Pentax Digital Spotmeter ... lifetime ?

[Matus Kalisky]

Hello,

this meter keeps its vaule very well and is being produced at least 20 years. My question is - what is the liftime of such a device? What maintenence is needed (if some) - calibrations?

I might be thinking of getting one in the run of next few month and 250 euro (~ $320) is the very minimum. New goes for $450 in US and ~ 600 ! euro here in Germany.

So - how much sense it makes to pay $300 for a 10 - 20 years old one .. ?

And - is there any info on serial numbers versus age ?

thanks

[cyrus]

Wouldn't any spot meter give you a reading for middle gray Zone 5, then you can close up as necessary to place your shadows as needed?

I have seen talk about these being "modified" though - not sure what that does.

My Pentax spotmeter came with a handydandy zone sticker that is placed right next to the moving dials, which I suppose is nice to have to remember which way to turn the dials. Not sure if that's really worth the price. Then again, a new spotmeter isn't a heck of a lot cheaper either...

[Jack Flesher]

Wouldn't any spot meter give you a reading for middle gray Zone 5, then you can close up as necessary to place your shadows as needed?

They will, but the Pentax is somewhat unique in that it gives you a direct EV reading and the dial on the front does the basic initial calculation. This information is then converted to the exposure based on ISO you've set. However, with the zone tape on the dial, you effectively have ALL of your zone readouts directly on the meter with no need to calculate them in your head and moreover, ALL of your possible aperture and shutter speed exposure combinations are available directly as well.

Granted, almost any meter that generates direct EV readout can have a similar scale adapted to them, but all of the new style digital spot meters from Minolta, Sekonic or Gossen give you the direct exposure readout digitally, based on a chosen shutter speed or aperture, and you then have to convert to your desired zone mentally from that. In addition, you have to go into a menu to change the aperture for a direct reading for that aperture, or again, do the conversion mentally.

So in the end, I personally find the Pentax with hte zone scale THE most intuitive and easy meter to use in the field for LF, period. I have a sekonic do-it-all for the studio and it is great for flash metering -- and it is okay as a back-up to my Pentax in case it breaks, but the Pentax is king of the field IMO.

Now as to the OP's question -- I would not worry about life. The one I am using is at least 10 years old

My .02 only and respect others opinions may vary,

[eric black]

I wouldnt worry about any lifetime issues with the exception of the battery- if you get one of these meters, keep a spare battery on hand because when they run low on juice, they go fast and you wont get accurate readings. The indication the battery is low is flickering readings on the digital reading inside. It becomes expecially noticeable in cold weather conditions. I have had and used one of these spotmeters for 10 years with no percievable degradation in the quality or consistency of the readings and it is my favorite meter as well.

[Ralph Barker]

The expected life is partially dependent on what you do with the lanyard. My analog Pentax Spot only lasted about 3 weeks due to the lanyard not being properly "managed". (The meter ended up at the bottom of a ravine.)

[Bob Gentile]

Did you bother to read the manual, Ralph? There's an entire chapter on Lanyard Management with a special section on ravines.

[Peter Lewin]

Well, let's up the lifetime to at least 20 yrs, since I've had mine (one of the ZoneVI modified digital Pentaxes) since attending one of Fred Picker's workshops sometime in the 1980s. Still works perfectly.

[DavidFisk]

Did you bother to read the manual, Ralph? There's an entire chapter on Lanyard Management with a special section on ravines.

The latest version is updated to include a section on Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere ravines so you can calculate the Coriolis deflection factor.

[cyrus]

They will, but the Pentax is somewhat unique in that it gives you a direct EV reading and the dial on the front does the basic initial calculation.

Yes that does make it convenient> the older spotmeters (and even incident meters) all had this handy wheel that showed all the settings at once. the Soligor spot meters for exampe - and a lot cheaper.

I am still not sure what the Zone Modification did to these meters though.

[Jack Flesher]

I am still not sure what the Zone Modification did to these meters though.

IIRC, all the original Zone VI mod did was to alter the meter's spectral resonse to match that of B&W film. I happen to own one of each -- a Zone VI modified Pentax digital and a normal factory version. I have compared them on numerous occasions and at most, I see a 1/3 stop difference on some certain colors, usually high yellows and reds; clear blue sky reads the same on both as do most muted colors.

I suspect it's a benneficial mod if you shoot B&W and use the Zone or BTZ systems. Since the mod slightly over-meters high yellows, I use either for metering chrome without issue.

Cheers,