Review: The TTArtisan light meter
The TTArtisan meter mounted on a Pentax Spotmatic F SLR
If you’re into film photography like me, you most likely have at least one vintage camera that either doesn’t have a built-in light meter, or it has one that doesn’t work properly. The two 1970s era SLRs I have—a Pentax Spotmatic F and a Minolta SRT200—both still have working light meters, but they’re wildly inaccurate. In the digital age we’re so used to our cameras automatically choosing exposure, and being generally very good at it, that when we first get into fully mechanical film cameras it can be quite a shock to realize that not only is Manual the only mode available, we have to figure out the right exposure ourselves, too. Of course there’s the Sunny 16 rule, and depending on the type of film stock you use, guessing wrong by a stop here and there isn’t detrimental to the exposure. But if you’ve ever shot on a partly cloudy day when the sun keeps appearing and disappearing, it can be tough keeping the numbers straight in your head. Also, I like having an objective measurement to confirm my guesstimate, especially when getting into “shady 8” territory.
The case for reflective meters
I had a leg up when I started in film because I had already purchased a very nice external light meter, the Sekonic 308, in order to pass my Certified Professional Photographer exam. Its “killer app” feature is that it’s an incident meter, meaning it lets you measure the light falling on a subject rather than the light reflecting off it. That’s really great for portrait photography, where you can get close to your subject, but it’s not optimal for street photography, where you can be standing in a shady spot and taking a picture of a distant subject that’s lit up by the sun, or vice versa. My Sekonic does have a reflective light mode—the mode predominantly used by built-in camera meters—but it has a very wide field of view so it can’t do precise spot metering. Nevertheless it was helpful to take along when shooting film because at least it could give me a baseline measurement in various sunny or shady spots.
Another downside of the Sekonic—a great meter though it is—is that it’s a separate device hanging from my neck. Also, it’s digital so there are several buttons to push before getting an exposure readout. So when I saw the TTArtisan light meter advertised, I was intrigued: it perfectly mirrors the control dials on my vintage film cameras, and it sits conveniently on top. At $62 (about a quarter of what I paid for the Sekonic) I thought it was worth trying. Since most of my cameras have silver bodies, I wanted the silver meter, but it was backordered. I ordered it anyway, but after two weeks I got tired of waiting and ordered the black one instead. It arrived about a week later.
The first thing I noticed is how tiny this thing is. It also feels really solidly built, being of mostly metal construction. I’m glad I decided to get the black one; not only does it look really cool, but according to some reviews the numbers on the silver model were hard to read.
The TTArtisan meter is tiny and all metal except for the hot shoe connector.
Batteries not included
I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that this meter does not come with a battery! And no, it’s doesn’t take a standard AAA, it’s way too small for that. It requires a CR2032 button battery which, while not difficult to find at your local Walmart, is definitely not the kind of item most people have lying in their junk drawer. But I’m not most people, and I happened to have a 12-pack I’d bought at Costco a few months earlier.
Installing the battery was, to say the least, a frustrating experience. TTArtisan helpfully ships a small screwdriver in the box—in fact it’s so tiny that I’m sure to lose it before the next battery replacement is due. Taking the battery cover off is not difficult, but not losing the minuscule screw and washer that hold it in place is another story. It would have been nice if it had been one of those screws that stays attached to the cover, but no. It comes right out and I highly recommend you do this on a smooth, level surface, away from any shag carpets. After seating the battery, it took me an inordinate amount of time to get that little screw back in. (Note to self: since I’m sure to lose the included screwdriver, I might as well buy a magnetic one so I can get the screw in faster next time.) Thank goodness TTArtisan promises 60 hours of continuous metering on a single battery so I won’t have to go through this very often!
Calling all rangefinders
The TTArtisan meter attaches to the camera’s hot- or cold shoe, as the case may be (there are zero contacts on the mount and it’s just a way to attach the meter to the camera). Some people have complained that it’s either too tight a fit (making it difficult to get it in all the way) or too loose (creating a risk of the meter falling out during use). It’s true that different cameras can have minor variations in the size of the hot shoe, although thankfully those on my SLRs are a good fit. I don’t think this is something to fret about; if absolutely necessary you could file down the plastic mount on the meter enough for it to fit in a too-tight hot shoe, or add some material to keep it from sliding out of a loose one.
An important thing to mention is that this device is really made for rangefinder cameras (it’s an almost exact copy of the Voigtlander light meter that is specifically designed for Leica rangefinders and sells for around $200). Why is this important? Because rangefinders have flat top plates, and there is plenty of space in front of the hot shoe for the meter to hang over. Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras, on the other hand, have a prism that usually sits in front of the hot shoe, and depending on how tall that prism is, it might keep the TTArtisan meter from being fully seated. I measured it before buying this meter, and the prism doesn’t stick out over the top of the hot shoe on either my Pentax Spotmatic F or my Minolta SRT200, but there isn’t much margin for error. Your mileage may vary.
Another sign that this meter was designed for rangefinders is that the mount is offset to one side, so it’s not centered over the hot shoe. It’s not the greatest look for an SLR, but it doesn’t bother me much.
Dials, dials, dials
I do love me some dials. It’s one of the reasons I moved away from Nikon and embraced Fuji. It’s also why I love shooting with all-mechanical film cameras. No LCD screens to squint at or menus to navigate just to take a picture. What you see is what you get.
I love that the TTArtisan meter follows the exact same paradigm as the cameras it’s most likely to be mounted on. Other than the f-stop, which is a dial instead of a ring on the lens, it looks almost exactly like the controls on my SLRs, even down to the ISO showing through a little window. It’s extremely intuitive and a breeze to operate. But I do have a few minor quibbles.
First of all, only one of the dials—the shutter speed—has clicks. The f-stop dial is “declicked”, meaning it smoothly rotates to any setting in between stops with no clicks. That may be a nice feature on a lens (especially for video use), but I really wish I could simply count clicks by touch from one stop to the next. Instead I have to peer at the small numbers and line them up exactly the way I want them. There are two redeeming factors: (a) the dots between the numbers indicate half stops, and (b) rotation is smooth and fairly stiff, so the f-stop can be dialed in with some precision and is unlikely to be nudged off the selected value.
The ISO dial (which is integrated in and flush with the f-stop dial) also moves continuously, which makes a bit more sense as this setting on most film cameras is clickless as well. Sadly there is no locking mechanism as on most cameras, so it could get changed accidentally while moving the f-stop dial. I have not had a problem with it, but I can see how people with larger fingers might have an issue.
Thankfully the shutter speed dial is nice and clicky. This suits my style of photography, as I’m a big fan of aperture priority shooting. I mean, there are occasions where shutter speed is important, especially in low light situations, but for daylight street photography I tend to set my aperture to f/8 on full-frame cameras and f/5.6 on crop sensor cameras. This gives me a wide depth of field while still creating a little softness on very close or very distant subjects.
Before shooting with the TTArtisan meter on top of my SLR, I made sure the correct film speed was showing in the window on the left dial, turned it to f/8 (matching the aperture on my lens), and never touched that dial again the entire outing. Right before taking each shot, I pressed the button on the meter and clicked around with the right dial until the LEDs indicated correct exposure. Then all I had to do was note the shutter speed on the meter and select the same speed on my camera. Two seconds is all it took.
Reading exposure
As the above diagram from the manual shows, there are only 3 LEDs on the device to indicate exposure: a red minus sign, a green circle, and a red plus sign. Checking exposure is extremely simple and intuitive: just the minus/plus sign lit up means the scene is underexposed/overexposed by more than 1 stop; both minus/plus and circle lit up means it’s underexposed/overexposed by up to a stop; and a green circle by itself means exposure is right on the money. In my experience shooting in aperture priority, it’s actually pretty rare for just the green circle to light up—most of the time it’s either under- or overexposed by up to a stop depending on where you set the shutter speed (which only moves in whole stops). Since film is pretty tolerant to overexposure but shadows are difficult to recover, I usually prefer slightly overexposing the shot over slightly underexposing it.
How accurate is the TTArtisan? I’ll let you know as soon as I get my first roll developed. However, I can tell you that in predicable light situations it seemed to match the Sunny 16 rule quite well. It’s important to remember that although it’s easier, faster and more accurate than my Sekonic light meter in reflective mode (which casts too wide a visual net to be useful for diversely lit scenes), it still is no spot meter; according to the manual, it uses average metering over a measuring angle of approximately 45º. Still, having it pointed in the same direction as the lens is a big help.
Conclusion
For a very reasonable price, the TTArtisan meter has made my outdoor film shooting experience much more enjoyable. I’m no longer constantly guessing whether it’s f/8 cloudy or f/5.6 cloudy, and I don’t have to bring the large-ish Sekonic dangling from my neck to life for every shot. The fact that the meter dials are on the same visual plane as the camera dials makes it almost impossible to miss a setting, and taking a reading and adjusting exposure accordingly is quick and intuitive. Needless to say, this little device has earned a permanent spot in my film bag, and it doesn’t look half bad mounted on my camera.
I just have to make sure to keep a CR2032 battery and a magnetic precision screwdriver on hand for when it runs out of juice.
