esthetics. If you want your M2 to look authentic

then an MR-4 is de-rigeur.

andrew_schank · January 3, 2001

The Sekonic meter costs about $150 and that's about what the MR

meters go for a decent used one. I just checked out the Sekonic

product page and that is a nice little meter. The ability to do

incident readings is an advantage.(of course you'd have to probably

remove it from the show for that) What does it look like sitting on

an M camera? Does it get in the way of the shutter speed dial or

stick out into your forehead?

jay_. · January 4, 2001

The MR-4 (with the side switch) meters I've seen in 9+ or better

shape have been in the $250-350 range, due to the collector market.

I don't know what the Sekonic looks like on an M, I have seen them in

the sales pictures, etc. One thing they have over the Leicameters is

they could be fitted to an M6 or M6TTL as a backup if the internal

meter happened to conk out.

john_collier · January 4, 2001

My MR-4 works great, looks terrible and was around $125US.

The black chrome meters wear faster and look worse quicker

than the silver chrome meters, so that is what I would

recommend you get. If your camera top plate is not scratched

already put a bit of tape on tha bottom of the meter to keep it that

way. The angle of the meter is easily adjusted by loosening the

three screws securing the foot to the meter and then turning the

two small adjusting set screws. I am happy with my MR-4 though

it does not see too much use now that I have a M6TTL.

Cheers

kens · January 4, 2001

I just picked up a chrome MR-4 for my meterless cameras for $120 US.

Works perfect - even looks good!

ron gregorio · January 6, 2001

That's an interesting observation regarding the Voigtlaender VC. I'm

sure that it's something that I would have regrettably found out

later on if I had bought it first without asking this question. It

looks like it's either the Lieca MR-4 meter or a handheld Sekonic

meter that I'll go for. I'll check out ebay and see if I can get a

good deal on a black MR-4.

ron gregorio · January 11, 2001

Just an update, I bought the Voigtlaender VC instead of the MR-4 or a

handheld meter. Basically, it came out cheaper than I expected

($180).

I found out a way to overcome the problem mentioned by Al above.

First, I set the aperture on the meter and the lens with the Voigt VC

mounted on top of the camera. Second, I place my right index finger

almost on top of, but a little bit in front of, the LED display,

which is on top of the meter. I'm also careful not to cover the

photosensor in front of the meter. I then meter the scene by placing

the meter at eye-level (almost directly in front of my right eye) and

by covering the metered scene with the light meter (which covers

approx. the focal length of a 90mm lens). The bright LED display

lights (red>-green-<red) reflect on my index finger so that I can see

the lights and adjust the shutter speed dial on the meter at eye-

level to get the correct exposure (green light). Finally, I adjust

the M2's shutter speed dial by taking my eye off the meter and

looking at the M2's top plate. This is the only time I have to move

the camera from eye-level.

I preferred this to the MR-4 I handled because it was just a bit more

complicated to take the MR-4 off my M2 than the Voigt VC, due to the

MR-4 being coupled to the shutter speed dial on the M2. I also like

the way the VC looks on top of the M2. It seems like it was made for

M cameras because it fits with the body's lines. The only problem I

encountered with the VC is that it's easy to press the On button

because it protrudes at the back of the meter. However, the meter

stays on for only 10 seconds of not activated all the time.

Thanks for everyone's the suggestions anyway.

ron gregorio · January 11, 2001

Let me repost again, since some parts of my message was cut off:

"Just an update, I bought the Voigtlaender VC instead of the MR-4 or

a handheld meter. Basically, it came out cheaper than I expected