choosing between Sekonic L-488 and Pentax Spotmeter V

[stradibarrius]

I have a good incident and reflective meter but i need a spotmeter. I have searched the web and read tons of reviews and these two meters keep coming up as great meters.
I can get the Sekonic for $135 or the Pentax for $165?

Experienced options would be appreciated.

[rdenney]

I have a good incident and reflective meter but i need a spotmeter. I have searched the web and read tons of reviews and these two meters keep coming up as great meters.
I can get the Sekonic for $135 or the Pentax for $165?

Experienced options would be appreciated.

I wrote a detailed review of the L-488 and directly compared it in use with a Spot V.

A prior thread on this very topic from a couple of months ago (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=79429)

Summary: Both are good choices, particularly if you want a calculation dial rather than an exposure settings readout. Thus, they are both quicker and more intuitive for typical Zone System calculations. The Pentax seems better made, but it's also bulkier and more expensive. The Sekonic is funky looking, but accurate and highly usable.

I'm still getting used to the Sekonic but I imagine I'll be using it more than the Pentax. At the prices you mentioned, I'd probably get the Sekonic.

Rick "who paid about the same for the Sekonic this year and more for the Pentax two dozen years ago" Denney

[Brian C. Miller]

I have a Spotmeter V and a Sekonic L-408 (not 488). The nice thing about the Pentax is that it has a dial on the side and I can just read the zones, etc. The L-408 can display multiple samples, and that mode has to be selected. The L-408 can also work with flash systems, and I use it with my Speedotrons. Honestly, I'd be really mopey if I didn't have either one of them.

[Heroique]

The first day I began using my Pentax digital (not V), its ergonomics and ease of use convinced me that I was holding a masterpiece of design and function.

I suspect the Pentax V would please me too, but I’d likely downgrade its ease of use from “masterpiece” to “excellent,” since I do a lot of zone readings.

For incident metering, I’m tempted to make similar claims about my tiny, single AA battery-powered Sekonic L-308s.

For me, the pair is a match made in heaven.

I’ve never been an “all-in-one” meter photographer. Three separate meters are best for me. The third being “Sunny-16.”

[stradibarrius]

Thanks for the feedback. I read your great review but I guess I missed the price part.

[rdenney]

Folks, the Sekonic L-488, unlike most other Sekonic meters, has a dial on the side. It will read in EV and you can put Zone markings on the dial just as with the Pentax. The dial is not as nice as the one on the Pentax, but the Sekonic meter works very, very well for quickly making several readings of the scene and then spreading those readings across a zone-marked dial. The Pentax Spot V and Digital work similarly, but other spot meters (e.g. my former Minolta Spot F and--based on pictures of one--the L-408) do not.

Rick "who owns other Sekonic meters, too" Denney

[Łukasz Owsianka]

None of them, only the Minolta Spot F is the way to go. One click and you got a perfect reading;)

[rdenney]

None of them, only the Minolta Spot F is the way to go. One click and you got a perfect reading;)

It depends on your concept of use. If you are metering from a gray card and are convinced that should always be exposed as middle gray, then maybe. I suspect you could get the same reading (or one just as useful) using an incident meter. But it seems to me the reason one uses a spot meter is to measure the highlights and the shadows to determine which compromise exposure will keep both within the usable range of the film, according to the objectives of the photographer at the time.

For making multiple readings that will be arranged across the range of the film, a meter that provides direct EV readings is easiest to use. If that meter also has a dial that is calibrated in Zones, those EV readings can be placed on Zone values and the exposure strategy can be seen directly.

I have owned a Minolta Spot F, and found it cumbersome to use generally and poorly suited to Zone-system concepts. I was always having to perform exposure addition and subtraction in my head, rather than just remembering three or four EV values.

The Minolta meter is a fine meter, but it assumes the photographer will learn and use its complicated software interface rather than the more direct approach that is possible with the Pentax meters and with the Sekonic L-488. As much as I used it, I could never get that interface under my fingers, and it never really supported what I wanted to do.

Rick "who used a Minolta Spot F for 10 years--a sufficient trial" Denney

[Geoffsco]

I've had a Sekonic 488 for a couple of years, and it has been fine. I always thought the main drawback was the build quality, which is a bit flimsy. Anyway, last weekend mine was sitting on my camera back, and fell onto a timber deck. It was not far, and the deck not especially hard, but it split right open, and is no longer!

Works fine, but requires a bit of care.

[rdenney]

I've had a Sekonic 488 for a couple of years, and it has been fine. I always thought the main drawback was the build quality, which is a bit flimsy. Anyway, last weekend mine was sitting on my camera back, and fell onto a timber deck. It was not far, and the deck not especially hard, but it split right open, and is no longer!

Works fine, but requires a bit of care.

Could you glue the plastic case back together?

My Minolta died horribly--folded in half in the mechanism of an RV slide-out. (My wife at the controls.) The circuit board was so broken up that I could not even attempt a repair. But just a broken case--that's fixable.

Rick "who agrees it's not as solidly built as more expensive alternatives" Denney

[Geoffsco]

Could you glue the plastic case back together?

Possibly, I have not had a chance to pull it apart at home, I couldn't fix it while I was out. The battery compartment has moved, one battery is now a couple off mm short of making a circuit, which with luck is the only problem.

[Bill Burk]

Did you ever get one or the other? I have the classic Spotmeter V and appreciate the way it decisively snaps the analog needle onto the reading. It makes "scanning" the scene for brightness range easy and dramatic.

But it weighs an entire pound. I'm a backpacker and invested in a Sekonic that weighs a half pound. I was upset that I had to accept an incident dome on top because it is wasted weight to me. But it is light enough and "compact" enough to make it into the field. The Spotmeter V stays home for "lab" work. This L-488 looks like it might be easy to slip into a pocket. You would never say that about the analog Pentax.

But you know you can use your reflective meter to do the Zone System. And you can use your Incident Meter to do "Beyond the Zone System" - so you don't really have to buy a spot meter.

[stradibarrius]

I have purchased the L-488 and it should get here tomorrow or thursday. I hope find having a spot meter to be a good purchase. My current meter is new and does great...but only does reflective or incident readings.