This tiny hotshoe mounted light meter helps you expose your old film cameras
Mar 1, 2020
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattbechberger/reveni-labs-light-meter-tiny-meter-for-your-old-cameras
In this modern digital age, we just take for granted that our cameras contain light meters. And in mirrorless cameras, we can even see our final exposure before we even hit the shutter. But in the days of film, it wasn’t always so easy. Sure, towards the end of film’s mainstream days we got some pretty advanced 35mm SLRs, but a lot of the older ones in use today don’t contain a meter at all.
Electronics engineer and inventor Matt Bechberger wants to solve this problem with the Reveni Labs Light Meter. Currently on Kickstarter, it’s a tiny light meter that sits in the camera’s hotshoe, looks at the scene in front of it and then gives you a readout on a little OLED display.
At less than an inch tall and weighing only 8 grams, this tiny little light meter takes up virtually no room in your camera bag and adds almost no weight. Several buttons on the top allow you to change your ISO and aperture settings, letting it give you a suitable shutter speed to get your shot.
It’s powered by a single LR44 battery, has an ISO range of 1-12,800 (meaning you could even use it for wet plate!), an aperture range all the way from a Stanley Kubrick-esque f/0.7 all the way up to f/128 for the pinhole fanatics. And if long exposure’s your thing, it’ll do shutter speeds from 1/8000th of a second all the way up to 8 minutes (don’t forget to take reciprocity failure into account, though).
It’s a very cool little device with pledges on the Kickstarter campaign starting at CA$125 (around US$95) for a single unit, with discounts if you want to buy packs of two or four units. If I didn’t already have a couple of Sekonic light meters (I use a lot of flash, even with film), I’d grab one of these in a heartbeat.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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25 responses to “This tiny hotshoe mounted light meter helps you expose your old film cameras”
K1000 has light meter.
Agreed, it’s a somewhat poor example. It’s a good product for a 1960’s or prior fixed lens rangefinder, folding camera etc. I find these cameras can live a new life with a small accessory meter.
Charlie Jackson
We’ve got a bunch of old cameras. Olympus Trip 35 and XA2, Canon T70, Fujica ST605, Minolta AF7000, Pentax ME Super, etc.
None of these need a separate light meter.
my nikon fa light meter still works, and if not i have an old kodak wheel exposure chart
I have the K1000 plus the screw fit Spotmatic model and all the Assorted Lenses, along with a couple of 35mm Nikon’s , Minoltas and Canons, but tend to just use my two Digital Nikon’s and the Canon outfit !
Nobody’s impressed with your pile of equipment!
My first camera in 1976
Or you could just buy a Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate Light Meter that is in production right now for $220. The Sekonic is both a Incident and reflected whereas the Reveni is reflected light only.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1390250-REG/sekonic_401_305_l_308x_u_flashmate_light_meter.html/specs
There are a number of alternatives. The Flashmate is just one of a dizzying number of handheld options but that’s not what this product is. I think the Voigtlander VCII is a much closer comparison/competitor. It just matters, as you say, the type of reading you want to take, how you want it displayed and what type of camera you’re, in this case, mounting the meter to. This new meter has several advantages to what’s currently on the market. One being it’s size, making it fit more easily on cameras that the VCII does not fit or or has to be adjusted to fit. Another being it’s EV range. And a third being that the read-out appears to be visible in the dark. Then there’s price. It’s just under $100 USD!
Everything you say is true. The reason I suggested a handheld meter is that it does a lot more than a hot shoe meter does but of course it does not mount on a camera and is a lot larger.
I shot with an Argus C3 Rangefinder, and got good results just using a free light meter app on my phone.
Nothing’s really for free, is it?
I don’t need the features in the paid version, there’s no apps, so it’s good enough for me.
The price tag o the mechanical cameras with no lightmeter or broken now is lower..so it’s a good ideea with this lightmeter. Opens a new door to new customers, rebalance the market a bit.
you can install a lightmeter app on you’re phone ?
You can use phone camera too ?
Sure, you can also guess exposure or use a dedicated handheld spotmeter or any number of options. However, there aren’t many meters that you can clip onto the camera on the market anymore and has never been one quite like this. Additionally, phone calls and text messages won’t interrupt this light meter! ;)
problem solved :-))
The camera in the photo, the Pentax K-1000, had an espectacular light meter. I clearly remember letting the needle set in center point always giving you perfect expensure.
Still got my Pentax ME Super with extras. Probably will not use it ever again!
a google a bit, if it use a BH1750FVI sensor it will read form -1EV ( a lunasix start from -8EV)
It is not water or splash proof…
Looks like a great product that really fills a hole in the market; clearly evidenced by it’s having surpassed the target funding already. The cosmetics are a bit rough but the functionality and price point seem competitive enough to eclipse that. And who knows, maybe a nicer case could be offered in the future?
Love this idea!