The 7 Best Flash meters (2023 reviews)
We consider a flash meter to be a worthy investment in the long run.
We are here to help you choose the right one for your purposes from all the best available products in market today.
Our review process:
Our Top Picks:
Best Overall: Buy: URCERI Flash Meter READ REVIEWBest For medium format: Buy: Sekonic Light Meter READ REVIEWBest With pocketwizard Digital radio Receivers: Buy: Boxparadise Flash Meter READ REVIEWBest For cinematography: Buy: Sekonic Flash Meter READ REVIEWBest With spot Meter: Buy: Kenko Light Meter READ REVIEWBest For Photography: Buy: Kenko Flash Meter READ REVIEWBest For The money: Buy: Polaris Flash Meter READ REVIEWBest Overall: URCERI Flash Meter
Buy on Amazon Here, we present meter that manages to win our hearts. It's the urceri flash meter and it's widely considered as one of all-around great meter you can buy. This meter measures lux which directly translates into lumens if the area is one square meter. It is used to measure lux on the surface of the water from light fixtures. With no battery, it's a brick that exposes film to light by purely mechanical means. It takes about 30 minutes for the temperature sensor to adjust to the room temp. It is easy to use and helpful in setting lighting ratios. The display is backlit with a black background, so the numerals are pretty easy to see and read.Why We Like This:
- Keeps the canopy happy and getting the most lumens available
- Sweet addition and supplementation to knowledge and great for examples
- Great tool, in many examples, easy to use
Best For medium format: Sekonic Light Meter
Buy on Amazon We would, of course, be remiss if we didn't mention sekonic light meter for daily purpose. If you are looking to even just "dabble" in portrait photography, this is a good investment. This light meter allows you to read reflected light, good for landscape photography or reflective one dimensional subjects as well as ambient light aka available light, used for 3 dimensional subjects like buildings, cars and people. It is made with a synch cord or cordlessly at shutter speeds from 30 minutes to 1/1000 second. It will also measure ambient and set up your percentage of artificial to ambient. There are three flash measuring modes, with sub-options for multiple measurements. The wireless transmitter allows great metering for flash when used with a pocket wizard. This model can also support an optional module that will fire strobes/flashes connected to PocketWizards. It is easy to use meter with great build quality.Why We Like This:
- Works very well for measuring light
- Consistent readings, well built, easy to use although has many advanced features
- Recognizes the flash, resets the previous measurement, and displays the new measurement
- Easy to use and yes for setting up shots this helps a lot
Best With pocketwizard Digital radio Receivers: Boxparadise Flash Meter
Buy on Amazon Not everyone likes to purchase meter for their regular usage, but the boxparadise flash meter would be an anomoly. Along with features such as foot-candles and lux readings in addition to cine shutter speeds, the L-608 Super Zoom Master is the most versatile light meter in the industry. It offers ambient and flash metering modes, flash/ambient analyzing and aperture priority memory capability. It incorporates a parallax-free Zoom Spot finder with a digital display. It provides both hemispherical and narrow angle readings. It is quick and easy with the built-in jog wheel. It is compatible with pocketwizard digital radio receivers, which eliminates the need for an additional external transmitter at the meter's position.Why We Like This:
- Simultaneous display of flash, ambient and combined readings on the analog display
- Lot of satisfied buyers
Best For cinematography: Sekonic Flash Meter
Buy on Amazon The sekonic flash meter's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. It works well and will serve all ambient (incident and reflected) and flash light (cordless and cord) needs. Photo mode allows for still shooting with aperture and shutter priority, cine mode lets you select frame rates between 8-128 fps, and HD Cine mode is perfect for shooting with dslr or mirrorless cameras. It provides incident light readings for nearly foolproof exposure readings and enables lighting that scene before talent arrives. It is easy to use light meter. There is also an HD Cine mode for use with DSLR and digital video cameras.Why We Like This:
- Great addition to photography equipment roster
- Delivers what they promise
Best With spot Meter: Kenko Light Meter
Buy on Amazon Compared with other meter in this category, the kenko light meter has a convenient design. This is one of those digital gadgets that has six buttons that do about 20 different things. It is very handy in scenes where a flash is being used to "open up" a shadowed area left by ambient (natural) light. This meter has both ambient and flash modes, covering just about any lighting. It even has cine function for movie cameras. The Spec light meter will give years of service to professional and advanced hobbyist photographers. It has a simple design with three buttons. It comes with a shutter speed range of 1/8000 seconds to 30 minutes, this meter is quite sensitive. It has two readings stored, so it will delete the oldest reading to store the current information.Why We Like This:
- Very useful for studio flash photography
- Good brand reputation
Best For Photography: Kenko Flash Meter
Buy on Amazon The kenko flash meter is capable of outshining several other meter featured in this list in overall features for the price point. It's a fantastic do-all meter. It is incredibly easy to use and has the best of both ambient and spot meters in one portable package without needed attachments. It's a 1-degree spot and nicely customizable and easy to change on the fly.Why We Like This:
- Good investment for long term
- Delivers what they promise
Best For The money: Polaris Flash Meter
Buy on Amazon Polaris offers a variety of meter for personal choice and yet maintaining quality in all the variants. While others enjoy lugging around hefty and heavy equipment, this meter will contribute very little weight and occupy modest space in your already massive camera bag. It measures the f number according to the speed that is usual in a study with controlled lights. It can be used for light measurements direct and reflected. PC terminal circuitry automatically compensates for flash units with reversed polarity. It is less than 1-inch thick and weighs just 4 oz. It includes a neck strap and fitted case. Its design is very comfortable.Why We Like This:
- Controls and display are intuitive, easily accessible and well thought out
- Readings from all the different modes are accurate compared to other exposure meters
- One of the new comers and featured product