Gossen Digisix 2 in low light?

[Tim Bradshaw]

I need a light meter to use in low light (cities at night really) because the Minolta CLE doesn't really have a metered manual mode. I've been using a Weston Master V which is surprisingly OK but its needle has become sticky. I bought a cheap Lunasix which turned out to be cheap for a reason, so I think I should get something new. It wants to be small and easy to use. I don't need flash metering, incident is nice but I can live without it. Don't want shoe mounting (already got a viewfinder on it!).

The Gossen Digisix 2 looks like a good bet. Can anyone who has used one, and particularly anyone who has used one in low light, tell me if it's viable for that?

Another question: I love my Weston meter, it's accurate when the needle is OK, and it just seems really sad to just scrap it: is there anyone who can service these in the UK?

Thanks

 

[Pete Askew]

I keep a Digisix in my travel bag (along with a spare battery as I don’t use it often and you cannot switch them off). I don’t use it often, but when I do it does the job. I have used it in low light with both digital capture and film and it was acceptable, although I usually bracketed the shots just in case (I cannot recall which exposure I used in the end though). As always you do have to watch out for point sources (eg street lamps etc) biasing incident readings, but that is true for most meters anyway.

I don’t see any differences between the Digisix and the Digisix2, but I am sure there must be. I have just fished mine out (and put a new battery in - as I usually have to!) and will see how readings compare with an internal meter with a couple of test shots (digital) when it gets darker later on.

 

[Tim Bradshaw]

I keep a Digisix in my travel bag (along with a spare battery as I don’t use it often and you cannot switch them off). I don’t use it often, but when I do it does the job. I have used it in low light with both digital capture and film and it was acceptable, although I usually bracketed the shots just in case (I cannot recall which exposure I used in the end though). As always you do have to watch out for point sources (eg street lamps etc) biasing incident readings, but that is true for most meters anyway.

I don’t see any differences between the Digisix and the Digisix2, but I am sure there must be. I have just fished mine out (and put a new battery in - as I usually have to!) and will see how readings compare with an internal meter with a couple of test shots (digital) when it gets darker later on.

Thank you. I have realised that the 'always on' thing is probably going to be a bit annoying as (given that mostly I use cameras which have a metered manual mode, so I will only use it once in a while and it will then be flat...), but I'm still thinking about it.

 

[Pete Askew]

It is annoying if you only use it occasionally. It is nearly always dead when I need it!

 

[Tim Bradshaw]

After thinking about this I decided that it being always on & hence probably run down, and having a clock (I mean, why: who needs yet another source of the wrong time?) was enough to put me off. So I ordered a Minolta Autometer II with the narrow-angle spot dongle for it. Which will now either be broken or hopelessly inaccurate of course.

 

[Tim Bradshaw]

I am cursed. The Autometer arrived and is sufficiently accurate. But the spot attachment is for a later version (one of the digital-display ones: the one I have is the last analogue version, which I find easier to read in low light) and won't work with it. The shop (Real Camera in Manchester / Liverpool) took it back painlessly but I now need to find the right attachment. So if anyone has a Minolta 'Ref' attachment they want to dispose of ...

Checking the meter was a bit like working out cosmic distance scales: I have a Weston Master which is OK in bright light and has the invercone. So check the Master against a recent digits camera on a blank wall. Then take a reading from the Master with the invercone on, and compare that to the Autometer.