Zone VI modification worth the cost?

[Michael Kadillak]

Just called Paul at Calumet and he told me a couple of minutes ago that they are currently experiencing a back order for the Zone VI modified meters so that if you ordered one right now, it would not be available to ship to you until May 31st. I also asked him to talk directly to a supervisor and he also confirmed that as far as the supervisor knows, the unit is not being discontinued, it is just suffering from sales exceeding inventories and that has been the issue for a while. They confirmed that even at its high price ($580) is still a consistent seller and they are in the business of making money so why would they drop it? (Their words not mine).

I am only interested in facts and what I have come to collect as my experience Alec and I do my absolute best to maintain a positive contribution if and when I add a comment. The ability to ask questions is fundamental in collectively improving the knowledge base for everyone.

CHEERS!

[Tom Duffy]

Kevin, to answer your question vis-a-vis metering with the Zone VI with the red filter:

Empirically, I found my pictures using red, orange and yellow-green filter were under exposed by 2, 1 and 1.5 stops respectively. yellow meters accurately.

Also be aware that this meter will underexpose by about 1 when metering in tungsten light.

Still, I find this to be better than other meters I've used, in terms of accuracy and consistancy over the range. Other reflective meters I've used underexpose in tungsten light by at least 2 stops, for example.

[Ted Harris]

I started reading this thread and my eyebrows started going up, up, up. Then I panicked and thought ...... geeeeeez my Pentax Digital Spot has been going strong for some 10++ years but maybe I should buy a backup while I can still find them. So I did some research.



Got the same info that Michael got from my Calumet contact. Found out that they are in stock a couple of places where I shop. Called pentax and was told that they have jsut been listed in the newest catalogue. "Yes," Pentax service said there is a backorder to dealers now because of the huge demand for the meter and there is a large order on the way from Japan. Now, my ears do wiggle when I hear the words 'back order' but in this case I don't think l I am going to rush out and buy one just for a backup. At least now without a whole lot more info. In this day of products we all love being discontinued daily I hate to see false info out there on products that are still healthy!



Meanwhile, to (I hope) either firmly squash this rumor (or confirm it as fact) I have asked a friend of mine who has been the head of PMA's digital section to check. His reaction was that he had heard nothing to that effect in the pipeline, not even anything on them discontinuing the analog model. I will post whatever I get from him.



In the meantime Alec, do you have any more detail. Where you read it was discontinued, who told you about it, etc?

[Ron Bose]

I have a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that there's so much demand for the Zone VI modified Spotmeter.

I'm assuming that it's because LF is ALIVE AND KICKING, did you hear that Agfa and Kodak - ALIVE AND KICKING !!!!

[Henry Ambrose]

No one else wrote this so here goes- how about a combination meter that allows for incident and reflective readings and maybe even flash? Its nice to have choices sometimes and the longer you shoot the more I think you'll be likely to need other ways of metering. And I bet you will have this meter longer than you'll own some of your cameras and lenses, so spend what it takes to get a good one. FWIW, I like my Sekonic 508 quite a bit.

[Frank Petronio]

careful Ron - sometimes LF photography will kick you back!

[Robert Peterson]

It's an easy test to check your meter. As Fred Picker suggested, meter a number of different subjects, with and without filters, expose at zone 5. Process your film and proper proof. If they are all zone 5 your meter is fine. If not, you might consider the Zone VI meter. At the very least you'll know where you stand. My meter checked out fine and I can always retest if I notice a problem with my exposures. Saved money and know how my equipment works. Win win for me.

[Alec Jones]

My only info is observation - nobody has them - everybody says they will have them "soon". And, it has been that way for a while. I hope I'm wrong - too much good stuff has disappeared already. Somehow, I just got this feeling ..........

That's my 2¢ for now.

[Michael Kadillak]

Alec:

When you said in your previous post that the meter was discontinued, many including myself took you at face value. All we were trying to do was to get the facts and integrate this information within the context of this forum for all participants now and in the future.

To have arrive at this conclusion based upon extrapolation of bits and pieces of observational data and a "fear" component is a bit discerning. Opinions are widely diverse and are qualified as such. Facts are much more subjective and deserve validation. Hang in there. LF will be around for a long time.

Cheers!

[Bruce Watson]

Mark,

IMHO, the modification is well worth it. You are going to have enough learning curves to climb. Learning to compensate for an inconsistent meter doesn't need to be one of them. The whole point of the modification is to make the meter consistent so that you don't need to compensate for it. When you use it, you meter something and place it in a particular zone, it makes it through the process and end up on that zone -- regardless of its color, regardless of the lighting conditions. That's exactly what you want. At least, that's exactly what I want.

The other advice I've got is to buy the meter now. Don't beat your head against the wall trying to figure out how to get a TLR meter to give you useful results in LF. Painful. Inconsistent. Extra steps. It's just another bunch of pitfals you would be better off without, and it violates the KISS principle. Remember, it's much easier to learn how to do things correctly the first time than it is to unlearn bad habits, then learn the correct way.