Night Photography - Low Light Meters

[bill_taylor2]

<p>Simple question for the group: Does anyone know of a good low light, or very low light meter? I've seen plenty that go down to EV 0, but none below that. -4 or even -8 would be nice. But I'm not holding my breath.</p>

<p> </p>

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

<p>I usually just guess, and I bracket. Lots on info here:</p>

<p>http://www.thenocturnes.com/resources.html</p>

[henryp]

<p><a href="http://www.thkphoto.com/news/news-pr-kfm-1100-0407.html">Kenko KFM-1100 Auto Digi Meter </a> <br /> EV Range (ISO-100) -17 to 40.8 (0.1 stop increments)</p>

<p>Henry Posner<br /> <strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

 

[jim_norman4]

<p>The Gossen Luna Pro SBC (available on eBay) is a great low light meter. It doesn't have the huge range of the Kenko, but I've used it for night photography for many years.</p>

[ralph_jensen]

<p>Boy, that Kenko that Henry P. linked sure looks like a rebadged Minolta IV:</p>

<p>http://www.eplevine.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=111260&Category_Code=LIG&Product_Count=6</p>

[gerard_bynre]

<p>I think Henry is mistaken (understandably) by the confusing specs in the Kenko meters manual (http://www.kenko-tokina.co.jp/e/kfm1100/1100e_34_35.pdf)<br>

Somehow the Kenko meter can display a range of EV -17 to 40, but a few lines above it lists the ambient light measuring range as a much more pedestrian EV -2 to 19.9<br>

That range would be typical of many high quality modern meters. My own previous investigations revealed that the Quantum Calculite XP could read to -7 EV, and some of the Gossen models can go to -4 EV. Unfortunately the Quantum is long out of production and is extremely hard to find used, so the best option now is likely one of the Gossen meters.<br>

In your search be sure to distinguish between what a meter can display, and what its measuring range is. As with the Kenko above, the terminology is often confusing, but it's the measuring range that really matters. Good luck with it.</p>

 

[ivan_j._eberle1]

<p>You do realize that no matter how accurate, metering will only get you so far in the dead of night if/when film exposures run to more than a few seconds, right? Compensating for reciprocity failure often means logarithmicly longer times (e.g. a doubling of time from one hour to two might yield no more than a 1/3 stop of density change with certain emulsions).<br>

Now, if somebody made a programmable meter with RFC tables for modern emulsions built in, now that might save you some time and expense. But for the same kind of money as an expensive exposure meter, today I'd buy a good DSLR instead, because unlike just a terrific meter you get a terrific meter + a device for proofing flash and lighting ratios and reflections.</p>

[dan_mcclain]

<p>I use the exposure calculator found within the Nocturnes page cited above. It works almost perfectly if there isn't any artificial light pollution in the vicinity.<br>

I have also found that the Nikon F3 can perform an aperture priority shot accurately even under a 3/4 moon without any artificial lighting, if the aperture selected is f/8 or larger. </p>

[roger krueger]

+1 on "use a DSLR as a meter". Playback + histogram is more reliable than any meter. Although takes a bit of practice to correlate what you see on the screen to what's a good exposure for the film. Don't get fooled by histogram spikes from in-scene lights, for instance.

<br><br>

You really can get an early DSLR (say a d30 or 300d) for $150ish plus another $70 for a 50/1.8. Not wonderful picture-takers, but great as meters.

<br><br>

It's certainly plausible there's a digital P&S out there that could do the job as well, but I'm not really familiar with their specs,

Manual settings, long exposures and histograms don't seem to be a given. An Oly E-10 would work, but that's much bigger

than a Rebel+50. Cheaper, though.

<br><br>

Re: reciprocity failure, there are films like TMX and Acros that have minimal failure and thus only a couple of correction

points rather than the long annoying curve of more traditional emulsions.