A camera light meter with built-in rangefinder released – ingenious idea or total gimmick?

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This light meter allows you to measure light and distance so you can exposure and focus your images more accurately when using older cameras

Chinotechs LD Meter
(Image credit: Chinotechs)

Camera accessory manufacturer Chi (Chinotechs) has released a light meter with a built-in rangefinder laser. Not so snappily dubbed the Light & Distance Automatically Meter (LD Meter for short), this clever-sounding accessory is designed to help you expose and focus more accurately.

None of the best light meters include a laser rangefinder and while it might sound like a gimmick to digital photographers, anyone using old film cameras will know that distance can come in very handy when focusing, especially if your viewfinder has degraded over time or you're shooting in low light, meaning the Chi LD Meter has the potential to be a very useful little accessory indeed.

(Image credit: Chinotechs / Digital Camera World)

The light meter measures reflected light, and uses aperture priority and shutter priority metering modes. It has a 30-degree light receiving angle and the dot-sight boasts a focus distance of 0.1-50m, which can be set to m/ft. A small 0.96-in LCD screen displays the shutter speed (1/8000-60 seconds), aperture (f/1-64), distance, ISO (3-8000) and exposure value (1-22).

A switch toggles the dot sight on/off, so the device can be used to meter light and measure distance or simply meter light. A USB-C port is used to charge the device, which is powered by a 370mAh Lithium Battery and has a standby time of 90 days.

Two peripherals are available for the LD Meter, the Magnetic Sight and Red Dot Sight. These are designed to help target subjects, which could come in handy when the laser point is too far away to see – or for framing with a long telephoto lens.

The device measures just 36x32x20mm (roughly 1.4x1.3x0.8in) and the coldshoe mount position can be adjusted, presumably to make it easier to line up the rangefinder with your camera's film.

The LD Meter is available in Frosted Silver or Frosted Black. The LD Meter Pro has 7-degree light control and is priced at $139. The LD Meter Lite has 30-degree light control and is priced at $119. The Red Dot Sight and Magnetic Sight are priced at $60 and $30 respectively.

If you're looking for a light meter to complement your precious film camera, you might also be interested in the best film cameras or the best film for 35mm cameras.

Mike Harris
Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...