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Thread: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

  1. #1
    Grego
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    Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I've read all the many posts. Still am leaning towards the Pentax Spot meter because of its simplicity. Not sure I need all the features on the Gossen Starlite.

    I already have a Gossen Luna Pro, but it only has a 5 degree spot.

    I'm an experienced photog, but new to LF. Is there any helpful/important feature I lose by getting the Pentax Spot instead of the Gossen Starlite? Also, I don't believe the zone wheel is available from Calumet.

    Thankee

  2. #2

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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Liscio View Post
    I've read all the many posts. Still am leaning towards the Pentax Spot meter because of its simplicity. Not sure I need all the features on the Gossen Starlite.

    I already have a Gossen Luna Pro, but it only has a 5 degree spot.

    I'm an experienced photog, but new to LF. Is there any helpful/important feature I lose by getting the Pentax Spot instead of the Gossen Starlite? Also, I don't believe the zone wheel is available from Calumet.

    Thankee
    Greg,

    I'm a big fan of the Pentax digital spot meter... it doesn't matter whether it's the analog or digital version. They're both great meters and will serve you well.

    I also have a Luna Pro with the spot attachment but it stays home much of the time.

    As for the Zone scale... one of the members here on the forum has them on his website but I can't seem to locate the url at the moment.

    Cheers
    Life in the fast lane!

  3. #3

    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    The Gossen will give you a flash meter if you need one for other photography. The incident reading is also convenient, but you can just spot meter a gray card if you want.

    Unless you need the flash meter, the Pentax would be my recommendation.

    -A

  4. #4
    Convert to LF
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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    Go for the Pentax spot meter 1 degree and a gray card. Better spend your time on framing and focussing than fiddling with buttons.
    Serge

  5. #5

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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I am a tech geek, but opted for the Pentax. Works beautifully for zone system stuff - there are lots of places to get the little zone strip to tape to the meter. No flash metering, no low light metering, and no incident metering when that is the best choice. Also no multiple ISOs for different films.

    If you are a B&W photographer who shoots one film and uses the zone system, it is hard to beat. The only thing that would be better is if it were wind up so you would not need a battery.:-) The only thing I have missed (I have a separate flash meter) is low light. I would like to get down to at least -5 EV, but the Starlight does not do any better in spot mode.

  6. #6
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    Tim from Missouri
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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I use both the Luna Pro and the Analog Pentax spot meters as well as a Soligor Analog Spot meter. The two spot meters work extremely well and match perfectly, so if I'm in a dicey situation, the inexpensive Soligor goes in the bag in case something happens.

    The Luna pro is reserved almost totally for incident readings. It is dead accurate on reflected readings, but the fact that so many "zones" are included makes me lean toward the spot meters for anything other than incident situations.

    All three have been calibrated to match so I never need to worry about switching from one to another as far as matching exposure readings.
    "One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg

  7. #7
    Big Negs Rock!
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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I have 2 Minolta Spot Meter Fs that I love dearly, unfortunately Minolta no longer make meters. :-( Now I'm leaning toward the Sekonic combo meter, although it reads the gray card as 12.5% instead of 18%. Another interpolation. :-( I'm going to keep the Minolta's running as long as I can.
    Mark Woods

    Large Format B&W
    Cinematography Mentor at the American Film Institute
    Past President of the Pasadena Society of Artists
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    www.markwoods.com

  8. #8

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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I agree with the others on the simplicity of the Pentax meter (I have both the analog and digital models), especially if you use the Zone System. I'd like to have the Sekonic's illuminated readouts when shooting in dim light, but I've found that meter extremely cumbersome to use with the Zone System. YMMV, of course.

    Incidentally, the Sekonic does not read a gray card as 12.5%. Despite popular myth, the Sekonic's reflected-light calibration constant of 12.5 has nothing whatsoever to do with reflectance. For comparison, the calibration constant for the Pentax is 14, a difference of 1/6 step, which would not be a factor in determining whether I would choose it.

  9. #9
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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I forgot to mention that Calumet still offers the Zone VI conversion for the Pentax spot meter (or at least they did six months ago when I asked). If I remember correctly, this service is about $180.00 and allegedly resets the meter so that it "reads" all color tones in terms of accurate reflected gray scale zones.

    I haven't yet noticed enough exposure variations when metering different colors to make a difference, but the old Zone VI literature claimed that this would increase accuracy to a very important degree.

    Tim
    "One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude." Carl Sandburg

  10. #10
    Big Negs Rock!
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    Re: Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

    I had the Hollywood Sekonic representative tell my American Film Institute class that on spot mode the meter responds at 12.5% to an 18% gray card. On incident mode it reads 18%. I dunno what to say. He was in my class and said the above when confronted by my class. Take it for what it's worth.
    Mark Woods

    Large Format B&W
    Cinematography Mentor at the American Film Institute
    Past President of the Pasadena Society of Artists
    Director of Photography
    Pasadena, CA
    www.markwoods.com

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