Astrhori XH-2 Shoe Mount Light Meter Mini-Review

Astrhori have today announced the new Astrhori XH-2 Shoe Mount Light Meter. I have had one on test for a few weeks now, and though it is in many ways very similar to the Astrhori AH-M1, there is enough about it for it to warrant its own mini-review.

Possibly the first and most important thing to note about this meter verses the their first meter is that this one arrived with me working perfectly. The AH-M1 came to me with a few mechanical issues that were worked out over a few iterations. In the end, I received a mechanically perfectly working meter, but it took a few goes. This one, as I say, came to me perfect. In fact, unlike the first meter which even in its last iteration to me had a small issue with the settings jumping around, this one functions pretty flawlessly too.

Design

The beady-eyed will notice the design has changed quite dramatically too. I wonder if the previous design and it’s similarity to others on the market maybe limited it’s appeal. There are a lot of other meters on the market that have something of a lego-brick shape and sit along the top of the camera. I have nothing against this at all, it’s certainly the most logical approach to the design, but it can be an issue for cameras that don’t have much space on top. Brands such as Reveni and more recently Keks have made smaller cube shaped meters, but both have smaller buttons and are arguably a little fiddly to use. Though, it is worth noting that Keks have recently updated their KM-Q with bigger buttons – review to follow shortly.

Astrhori have taken a slightly different approach. Instead of shrinking the XH-2 to a cube shape, they have extended it backwards. so instead of sitting along the top of the camera, it pokes off the back. The narrower width should allow it to be mounted on some cameras where size is an issue, but thanks to it remaining a little larger in terms of its depth, the controls havn’t been shrunk meaning it is no more fiddly to use. The foot mounting screws also have a few different mounting positions on the bottom of the meter so it can be mounted slightly off centre to either the left or right of its standard position which should also help to increase camera compatibility.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have any cameras where this shape is more appropriate to help demonstrate the point. In fact, I have very few meterless cameras with a accessory shoe at all. As such, I have mounted the meter on my M4-P, which might do more to demonstrate the oddness of the shape of this meter than anything else. On this camera, the meter does sit quite far back, and as such pokes off the back of the camera a bit. Thanks, I guess to the layout of the internal electronics, there’s no additional screw holes for mounting the foot further forward or back to alter this either. The result of this is a meter that can feel like it is trying to poke you in the forehead a bit, especially if you are a left-eye shooter (which I often am).

That said, despite this slightly odd mounting position, it actually doesn’t feel that awkward to use. With my hand on the camera as I would normally hold it, my thumb comfortably reaches and sits on the meter activation button. In fact, thanks to the slightly odd shape, I found it very easy for my thumb to find the button without having to take the camera away from my eye. The default functionality of the camera is a single click of of the button takes a reading and locks it in, so it easy to use to point the camera at the subject, and take a reading with the camera to the eye.

One thing that does feel like its missing from this design is an easy way to attach a neck strap. This slightly unusual shape feels like it lends itself nicely to being hung off the end of a strap.

Functionality

In terms of the functionality of the meter, it works exactly the same as the AH-M1, so if you would like a little more detail, have a read of the review of that meter here. In short though, there is one button and one dial. Various clicks and combinations of clicks – that admittedly take a little bit of remembering – allow you to navigate the menu and fairly seamlessly scroll through settings. Pleasingly, compared to the last AH-M1 I tried, this Astrhori XH-2 I have here scrolls through settings without jumping about.

Whilst, as mentioned, I would like to direct you to the AH-M1 review for more details, I think it is worth noting that what I see as the key selling point of the older meter remains. That being the ability to quickly and easily switch between single and constant readings. As I have said, I found it easy to take single reading with the camera to my eye, but having the ability to swap to constant readings still sits really well with me as a feature. Again though, a strap mount of some sort, and I would find this meter really very usable with it in constant metering mode hung around my neck…

Battery and Accuracy

As with the older meter, the new Astrhori XH-2 is powered by an inbuilt USB rechargeable battery. The copy I have here is also apparetly accurate too. Again, more notes/thoughts here.

Final thoughts

Despite the weird shape (when mounted on my M4-P) I like the Astrhori XH-2. It has the same features and functionality as their older meter, but at least in the case of the copy I have here actually works properly and did so first time round. I’m not sure its design perfectly lends itself to being mounted on cameras like my Leica, but I did make it work for me (regardless of the its proximity to my forehead), and I do think it will work very well on some cameras where mounting space is limited. I also think in that context, it is a nice effort at making a design that will fit on more different designs of camera, without just resorting to making it smaller and more fiddly to use. In a crowded market of shoe mount meters, it is nice to see a different approach to design. It’s just a shame they didn’t include a little hole for attaching a lanyard – that would’ve rounded it off nicely for me!

If you would like to read about more of the shoe mount light meters I have tried, you can find the ever-growing list here.
And if you would like to buy a Astrhori XH-2, by the time this article goes live, you should be able to find it listed on their website here (affiliate link)

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