The smallest meter in the Gossen range. Powered by a selenium photo cell, the PILOT 2 does not require a battery!
Both measuring modes are provided: reflected and incident light (sliding roller bl...
Summary Very small with hardshell case & lanyard. Both incident and reflected readings accurate. A great batteyrless meter. Why buy big, new and expensive? These are
available (used) all the time online for a song. I'll use it mainly in incident mode, so
it's a bargain for that use.
Strengths No battery, very small, accurate (enough) and will get you into tripod range with
its EV 5-17 range (f2 @ 1/8 sec.). Has a zero adjust screw also.
Weaknesses No flash reading, but don't need it anyway. Probably not a main meter for a pro, but
great for us amateurs.
Reviewed by Austin Moore
, Intermediate
, from New York
Price Paid $85.00
at Adorama
Photography Experience 6-10 years
, Fine Art
Summary This is on kick ass light meter. I would recomend the light meter to anyone who is just starting out. It weights next to nothing and its super compact.
Strengths Small size and the hard shell case. (If yours didn't come with a hard shell case like mine did i sugest that you order it from Bogen) Great value at only $85.00!
Weaknesses Its a little on the delicate side, so be careful. (The dials broke off once on me) (The Gossen Pilot is a much stronger meter if you can look for one of these first.)
Similar Products Used Gossen Pilot, Sekonic Studio Deluxe II
L-398M
Reviewed by George Doolittle
, Expert
, from Portland, OR
Price Paid $100.00
Photography Experience 21+ years
, Outdoor
Summary A real sleeper. I do a lot of travel photography and like to travel lightly. Also, a great companion for classic cameras without meters, some of which themselves are a joy to use such as M3 or 111G Leicas.
Strengths Tiny and light weight. Very accurate, both reflected and incident light.
Weaknesses Not for use in very low light situations.
Summary Shove the Pilot 2 into a small pocket, and you'll never be in doubt about exposure. Match it with an unmetered Nikon F or F2 for absolutely bombproof exposures in tough conditions. You may need a fancier meter (say, for flash work or automatic averaging), but you also need a Pilot 2 for back-up. Considering the price of many electronic meters that do little more than the Pilot 2, it's also a good value.
Strengths Tiny, tiny, tiny! Mine weighs less than 2 ounces by my postal scale, and about 3 oz. in the very sturdy, well-designed hard case. If you have it around your neck without the case, you will quite literally forget it's there.
Dead-on accurate. It matches my Minolta Flash Meter III.
No-nonsense, easy-to-use controls. It may be tiny, but you can manipulate the dial with gloved hands.
Can take both reflected and ambient measurements. Wow!
No battery? No problem!
Weaknesses Like other light meters of its type (using a light-sensitive array to transform light into electrical energy), its low-light performance is limited.
Similar Products Used Several ancient and no-longer functional Sekonics. A couple older Vivitar meters, but my main meter is either a Minolta Autometer IIIF of a Flash Meter III.
Reviewed by James Cameron
, Intermediate
, from Calgary, AB Canada
Photography Experience 21+ years
, Landscapes
Summary This little jewel may not have all the bells and whistles of the big boys but when space becomes an issue it's the one I take. Back-up batteries are not something I need to be packing into the Rockies! My Pentax KXs' work without batteries as well-should they fail. The Pilot 2 (Sixtino-2 here) is basic, easy to set, read and it's proved reliable over the past four years. The price has increased somewhat which keeps me from bumping it's value rating up to the top, even at it regular price of around $80.00US it's still a very good deal. Though I've ssen it on the used shelf for 35.00US-that's a bargin! It's not high tech....but then neither am I.
Strengths Weighs next to nothing at 1.5oz, no worries about dead batteries, demands little space in my bag. EAsy to operate-no nonsense readout!
Weaknesses None...Thought I'd lost it once only to find still around my neck! Maybe old age...more likely the thing is just so unobtrusive!
Similar Products Used Goosen LunaSix and Pentax Spotmeter.
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