The 8 Best Color meters For Photography (2023 reviews)

The U light meter from sekonic is a compact tool for metering both ambient and flash lighting as well as working in video with dedicated cine and hd cine modes. It is used for lighting and snhu. The faux leather pouch is decent and protects the unit when not in use, but there's not enough room to fit the lanyard, so it sticks out of the pouch. It works great for a beginner without the extra features to confuse you when you’re just starting out.

A spot meter will let you essentially aim the meter at different areas in a landscape, say, and save the reading. It is perfect for dslr and mirrorless videographers who need to take exposure readings and control light using shutter speeds and frame rates. It is nice that it comes with a protective case and a string to carry it around with. The size and ease of use and carry if this meter makes it a good choice.

Why We Like This:

Perfect light meter for flash photography
Affordable light meter for beginner photographers
Very accurate, and a nice refinement on the camera's meter in difficult lighting situations
Definitely an affordable tool for your kit

Best For grow room: Drmeter Digital Meter

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We know from years of feedback from readers, customers and amazon sellers, what most people want in a convenient and appropriate meter. The drmeter digital meter is exactly that - it's a simple meter that hits all the right notes. This is an illuminance meter used for measuring the amount of light in various rooms of a building or house per code. It has a cover for the sensor, comes with batteries, and the included booklet outlines how to use it. It's also made of a durable plastic. The orange wrapper around the unit is actually a removable case, much like one would use on an iPhone.

It has a wide range of intensity, which is handy. It is very consistent in taking measurements. The display is big enough. It's great for using as a tool to measure for building codes and relative lighting abilities.

Why We Like This:

Made of lower quality materials, but does the job
Comes in a nice case for storage and transport
Helps to find out how far away they should be from the plants

Best For film: URCERI Color Meter For Photography

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The urceri color meter for photography should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This digital light meter does a great job of measuring incident light between. It measures luminosity from 0 to 200, 000 lux and ambient temperature. With no battery, it's a brick that exposes film to light by purely mechanical means. It measures lux, which are lumens/sq cm. The readout automatically displays the exact number.

There's a major difference between lumens and lux, and this meter only measures lux, not lumens/sq cm. It is a tool that allows you to explore the intensity of light in 3 dimensions. It has a wide range of applications including but not limited to use in school, factories, warehouses, office or home for any photography projects, set and scenic design, and more.

Why We Like This:

Sweet addition and supplementation to knowledge and great for examples
Keeps the canopy happy and getting the most lumens available
Delivers what they promise

Best For money: BTMETER Color Meter For Photography

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Next on the list, we've got yet another meter that manages to win our hearts. It's the btmeter color meter for photography and it's widely considered as meter that has the most suitable features. This is just a basic light meter but is useful. It measures mostly green wave length that the human eye can see. It can take accurate lumens reading for led lights, grow lights, and sun light. It comes with a zippered fabric storage bag for you to measure the light level around, in your green house, bedroom, and outdoor activities.

The light sensor can be rotated 270o, so you don’t need to turn around the light meter to measure luminosity intensity from different angles. This meter measures accurately up to well beyond 10000 lux which is a damaging level.

Why We Like This:

Good for measuring low light levels
Recommended indoor lighting levels range from around 100 to 1000 lux
Easy to set up and use
Accurate easy readings and great customer service

Best For All Light types: Drmeter Color Meter For Photography

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The drmeter color meter for photography's superior materials makes sure that it ages well with use. It works at so many different levels. If you are looking to answer the question of whether your environment is low light or medium light or whatever for the purpose of plants, this is great. It's a simple light meter. The light meter also has a sensor that turns all around to measure from different angles. It is used to compare tv brightness.

The meter measures the light level and returns values of x1, x10 and x100 lumens. If you know the best lumen value for your plants you can use this to adjust the lights. It is easy to read even under bright light lights.

Why We Like This:

Pressure sodium lights, guaranteeing the perfect luminosity every time
Easy to use and comes with a case
One of the new comers and featured product

Best For film camera: Sekonic Compact Ambient backup Meter

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If you often find yourself scrambling for appropriate and satisfactory meter, sekonic compact ambient backup meter should be your first option for buying. This meter is perfect for use with those cameras. It is a nice, old-fashioned analog exposure meter. It mounts atop the hot shoe so you don't have it dangling around your neck, slapping into everything. The dial indicates all matching shutter speeds / apertures at once without wasting power to draw a LCD / color display / etc. It comes with a rubber ring that will add enough grip to keep the meter solidly attached to your camera.

It's quite small and light weight. It's very light and compact and comes with a hot-shoe attachment, carrying case and lanyard and is capable of testing direct or indirect light and switches back and forth between modes quite easily. The second meter is MUCH more accurate and consistant.

Why We Like This:

Light weight light meter compact, and very useful for beginner, maybe professional photographers
Great value for a light meter
Very flexible, and extremely good value

Best For grow Light: Smartsensor Color Meter For Photography

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Not everyone likes to purchase meter for their regular usage, but the smartsensor color meter for photography would be an anomoly. This low cost light and temperature meter in both FC and Lux, F/C is simple to use gets the job done. It measures light as perceived by the human eye. It can be used in scenic design, research teaching, metallurgy building, industry inspection as well as agriculture researching and illumination control.

The Lux meter has its own temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the environment in real time. It fits hand perfectly, providing a comfortable grip feeling. It is beneficial to multi-directional detection. It comes with a large LCD display and backlight, so it’s much easier to read the data.

Why We Like This:

Must have for distancing lights from plant canopy
Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For cinematography: H HOLDPEAK Color Meter For Photography

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We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention h holdpeak color meter for photography for daily purpose. The temperature measuring feature only applies to ambient temperature and has nothing to do with the amount of heat hitting a surface as well as light. Comparing the charts and adjusting for film speeds can help you create your own EV scale based on relative LUX levels which does not change the requirement to measure light reaching the lens not just falling on a surface.

This unit makes it easy to determine whether an LED source provides the same approximate brightness as an incandescent source, ignoring the differential that is introduced by the fact that the two sources likely have different color temperatures. The sensor has a "lens cap" as well to protect it from dust and moisture. The light sensor can be swiveled so that it can point where you want it while reading the display.

It comes with two batteries and a little screwdriver to unlock the battery compartment, plus a decent carrying case and adequate instructions.

Why We Like This: