David Nash
16-Dec-1998, 17:47
Sorry for bringing up this question again, but I'm planning to buy a new light m eter. I currently have a Minolta Flash Meter 5 which I will keep for flash and incident readings. I did have a Booster II attachment that I only used once bef ore it got lost, and I'm not sure whether to buy another Booster II or to buy a separate spotmeter.
The spot meters I'm considering are the Gossen SpotMaster (UK Name), Sekonic Dua l Spot 778, and the Pentax digital (possibly with a Zone VI mod).
After reading the stuff on the Zone VI web site, I would be worried in case any of the other meters are not as accurate as the Pentax, but the Pentax looks as t hough it might be tricky to use with its analogue dial. It also only shows a "l ive" reading - ie it doesn't remember the last reading.
The Gossen looks like it might be ideal, but its very expensive, and I believe t he Sekonic is meant to be very complicated to work, although it has a nice displ ay. Someone also told me that the Sekonic has been discontinued, although I have seen it advertised by at least one dealer.
Are the Zone systems built into the Gossen and Sekonic worth bothering about?
Also, how do you cope with filter factors and bellows extensions and camera move ments with a hand held meter? One of the reasons I initially bought the Booster attachment was that it was meant to answer all these problems. However, I am n ot totally convinced on the Booster II accuracy, its also a little tricky to hol d - you need one hand for the meter and one for the Booster and you also need to cover the groundglass to stop ANY light from hitting it, and if the light chang es when you've already got your darkslide loaded its a bit of a pain not being a ble to monitor the change.
As I say, sorry about asking some questions that have probably been answered bef ore, and it's obviously a personal preferance type of subject, but I'd be intere sted to hear some further comments.
The spot meters I'm considering are the Gossen SpotMaster (UK Name), Sekonic Dua l Spot 778, and the Pentax digital (possibly with a Zone VI mod).
After reading the stuff on the Zone VI web site, I would be worried in case any of the other meters are not as accurate as the Pentax, but the Pentax looks as t hough it might be tricky to use with its analogue dial. It also only shows a "l ive" reading - ie it doesn't remember the last reading.
The Gossen looks like it might be ideal, but its very expensive, and I believe t he Sekonic is meant to be very complicated to work, although it has a nice displ ay. Someone also told me that the Sekonic has been discontinued, although I have seen it advertised by at least one dealer.
Are the Zone systems built into the Gossen and Sekonic worth bothering about?
Also, how do you cope with filter factors and bellows extensions and camera move ments with a hand held meter? One of the reasons I initially bought the Booster attachment was that it was meant to answer all these problems. However, I am n ot totally convinced on the Booster II accuracy, its also a little tricky to hol d - you need one hand for the meter and one for the Booster and you also need to cover the groundglass to stop ANY light from hitting it, and if the light chang es when you've already got your darkslide loaded its a bit of a pain not being a ble to monitor the change.
As I say, sorry about asking some questions that have probably been answered bef ore, and it's obviously a personal preferance type of subject, but I'd be intere sted to hear some further comments.