A nice looking little meter. It looks well thought out. A few points to note. 1. If you're going to be testing a meter, you should be using slide film. 2. I would never use a phone app meter for anything. I've tested pretty much all of them thru the years and have yet to find one that gives accurate or even consistent readings. 3. Interior light varies a lot in intensity depending on where you're looking. Natural light outdoors is much more even. Continuous readings allow you to see how much variation you have in the scene. 4. The one drawback I see is that the display is on the top. This will wash out in sunlight, making it difficult to read. This is also why you found it necessay to lock the display. If the display were on the back (like Reveni) you can see it in direct sun and don't need to tilt it to read the display. It is nice to see more film gear being made, though.
Thanks, Greg; good review as always. I purchased the KEKS for my rangefinder 35 about a year ago, to avoid having to carry a large meter with my compact kit. It costs about 25% more than the XH-2 (perhaps more by now), but it does default to single, rather than continuous, reading, and the display stays on for about 14 seconds. I've used it fairly little, and I've gotten so used to using a spot meter that it takes some adjustment to use 30-degree average metering.
The positive thing is that they have finally developed a body projected forward and not to the sides, like the previous ones, which interfered with the controls of some cameras placed very close to the flash shoe (e.g. Leica III, etc.)
I've just bought a TTArtisan meter which works in a very different and more traditional way in that you turn aperture and shutter speed dials until the green LED lights up. However in many ways it's similar to yours, even including the packaging, and gives the impression of being designed and made by the same people, just under a different brand name. Mine works well although it does have a claimed angle of 45 degrees rather than your 30. I might buy one of these as well to see whether I prefer it.
I’ve bought the first version, it worked well for a few months but the button got stuck. I tried many ways to contact the company to try to fix it or exchange it but not a single reply.
Sometimes my Minolta spot meter and even the Gossen Digisix are too big and unwieldy or I'm too lazy. Up until now I had used a light meter from Doomo. Similar to TT-Artisan. With 2 adjustment wheels and variable positioning of the mount. It bothers me that these adjustment wheels protrude a little and are therefore too easy to adjust. The alternative should be the light meter from ReflxLab. The build quality is, well, in need of improvement. What bothers me about the XH2 is that it protrudes so far at the back. It cannot be used on a Leica, for example. The lock function makes little sense for photography. It slows things down and increases the error rate. I'll keep looking.
I'm surprised the phone got it wrong (I'm going to assume its the apps' fault). Maybe its time for a shootout between the apps to see what one is the best 😮
Love the T-shirt.
A nice looking little meter. It looks well thought out. A few points to note.
1. If you're going to be testing a meter, you should be using slide film.
2. I would never use a phone app meter for anything. I've tested pretty much all of them thru the years and have yet to find one that gives accurate or even consistent readings.
3. Interior light varies a lot in intensity depending on where you're looking. Natural light outdoors is much more even. Continuous readings allow you to see how much variation you have in the scene.
4. The one drawback I see is that the display is on the top. This will wash out in sunlight, making it difficult to read. This is also why you found it necessay to lock the display. If the display were on the back (like Reveni) you can see it in direct sun and don't need to tilt it to read the display.
It is nice to see more film gear being made, though.
A good honest review. Thanks, Naked Guy.
Thanks, Greg; good review as always. I purchased the KEKS for my rangefinder 35 about a year ago, to avoid having to carry a large meter with my compact kit. It costs about 25% more than the XH-2 (perhaps more by now), but it does default to single, rather than continuous, reading, and the display stays on for about 14 seconds. I've used it fairly little, and I've gotten so used to using a spot meter that it takes some adjustment to use 30-degree average metering.
The positive thing is that they have finally developed a body projected forward and not to the sides, like the previous ones, which interfered with the controls of some cameras placed very close to the flash shoe (e.g. Leica III, etc.)
I've just bought a TTArtisan meter which works in a very different and more traditional way in that you turn aperture and shutter speed dials until the green LED lights up. However in many ways it's similar to yours, even including the packaging, and gives the impression of being designed and made by the same people, just under a different brand name.
Mine works well although it does have a claimed angle of 45 degrees rather than your 30.
I might buy one of these as well to see whether I prefer it.
I’ve bought the first version, it worked well for a few months but the button got stuck. I tried many ways to contact the company to try to fix it or exchange it but not a single reply.
Sometimes my Minolta spot meter and even the Gossen Digisix are too big and unwieldy or I'm too lazy. Up until now I had used a light meter from Doomo. Similar to TT-Artisan. With 2 adjustment wheels and variable positioning of the mount. It bothers me that these adjustment wheels protrude a little and are therefore too easy to adjust. The alternative should be the light meter from ReflxLab. The build quality is, well, in need of improvement. What bothers me about the XH2 is that it protrudes so far at the back. It cannot be used on a Leica, for example. The lock function makes little sense for photography. It slows things down and increases the error rate. I'll keep looking.
I'm surprised the phone got it wrong (I'm going to assume its the apps' fault). Maybe its time for a shootout between the apps to see what one is the best 😮
Great video. But I used this small light meter and it never worked properly-waste of money. Thank you.