First Impressions: Gossen DigiSix Exposure Meter

For me, this little gem is not so much an exposure meter as it is a Photographer’s Swiss Army Knife. In addition to being a compact exposure meter, it also includes a clock, alarm, countdown timer and thermometer.


The countdown timer is particularly handy for time exposures, such as pinhole. The best feature is that even without taking readings, you can still use it to calculate EV/ISO/Exposure values, making it a learning tool as well. If you set it to ISO 100, the digital display reads LV in 1/3 increments so you can really get a feel for how light levels vary in the real world. It’s simplicity itself.

This is really an updated version of the classic Weston Master II meter, except that it reads directly in EV units. It has a single dial which you set to the EV, and then read all the possible combinations of shutter speed and aperture directly. It takes both reflected light and incident light readings, and has a 1/4-20 thread for mounting an available hot shoe bracket. It’s so tiny and lightweight, you can mount it directly to your camera for reflected light readings, or park it there in between incident light readings.

This will be a huge aid to me in working with manual focus AI-S lenses, and with the Holga 120WPC.