Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Just when you thought a light meter was JUST a light meter!
If you want to get one, please buy with this affiliate link: amzn.to/4bSeM4Z
I'm not going to tell you the bonus feature here... you'll have to watch the video! But it does stand this light meter apart in a sea of similar models.
I don't currently use a camera-top, cold shoe light meter, mainly because so few of my cameras have cold shoes, or hot shoes, or any kind of shoes for that matter. But for 35mm cameras then a light meter that slips into the hot shoe is definitely a great option.
This AstrHori light meter feels solidly built, feels like a quality machined item. The meter readings I was getting from it were pretty accurate, you'll see from the video that the photos I took with it were generally properly exposed.
Any wide-angle reflected light meter (ie not a spot meter) is going to have the same drawback - it's giving you an average light measurement from pretty much everything in front of you. So unless you are facing a fairly uniformly-lit scene, something is going to take priority over something else, and what gets picked is not really in your control.
However... no light metering is perfect. And you're not always going to have a super accurate spot meter with you, and even more rarely will you have the time to actually make proper use of a spot meter like that.
What this AH-M1 does for you is it gives you a ball-park. You're still going to have to use your brain after it tells you what it thinks.
For example, if you're photographing a person in front of a bright sunny window, you'll know that the reading you're getting is primarily attempting to get the window exposed properly. So as long as you interpret what the meter says as a reading for the bright window, then you can extrapolate from there to take a punt at the right reading for the person.
Or... you can walk right up to the person, so that they fill the "metering angle" of the light meter, and then take that reading.
Either way, this light meter, and in fact no light meters anywhere, are a fire-and-forget, foolproof system.
What do you guys think? Would you use one of these?
What do you think of the bonus feature!! Let me know in the comments.
Link to PerGear here: pergear.com
Link to AstrHori here: https://www.astrhori.cn
And that discount code again here:
amazon.com/promocode/A3K6PEXDZ360M2
Code: 059HVEGA
Just when you thought a light meter was JUST a light meter!
If you want to get one, please buy with this affiliate link: amzn.to/4bSeM4Z
I'm not going to tell you the bonus feature here... you'll have to watch the video! But it does stand this light meter apart in a sea of similar models.
I don't currently use a camera-top, cold shoe light meter, mainly because so few of my cameras have cold shoes, or hot shoes, or any kind of shoes for that matter. But for 35mm cameras then a light meter that slips into the hot shoe is definitely a great option.
This AstrHori light meter feels solidly built, feels like a quality machined item. The meter readings I was getting from it were pretty accurate, you'll see from the video that the photos I took with it were generally properly exposed.
Any wide-angle reflected light meter (ie not a spot meter) is going to have the same drawback - it's giving you an average light measurement from pretty much everything in front of you. So unless you are facing a fairly uniformly-lit scene, something is going to take priority over something else, and what gets picked is not really in your control.
However... no light metering is perfect. And you're not always going to have a super accurate spot meter with you, and even more rarely will you have the time to actually make proper use of a spot meter like that.
What this AH-M1 does for you is it gives you a ball-park. You're still going to have to use your brain after it tells you what it thinks.
For example, if you're photographing a person in front of a bright sunny window, you'll know that the reading you're getting is primarily attempting to get the window exposed properly. So as long as you interpret what the meter says as a reading for the bright window, then you can extrapolate from there to take a punt at the right reading for the person.
Or... you can walk right up to the person, so that they fill the "metering angle" of the light meter, and then take that reading.
Either way, this light meter, and in fact no light meters anywhere, are a fire-and-forget, foolproof system.
What do you guys think? Would you use one of these?
What do you think of the bonus feature!! Let me know in the comments.
Link to PerGear here: pergear.com
Link to AstrHori here: https://www.astrhori.cn
And that discount code again here:
amazon.com/promocode/A3K6PEXDZ360M2
Code: 059HVEGA
