The 10 Best Light source meters (2023 reviews)

We consider a light source meter to be a worthy investment in the long run. We are here to help you choose the right one for your needs from all the best available products in market today.

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Our Top Picks:

Best Overall: Buy: Sekonic Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For film: Buy: URCERI Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For money: Buy: BTMETER Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For available Light Photography: Buy: Leaton Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best With calibration certificate: Buy: Extech Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For Android: Buy: unit Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best With remote Sensor: Buy: Hydrofarm Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For Light bulb: Buy: AOPUTTRIVER Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For Iphone: Buy: Vabira Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best For plant: Buy: Waporich Light source Meter READ REVIEW

Best Overall: Sekonic Light source Meter

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The 308 series is the most popular budget meter for good reason. It has a cine mode (frames per second), plus footcandles and lux if that is what the video can be set to. It has a wide meter range.

This meter works with " all light", and it is a light meter. It has a wider flash measurement Range of one stop. It's very light weight and plastic construction. It's nice that it comes with a protective case and a string to carry it around with. It has a wide metering range.

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

Best For film: URCERI Light source 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 urceri light source meter is exactly that - it's a simple meter that hits all the right notes. It is used for all kinds of things. The light meter covers a measuring range up to 200, 000 lux with highly accurate results. It measures lux, which are lumens/sq cm. The sensor is the white circular area at the top of the meter, usually covered by a black cover. The display is backlit with a black background, so the numerals are pretty easy to see and read. It is easy to use and helpful in setting lighting ratios. It's light lumens but this could be used for all kinds of things.

• Keeps the canopy happy and getting the most lumens available
• New and hot release

Best For money: BTMETER Light source Meter

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Btmeter line of meter come in a pretty wide variety of styles, so you can definitely find one that suits your individual preferences and needs. This is just a basic light meter but is useful. The 881 series lux meter can only display the light quantity in Lux and feet, as well as ambient temperature. It measures lux but does give a good indication of the light intensity. It comes with a zippered fabric storage bag for you to measure the light level around, in your green house, bedroom, and outdoor activities.

This light meter features MAX/MIN function, so it can log the maximum and minimum lumen. It is good for comparing different brands of LED's. It is most of the time at 128k bit encoded to facilitate the file transfer.

• 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 available Light Photography: Leaton Light source Meter

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The leaton light source meter is suitable and reliable and fits well with your daily usage. There are many modes for this lux meter, including a mode that only outputs on its display the largest measurement taken, a mode that only outputs the lowest measurement taken, and a mode that holds the current measurement on screen. It also makes it lousy for measuring aquarium/ grow lights, since plants use mostly blue and red, while lux measures mostly green.

This item works well for comparing the relative brightness of different sources of light. It furnishes readings in either LUX or foot candles, the standard units for measuring light levels. It provides easy to read values of light levels. When the lux meter is first turned on, it is set automatically to auto mode, where it automatically sets the range, and multiplier for the measurements. The digital light meter will allow you to measure the lighting in an area.

• Lightweight, portable, easy to used and works as expected
• Very useful for maximizing lux to plant canopies and inexpensive too
• Good investment for long term

Best With calibration certificate: Extech Light source Meter

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The extech light source meter should be able to handle its purpose and duties with ease. This is a 5-star instrument, brilliantly designed and easy to use. It only measures Foot Candles and LUX so you need a different meter to measure color temperature. It works in many applications and does display in either one. The backlit screen is very helpful when trying to take readings in low light levels. The unit has been working great for several weekends of hiking, and does correctly identify shade/sun conditions.

This is an easy-to-use light meter with excellent accuracy and precision. It allows the user to quickly read and interpret data right on the meter. It does a great job measuring lux or foot-candles, but it's not a replacement for a photographer's light meter that helps with shutter speed and f-stop settings. There is a release button for the battery compartment, like a locking mechanism.

• Measures air velocity, air flow, humidity, temperature and light
• Has a tight-fitting cap that is used for zeroing
• Solid light meter, higher quality than the average light meter

Best For Android: unit Light source Meter

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The unit light source meter is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily usage. It measures light intensity and display results in units of lux or fc. It can be used in lightening enterprise, agriculture and animal husbandry, mining enterprise, laboratory, office, household, street lights construction, camera & studios, photography, etc. It runs on 3 AAA batteries (included), and you do not need a screwdriver to change the batteries. It measures lux differently so it needs to be compared to a real par meter.

It is easy to operate via the silicone buttons. There's an on/off button, another to change the units, a super useful hold button and another for measure max/min readings. It is also a perfect tool for verifying light intensity of therapy lights.

• Compact (2” wide, 1-1/8” thick and 6-1/4” tall ) and weighs just 3.8 ounces
• A surprisingly handy tool to have around
• Easy to use and comes with batteries
• Backlight, works instantly, simple to use

Best With remote Sensor: Hydrofarm Light source Meter

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Hydrofarm has been making great meter for years, thanks to a combination of clever design and appropriate materials. It measures grow lights or sunlight. It has a convenient hand-held remote sensor. The meter is fully cosine corrected for the angular incidence of light, meaning that if you are not holding the sensor perfectly perpendicular to the light source, the sensor will still read the light correctly.

The meter’s built-in low battery indicator means you’ll never be caught by surprise by a low-power product. It is stable and made of a long-life silicon photo diode. It includes informative booklet with lighting recommendations.

• Measures up to 40, 000 footcandles
• Lot of satisfied buyers

Best For Light bulb: AOPUTTRIVER Light source Meter

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The aoputtriver light source meter is satisfactory and appropriate and fits well with your daily purpose. The light meter is used to measure light levels in the environments where live plants are installed in offices, shopping malls, hotels and other business premises. It measures ANY light output, just be aware that measuring "Lumens" requires special conditions and equipment (555nM spectral center, Integrating Sphere, etc) that are not commonly used. The device measures the light intensity in LUX units at the sensor location from the light source. It comes with a soft case that is fine.

For determining straight up light lumens within an area, this works well. It is perfect for comparing RELATIVE brightness of various lights but is not a photographic f-stop type measuring device. There is a simple conversion method that gives a very rough estimate of par, using lumens. It comes with a range of 300, 000 lux.

• Has a backlight for low-light use
• Excellent switch actuation, and good lcd resolution
• Nice little light meter for the farm
• Great for measuring relative brightness of light sources

Best For Iphone: Vabira Light source Meter

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Compared with other meter in this category, the vabira light source meter has a convenient design. The app is easy to install and with a few clicks it is connected to the app. It measures almost 3" x 3" and.75" high, with auto off or side mounted on/off button. It includes a waterproof resealable clear pouch. The app can control more than one sensor puck. The light meter can test the kelvin (CCT) range up past. It can see the data directly even if the lux is higher than 200, 000lx when using the light meter. It is good for designers, lighting repairmen, car light inspectors, photographers.

• Made temperature balancing easy for a terrarium
• New and hot release

Best For plant: Waporich Light source Meter

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The waporich light source meter's material feels more premium than its price would suggest. It is a professional and cost effective light meter for everyday use. It comes with a led backlight for reading even in dark environments, and a cool case to protect the probe from dust drops when not in use. It will be the largest light meter for everyday use. It provides a data source for your data analysis.

It is easy to use, the light meter sensor can be rotated 270 degrees. It has a cool case included, suitable for measurements in offices, schools, factories, etc. You can better analyse the light intensity of your surroundings, suitable for indoor and outdoor use, gardens, aquariums, plants, schools, offices, led lights.

• Lot of satisfied buyers
• One of the new comers and featured product