Gossen Luna-Star F2, Digital Incident, Reflected, Ambient and Flash Light Meter

2006-12-26T19:00:00

The nicest meter I've used!! It takes one standard 9V battery that you can buy anywhere. It only has six buttons and their functions are obvious. I was able to use all but one of the meter's modes within 60 seconds of putting in the battery without reading the manual. 99% of what you'd need to know from the manual is printed in four sections on the back of the meter. The meter is great for computing lighting ratios. You press the measurement button once to take a snapshot reading. You press and hold it while sweeping the meter around a scene and the Luna-Star F2 draws you a graph at the bottom of the display of the contrast range (e.g., f8-f16). Every time you take a flash reading, the meter also shows you the ambient reading with an unobtrusive little bar on the same graph. Unlike the Minolta meters, you don't need a "reflected attachment" and an "incident attachment." The naked meter works to measure reflected light. Add a plastic incident piece and you can measure incident light. Add a little viewfinder and you've got a 5 degree spot meter. It is a great design and smaller than competing products. The ONLY reason it did not get a 5-star rating is because it only meters down to EV -2.5. That's a couple of stops less light than most pro SLRs but not as good as some other handheld meters.

Stu P.