Searching for a spot meter, on a budget.

[allie]

I'm looking to buy a spot meter--up until now I've either used my dSLR combined with an incident meter, or if I was lucky, borrowed one from a friend.

I'm on a pretty limited budget (I'm a student, and have just bought my first LF camera of my own), so the Pentax Digital Spotmeter is out of the running, sadly.

Right now, all my large format work is done at night, with color slide film--my exposures are usually between 15 seconds and several minutes. I understand the zone system, but don't really do zone placement with this kind of work.

I'm hoping not to spend more than $125 on this, and get something that takes modern batteries so I don't have to deal with any battery issues. Is there anything out there that will work with my budget?

[photog_ed]

I would shop for a Minolta Spotmeter M or F. The later ones take one AA cell.

[Argentum]

+1 for the Minolta with the caveat that it only meters down to EV1 so if you want something that meters in very dim light then its probably not what you want.

[Drew Wiley]

Just depends on your luck. I needed another backup Pentax Digital Spotmeter, while they can still be found. One turned up nearly unused for $200, and it read
perfectly compared to my other ones. My very first one is still accurate, but is literally taped together after forty years of hard use, and now consigned to my
Nikon snapshooting kit.

[Bill_1856]

Spotmeters ain't all they're cracked up to be.

[Drew Bedo]

You will get many recommendations here. Th talent pool is deep and the knowledgr base is wide.

Every decision involves weighing various trad-offs. When making your choice consider that you are looking for a precision instrument that you will use every time you set up your gear. I encourage you to get the best one you can buy. Save longer or forgo another piece of gear to do this.

[allie]

Spotmeters ain't all they're cracked up to be.

I understand, and I've made do without one for a very long time--I'm new to LF, but not to photography. My reasoning for wanting a spot meter now is that the subjects I am shooting are often at a decent distance away from me, and under completely different light (think buildings lit up at night, streetlamps, etc.) Sometimes I can run back and forth with my incident meter, but not always.

[seezee]

Allie, what is your target price for the meter? If you can spend $150+, look for a used Pentax Digital either here on the classifieds, over at APUG, or on the big auction site. Don't pay extra for a Zone VI-modified version, but do print and add a Zone VI sticker to it.

If $150 is too high, get the Minolta, or look for the analog version of the Pentax.

[Rael]

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...king-condition

[alexmuir]

I use a Capital digital spot meter, which I think is the same as the Soligor model. It uses a 9V alkaline cell which is very common. It reads a 1 degree spot via a 100mm lens, and has an adjustable eyepiece. It's not very fancy, but it's cheap and has been reliable for the 18 years I've had it. I've added a basic lens shade to reduce flare. You could probably find one for $50. It's the model SP II.
Alex.


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