spot meters

[Barry Fisher]

I have been advised to use a spot meter for my LF photography, the trouble is, which one.
Can any one recommend one.

[IanG]

Depends whether you want new or second hand,

I've had a analog Pentax Spotmeter V for about 25 years, it's a great meter very quick and easy to use but a bit beaten up now, still accurate though, they can sometimes be found for about £100-£120 in good condition. I've also got a Capital II (Soligor) just as accurate but the switch is a touch faulty. They can be found for £60-£80 but no spare parts are available any longer. (I kept one meter in the UK the otherhere in Turkey),

More recently I've stated using a Minolta Spotmeter F, which I bought via this forum last year, great meter has the advantage of working with flash as well, these tend to sell for quite a bit more.

Of the three the Pentax was the best as I had a home made Zone scale on the calculator dial, now after 25+ years those considerations are second nature. Should add I also have two Gossen Luna Pro's and the 7°/15° spot attachment and they are equally as good

I've not really kept up with newer meters but the Kenko? (formerly Minolta) and Gossen & Sekonic meters are excellent but not cheap.

Ian

[dave_whatever]

I've got a kenko 2100, same as the old minolta vi. Its great and has a shit load of complicated features none of which get in the way of normal use. Its fairly light and compact too. Its pocketable and being a vaguely oblong shape is easy to pack. The only thing i could fault it on is the memory button could be better placed but thats a minor quibble.

I breifly used a pentax V, this was great and very simple with its intuative analogue display, probably superior to modern meters in that respect. The downside being its massive and an awkward shape to pack, looks like a 1950s hairdryer. Having said that, had both the ones i bought from dealers not had weird cine scales on i'd probably still be using one now.

I also had a soligor/capital type digital very fleetingly. Seemed fine though probably more prone to misreading when pointing into light, i.e.flare. Get one if the price is right.

[Collas]

I bought my Pentax Spotmeter V back in 1983 and it's still going strong. A slight scratch from when I was attacked by some bees from a wild swarm, and a replacement circuit board back in the 1990s. I also have the Digital version, and whilst it's smaller, I still prefer the analogue needle to the digital blobs - it's just easier to see where the needle is lying against the scale and make your decision for the exposure. I've added paper scales to both for Zone System metering. I'm quite happy to use both.
I tried a Minolta meter, and still have a Polaris kicking around, which I must get around to selling. The Minolta I didn't like as I couldn't use it as easily as the two Pentax models for determining Zone System settings. Oh, and I have a Voigtländer VCII meter mounted to the top of my M3.

Nick

[Paul Mitchell]

I first started with the Sekonic 508 which is an excellent meter to begin with and still use it on a regular basis with MF. Last year I managed to obtain a mint Pentax Zone VI modified digital spotmeter for my LF, it took some getting used to but have found it to be far more accurate.

[Trevor Crone]

Up until a few ago I used a Pentax Spotmeter V, great, robust reliable, however I sold it when I purchased their digital version solely because it is smaller and is easier to read in low light situations. Would certainly not hesitate to recommend either. I also attached a zone scale to both.

[George Hart]

Can any one recommend one.

Yes, I suggest that you look around for a second-hand Pentax digital spotmeter. Ian has written about the Minolta Spotmeter F, which I can vouch for from personal experience. It's great. Unfortunately mine died after a dip in Buttermere, which wrecked the electronics. My only gripe with this unit was that you have to push a not very ergonomic switch to turn it on and off, whereas with the Pentax unit all you do is press the lever, and you have the reading. The readings of this unit under widely different conditions were very close to those of the Pentax meter.

I advise caution about modern Sekonic "spot" meters, one model of which I tried. On comparative testing with the Pentax meter, it was badly affected by flare. I sent it back to RW, much to their chagrin.

Starting out in LF made me use a spotmeter for the first time, and this in turn made me develop a "proofing time" for printing negatives, see Simmons' book Using the View Camera p 87. It can be a pivotal experience.

George

[jennym]

I also find a Pentax digital spotmeter very simple and easy to use. I had a minolta spotmeter F which was fine, but more complicated. I liked the Pentax so much when I bought it that I snapped up a secondhand one as a spare!

[Adrian Brewster]

Hi
Sekonic dual spot F L-778 works wonders for me. No longer made but go for about £200 on ebay.
Adrian

[Marizu]

I use a couple.

I use a Spiratone SP-II which is a 1 degree digital spot meter. This is really easy as you just press the trigger and scan the scene. The numbers change as you scan the scene so it is easy to determine where the darkest and the lightest areas are. You can see the values without removing the meter from your eye. For continuously lit images this is the easiest meter for me to use.

I also use a Sekonic l508 Zoom. This meter is a little harder to use because you have to look for the darkest area of the scene and then meter that. When you press the button, it makes a single (not continuous) reading. In order to see the reading, you need to remove the meter from your eye as the display is on the front. The darkest area of a scene is not always easy to determine if the scene contains a lot of different colours.
The Sekonic is also an incident, flash meter and a flash spot meter which can be handy at times if you work with strobe lighting.

[Georges Giralt]

Hello !
Depends if you own or plan to own only one or if it will be an addition to your kit.
If this would be the only meter you own, buy a Sekonic or Kenko or the like able to measure continuous light and and flash. It's a one time buy if you buy a good quality one.
If you already have a very good meter, you can buy a simple spot-meter like the Pentax digital spot-meter which is still manufactured (but may be not available in Europe). Very good meter easy to handle, use a battery easy to find (some of the old Capital, Minolta or Soligor use mercury batteries not made any more...)
I own a Pentax I bought new a couple of years ago, it is perfect for the job and easy to handle. Simple to use and clear.

[IanG]

I think the Spiratone SP-II is the Soligor meter sold as a Capital II in the UK.

In the UK a strobe is not normal a photographic electronic flash, it's a Stroboscope which is designed to flash repeatedly at intervals which can be varied to give flashes per second/minute etc and even controlled by the beat of music They can be used for photographs but power is usually relatively low, great for moving dance sequences etc.

Ian

I use a couple.

I use a Spiratone SP-II which is a 1 degree digital spot meter. This is really easy as you just press the trigger and scan the scene. The numbers change as you scan the scene so it is easy to determine where the darkest and the lightest areas are. You can see the values without removing the meter from your eye. For continuously lit images this is the easiest meter for me to use.

I also use a Sekonic l508 Zoom. This meter is a little harder to use because you have to look for the darkest area of the scene and then meter that. When you press the button, it makes a single (not continuous) reading. In order to see the reading, you need to remove the meter from your eye as the display is on the front. The darkest area of a scene is not always easy to determine if the scene contains a lot of different colours.
The Sekonic is also an incident, flash meter and a flash spot meter which can be handy at times if you work with strobe lighting.

[Marizu]

In the UK a strobe is not normal a photographic electronic flash, it's a Stroboscope which is designed to flash repeatedly at intervals which can be varied to give flashes per second/minute etc

I'm in Manchester, UK, but I did mean that I sometimes use the Sekonic L508 Zoom for checking shadow/highlight placement when using electronic flash

[timparkin]

The simplicity of the Pentax (and the ability to use a zone style sticker to ituitively place tones) makes it, or similar EV based mechanical calculator style meters, a necessity. I would happily use a digital soligor though, which work out a darn sight cheaper. Using an EV style meter (LV actually) you start to recognise light levels within a stop and can easily guess quite a lot of exposures enough for neg (and I'd be happy to risk a guessed shot in transparency I think).

Tim

[Adrian Twiss]

I use a Sekonic L608 and have a Sekonic L488 as a back up. The L608 has a lot of bells and whistles which I will probably not use. However it has two things going for it. Firstly the aiming reticle is brighter and secondly the range of shutter speeds includes those speeds that appear on older compur shutters such as 1/5 and 1/10 of a second. The 488 only displays the modern shutter speeds.