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Thread: Spot meter costs - OUCH!

  1. #1

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    Been looking for a Zone VI spot meter - OUCH! Them danged things is EXPENSIVE!

    Do ya really have to shell out $300 to $700 U.S. for a spot meter?

    Watchin fer used stuff . . .

    Donno if I want to do Zone VI $700 worth!!??

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    1,545

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    I appreciate your "sticker shock". There are other meters and even other methods of metering. I own a Zone VI modified Pentax digital and I also own a 25 year old Quantum incident meter (cost less then $100 when new). I use the Quantum incident meter exclusively today. I have found that the BTZS and the use of an incident meter is a lot less hassle then all of the spot meter zone placement techique of the Zone System.

    Good luck in your photography.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    No, you don't. Thousands of people are using unmodified meters and doing fine with them. Buy a used Pentax analog meter, do your testing, and away you go.

  4. #4
    tim atherton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 1998
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    3,697

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    just keep looking - I got my Penatx V analogue meter used for $100 a couple of years ago - never really seen the need for the modified version (I basically guess the exposure half the time anyway)

    tim
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  5. #5
    Octogenarian
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    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    Keep your eyes open for a Minolta Spotmeter F. A good used one can be found for about $200, or less. Great meter for the price. Uses only one inexpensive AA battery. It is a compact size, accurate, and simple to operate.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Colorado Springs
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    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    Rather than shell out $$$$ for a separate spot meter, I bought a used 5-degree spot adapter for my Minolta Flashmeter IV. It works fine for me. Spent less than $50 on it. A 1-degree would be better, but for the money, it's a good compromise.

  7. #7

    Join Date
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    1,794

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    Or buy a cheap 35mm camera with spotmetering and stick a long enough lens on it so it's 1degree. Seems most weeks you can get a setup like this on Ebay for not much more then $50. It's a lot bigger then just a meter. You may even already have a 35mm with spotmeter now. In which case the added cost is zero.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    538

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    In my highly opinionated opinion, some folks attempt to use the zone system to photograph scenes which are impossibly (read: poorly) lit. They go to excruciating lengths to spot-meter every square inch of the scene, making copious notes for later super-heroic development antics.

    I was taught still photography in 1960's Hollywood, by old-timers who were heavily influenced by the lighting and metering techniques of cinematography. A universal right of passage was the acquisition of the ubiquitous Spectra 500 incident meter.

    If you work outdoors at the same altitude and latitude, in the same weather conditions and time of day, you can make absolutely breathtaking photographs with a simple incident meter like the Sekonic L-398M Studio Deluxe II, currently available from B&H for $161. And after a few hundred sheets of film you won’t even need that.

    If, on the other hand, you insist on making photographs of a white bride standing out in full July sun at high noon in Arizona, while simultaneously carrying shadow detail in a black cat hiding under a nearby parked automobile, you probably will benefit from a whole suitcase full of expensive equipment.

    My short answer to your question is that you might not actually require a Zone VI spotmeter.

  9. #9

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    Camera fairs can be great places to pick up second hand gear at great prices. As long as you're not too hasty to walk past that old, funky light meter, you might something that works for you. I scored an old Sekonic spot meter, it worked great, has a huge dial on the side that lets me see what I would need for any possible light-time combo and only cost $35. Some may say it's an old, crappy meter, but for the results I get and for the cost, I couldn't beat it.

    Plus, it's put a smile on my face a few times when running into photogs who can only tote "the latest and greatest" when I tell them that the money I saved on the meter paid for the whole photo trip...

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Posts
    35

    Spot meter costs - OUCH!

    John,

    Best answer I've read in a long time!

    The minolta F is a great deal, you should be able to find one for under $200.

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