Comments on this light meter - Spectra

[butterfly]

Hi folks,

I need a new light meter and would have probably gone for a Gossen, but a friend of my son who works on film sets mentioned these:

http://www.clubfree.com/spectra/spec_p4a.htm

What interested me was that they say this light meter is calibrated for the spectral response of film, as opposed to the human eye. I've never heard this statement before. Are most meters calibrated to the eye then?

Basic question then, is this a unique and advantageous feature?

It's also a great price compared to say a Pentax digital spot or Gossen. Would I be better saving my pennies for a Pentax?

Thoughts appreciated.

Steve

[Kino]

Great cine meter, no doubt, but is it appropriate for your shooting style?

Cine-style metering is largely tied to a different methodology; incident type readings taken directly around the subject to adjust lighting to a set number of footcandles on key, fill and kick angles.

If you are doing primarily studio work, I'd say it would be great!

Zone or landscape? Not a good choice. Could you make t work? Yes, you can make about any light meter work, but it probably will be a huge compromise for anything other than totally controlled lighting situations..

Just my opinion...

[Don Dudenbostel]

Spectra makes great meters but there's a big difference in the Pentax and the Spectra. The spectra is incident (light measured falling on the subject) and the pentax is a 1 degree spot (measures 1 degree of light reflecting off the subject). I used a combi 500 many years when doing 35mm motion picture work. IMO there's really no big advantage in Specra over Minolta or Sekonic. I work with a number of cine guys from time to time and none of them use Specra. Most now use a Sekonic combination spot / incident meter with perfectly good results. I too have a pair of Minolta incident / flash meters and a combination 1 degree spot / incident / flash 558 Sekonic which is my favorite.

[Hollis]

just get a sekonic, then you can have both spot and incident.

[Pat Kearns]

Sekonic also has corded electronic flash measurement capabilities. Unless I've overlooked it, I don't see it on the spectra.