Light Meter Recommendations for a New Cinematographer

[Katy M. Savage]

Hi there! I'm new to this group but I'm very excited to have found such a useful forum...

Mr. Mullen, can you recommend any good light meters for a fairly new cinematographer? I've found quite a few that I think would be good, but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for or which brands are more trustworthy. I want something that's not too complicated, but will serve me well for a long time as I become more proficient... for instance, I know I want a dual metering one for incident and spot readings.

Any help is much appreciated!

Katy

 

[DBXMe2]

Well I don't know what Mr Mullen would say, but this is what most of the DOP's I know like to use.

It's fun, but costly for students. I believe it runs for about 800$...

And yes, that would be Canadian currency, I wouldn't know the exact price in USD... but I've been told about 800$

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I just own a basic Minolta incident meter and a Spectra Pro incident meter. And a Minolta spot meter. So it hasn't been worth it to pay for the Sekonic combo meter.

I got the Minolta incident meter in film school 18 years ago and have shot many features with just that.


http://www.spectracine.com/film_video.html

 

[Kevin_Zanit]

I have the Sekonic 508c which has since been replaced by the 558c. I like it a lot; I have put it through a lot of abuse. I think in the US they can be had for around $600, I don't really remember, haven't priced them out recently.

Prior to that meter (and I still have it) was the Studio Deluxe 398 (I think), it is very old, I keep it as a back up as it does not require batteries and if it has worked this long, it must be reliable


Kevin Zanit