Spotmeter's - your opinions?

[Steve Bell]

I'm currently using a Gossen Sixtomat Digital incidence meter, and have eventually got fed up with too many poorly exposed sheets of film. Most of the time its OK, but not always suitable.

I'm going to buy a used or new spotmeter. I'd be very interested in hearing what others use and their opinion of their meter before I choose.

[Joanna Carter]

Hi Steve

Well, I use a Minolta Flashmeter VI. Why? Because it has a feature that allows me to dial in the latitude of a given film and take either a shadow, highlight or average reading and be able to see where subsequent readings fall. When taking landscape with a bright sky, this means that I take a shadow reading, set the latitude from there, which gives me the average reading, and then all I have to do is to take another reading for the sky and I can instantly see how many stops of ND grad to use. However, Minolta have now stopped making these, so finding one could be tricky, although I have seen one in Calumet.

If you do lots of B&W, I've heard folks say that the Pentax Spotmeter with the added Zone system scale is a good choice.

The Sekonic 558 seems to be popular; Helen has one and, as am I, she is still struggling to use it correctly However that could be because we need someone to teach us the fundamentals of metering

[Chong]

Hi Steve,
I know the feeling. I wasted 6 - 7 sheets of 8x10 Fuji Velvia due to bad meter reading on a trip to Malham. Very p....d o....f with myself and the meter for a total wasted trip and films. That was with an incidence meter.

Since switching to Minolta Spotmeter F I have more success rate and learn to trust the meter more. It is by far the most accurate meter I have owned. I got it very cheap on the Big E (the person probably did not know what s/he had). Prior to that I owned same spotmeter without the flash function and was accurate too. Reason for switching was the oppurtunity arised and also the F uses AA battery while the M uses a more expensive breed.

Regards

Chong

[DJ]

I have a Sekonic L608 and I think it's great, but I have no real basis for comparison, as it's the only one I've ever owned

I switch it to EV mode and take readings of shadow and highlight to work out the exposure latitude in stops, and work out how far back I have to drag the highlights with an ND.

It also has a nice "averaging" function whereby you can take up to ( I think ) 9 readings and it will average them for you and give back a reading for the whole scene, though I don't really use this.

By far the most useful feature, at least for me, is the exposure compensation function. You can dial in compensation in 0.1 stop increments. You set your main film speed with the first ISO button, and with the second ISO button, you can dial in exposure compensation. I first dial in any filter compensation, then you could put in bellows extension compensation ( though I rarely have to do this ) and then ( with a sample reading ) any reciprocity compensation. I then take my main reading and press the second ISO button to instantly show my adjusted exposure time. This allows you to work quickly in changing light.

[Charles Twist]

I don't have a broad experience of light meters so can only talk about mine. I have a Sekonic 508 (made by Nikon) which I really like. It has a raft of functions. It can do spot as well as incidence metering. It can store three readings in memory plus show a fourth reading. All four appear on a handy aperture scale at the bottom of the LCD screen. So it is possible to look at the metering for shadows, average and neutral plus a point of particular interest on a single screen. You can then work out the best exposure, ND grad, etc for your needs. The Sekonic can also average several readings for you. You can set the meter to half or third stops. You have the choice of aperture or exposure priority. And other functions I now forget. And importantly for bad weather enthusiasts, it is water-proof. It strikes me this meter shouldn't devalue too quickly.
Charles

[Paul Sanders]

I went for the Sekonic 558 about 230 pounds from Whites at the minute (i only know this because my old one is now at the bottom of the Beachy Head cliff!)

Has a 6 reading memory 2 ISO setting so you can dial in you regualr filter factors spot and Incident as well as flash metering - musty admit I love it.

It does take some gettinmg used to but lie you I got fed up with my incident only meter and made the change and have never looked back.

[Tim Myers]

A second vote for the Sekonic L-608 here - the second ISO function is very useful, as is the averaging function, as is the meter readout in the spotmeter finder.

[David Rees]

I use a Pentax Spotmeter V -- with zone system scale attached to the dial, so I can instantly see into what zone different readings fall (as per the illustration on p68 of "The Negative" by Ansel Adams). As Joanna says, this is very useful for B&W, but still useful for film stocks with less dynamic range too.

Other than the ability to make spot meter readings, this meter has no other functions -- which from my point of view, is a good thing, since simple is best when I'm trying to work out the exposure. I've used it for many years, for MF and now LF, and find it amazingly good. Wish I could say the same about my photos -- but at least the exposure is usually OK...

David.

[Paul Sanders]

I just read my entry back and my fingers must be so fat! Apologies for the terrible spelling.

[Paul Sanders]

just in case you are not watching other discussions Joanna posted this link earlier http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZduras47 there is a spotmeter on it for 21 quid!

[Steve Bell]

Thanks for all your comments. Looking at new and used the options appear to be maybe a used Minolta spotmeter F or a Pentax digital spotmeter. If going for a new one, the Sekonic 558 or Gossen Starlite, both similar in price. Paul, you got a bargain from Robert White, the Sekonic 558 is currently around £300 with VAT from them. I've heard very little about the Gossen Starlite though. Another more economical spotmeter that often appears used is the Soligor, anyone heard anything good or bad about these?

[gari]

Goota second the Pentax V, I have one and find it is really accurate (assuming both batteries are ok!) what more do you need?
I have been meaning to put a scale on the thing for a while, but, well you know...
gari

[Paul Sanders]

Just by putting Soligor Spot meter in Google should put you off, check out the comments - most seem to think it a waste of money. Buy a reputable one and you will be fine.

If you like I will ask some of the people I work with to see if they have a spot meter they aren't using anymore to see if they would part with it?

[Apple]

Steve,

I have a Gossen Starlite but it stays at home, virtually unused. I bought it years ago for the in-built Zone System calculator and the ability to do the three main areas of incident / reflected and flash readings. This was to be used in my normal haunts of churches but I found that the low light reading was useless and I had to point it at highlights and take many readings to "wake it up" before I got a sensible reading - hardly much use

It went back for repair early on in it's life for a cracked display and the battery cover is very flimsy - leaving the battery in means it will be flat if it gets infrequent use as there's a small but constant power drain to remember the settings.

The only success I've had with it was at a club portrait night and the flash measurement was fine once you got it into the correct metering mode.

Following my woes with the Starlite, I bought a Pentax Digital Spotmeter and haven't looked back. Yes, it's basic and doesn't do flash (you can replicate incident with a grey card if you're desperate) and all you've got for compensation factors is altering the ISO rating.

I bought a couple of the Zone VI stickers from B&H and have used these with decent sucess. I stuck them on, just leaving a fraction of the IRE scale showing which I use for colour slide work. It may not be technical like some people use but AFAIR it's a 5-stop range and placing the highlights / shadows is easy. The reading is displayed in the viewfinder so it's easy to scan round a scene without having to take your eye away to look at the side of the meter like on some of the all-singing versions (although the later Sekonics have now caught up with an internal dsplay.)

For working out the contrast range of a scene, is subtracting one number from another (between roughly 0 and 20) that difficult? The display is in third stops which match most modern Copal shutters (Compurs are 1/2 stops?)

For a no-frills meter, they are hard to beat if you don't need flash measurement. Type "Paul Butzi" and "Pentax" into Google etc as he's done various reviews. There's also a Zone VI modified version of which there's been much debate over the years as to whether the modification is worth the extra money (I haven't tried one to find out probably as it goes against my Yorkshire roots when I found out the price for this country - AFAIR Calumet still sells them but it may be from their US website)

As for battery life, I haven't replaced the one supplied with the meter yet and it's probably five years old now.

Hope some of this helps...

Andrew

[BarryWilkinson]

I agree with Andrews comments on the Pentax Spotmeter. If you don't require flash metering it is ideal. It is also small compared to most. I also have a Sekonic L-778, does everything, very nice, but too big to slip in your pocket.

Barry