Spectra Combi II is good?

[Nadar]

Hi. I have the posibility to buy a Spectra Combi II light meter but is hard to find specification and opinions on the web. Do you think this meter is like a Gossen luna pro SBC? I read that the Gossen has a battery problem. They are no longer available and if you install one with diferent voltage the meter don't take accurate readings. So Spectra is a good option?
Thanks

[Bob Salomon]

The Spectra was one of the best. But it is an incident light meter that measures the light falling on the subject. The Gossen is a reflected light meter that measured the light reflected off of the subject.

personally I prefer the Spectra. It should be supplied with a bunch of metal inserts though.

[Sevo]

The Spectra was one of the best. But it is an incident light meter that measures the light falling on the subject. The Gossen is a reflected light meter that measured the light reflected off of the subject.


Both the Gossen Luna-Pro SBC (Profisix anywhere outside the US) and Spectra Combi II will do either. Some people claim that the smaller slide-over dome of the Gossen is inferior to the big one on the Spectra, while its incident optics are to be superior to the tube-guided Spectra cell - but in practice both read the same in either mode. Both were among the top (and highest priced) professional meters in their time. The Gossen has a impressive continuous low light range and a more fancy range of accessories, the Spectra has the reputation of being dead accurate and is one of the most popular meters among cinematographers.

Batteries are no issue either. The Gossen Luna-Pro SBC/Profisix is among the meters with the least battery problem - it will take any 9V (6LR61) block battery. The Spectra takes a (somewhat more rare and expensive, but still available) Silver Oxide PX28 battery.

[Nadar]

Thanks for feedback.

[Nadar]

My spectra meter is on way. But I read something in the manual that I did not consider. Tha manual recomends to calibrate the meter in two years intervals:

RECALIBRATION
Your Spectra exposure meter is designed to maintain accurate calibration for many years. However as components age and optical surfaces become dirty or contaminated, the calibration is subject to change.
Therefore it is suggested that the instrument be returned to Photo Research or an authorized service station for recalibration at periodic intervals - not to exceed 2 years for normal work, or 1 year for critical or extreme environmental applications. A recalibration and maintenance service is available from Photo Research for a nominal charge.
The user should not attempt to recalibrate the instrument him self!Recalibration of the meter requires both a well equipped calibration laboratory and an intimate knowledge of the workings of the instrumen.



So I have to worry about it? To check the acurateness of the meter I just have to compare with another one or the is a better way to do it?

Thanks

[Sevo]

My spectra meter is on way. But I read something in the manual that I did not consider. Tha manual recomends to calibrate the meter in two years intervals:
...
So I have to worry about it? To check the acurateness of the meter I just have to compare with another one or the is a better way to do it?


Gossen (and all other pro meter markers) recommend something similar for theirs... If you need absolute accuracy (or accuracy relative to external standards outside your control), you will have to have it calibrated once in a while (both Spectra and Gossen have a send-in service for calibrating their meters). As an individual photographer doing his own lab work, keeping it calibrated relative to your materials and processes will be of higher importance to you. There are a few "calibrating your film" threads here which might be more helpful than just setting your meter to match another, as your film/developer combination is the thing that matters most and its sensitivity will probably be more off standard than any uncalibrated Spectra...

[Lynn Jones]

Hi. I have the posibility to buy a Spectra Combi II light meter but is hard to find specification and opinions on the web. Do you think this meter is like a Gossen luna pro SBC? I read that the Gossen has a battery problem. They are no longer available and if you install one with diferent voltage the meter don't take accurate readings. So Spectra is a good option?
Thanks

The original of this was created by Don Norwood in which he took the original Weston (which was quite large back in 1936. Don was in the motion picture business and it was very complicated to get a series of reflected meter readings and then figuring out an averaged reading so he put a large white hemisphere over it permitting an average incident exposure. Well after WWII (when he created the smaller Norwood Director incident light meter and it went from Weston to ASA) and then made a more sensitive meter which looked similar to the original, almost as large. The nearly identical Norwood Director is now made by Sekonic. He sold the original system which was renamed the Spectra but continued to do the re-designs. Later the Spectra combi which had a lower sensitivity but very accurate selenium cell meter and then could be switched to an extremely sensitive metering system. Later the Combi II was just as sensitive on the high end but more accurate and could not be light flooded. Don Norwood created a stunning array of metering systems and lived to be quite old.

Lynn

[mandoman7]

I used a spectra combi for a long time and was happy with it. It was a simple tool that gave accurate incident readings. Unfortunately, the cells for that meter lost their sensitivity and it became less useful. That's a problem with all old meters; the light reading cells lose their sensitivity over time, and although you can compensate to a degree, the low light readings get inaccurate.

[Sevo]

Unfortunately, the cells for that meter lost their sensitivity and it became less useful. That's a problem with all old meters; the light reading cells lose their sensitivity over time

Strictly speaking no. While ageing drift on the cells obviously will alter results where some other parts will not interfere with the metering until they fail entirely, cells are no more sensitive to ageing than any other component. Indeed, as far as my adjustment attempts on old meters and cameras go, the mechanical needle instruments on older meters and A/D converters on digital ones usually seem to be the first part that develops a non-linear error that cannot be compensated any more, while the cells mostly still continue to be linear, with some decrease in sensitivity.

Some selenium cells are particularly prone to corrosion damage - but the Norwoods/Sekonics, Westons and Spectras we now mostly encounter as still working selenium meters are fairly immune against that, the vulnerable types mostly have vanished by now.

[Thebes]

I note that the build quality of my Spectra Combi II is lower than one would expect for a meter of its abilities.
Aside from the cheap feel and possible fragility, its a really nice meter.
I got lucky and found a spot attachment too. Though it is bulky it doesn't "look like a gun" and sometimes, in the Land of the Paranoid, that can be helpful.

[mandoman7]

Strictly speaking no. While ageing drift on the cells obviously will alter results where some other parts will not interfere with the metering until they fail entirely, cells are no more sensitive to ageing than any other component. Indeed, as far as my adjustment attempts on old meters and cameras go, the mechanical needle instruments on older meters and A/D converters on digital ones usually seem to be the first part that develops a non-linear error that cannot be compensated any more, while the cells mostly still continue to be linear, with some decrease in sensitivity.

Some selenium cells are particularly prone to corrosion damage - but the Norwoods/Sekonics, Westons and Spectras we now mostly encounter as still working selenium meters are fairly immune against that, the vulnerable types mostly have vanished by now.

I have to admit that my statement was based on observation and not fact. I've played with many older meters (prior to selenium cells) and they always seemed to have lost their sensitivity after 20 years or so. I've always thought of old meters as one thing that doesn't get better with age...

[Nadar]

My Spectra has arrive. It has a 6.2v 4SR44 battery wich is PX28 equivalent. The meter's manual says that use a 6v PX28, so the battery aparently is not the correct. I used it a little bit taking readings. Do you think I can damage the meter using a 6,2v battery instead a 6v?

[Sevo]

My Spectra has arrive. It has a 6.2v 4SR44 battery wich is PX28 equivalent. The meter's manual says that use a 6v PX28, so the battery aparently is not the correct. I used it a little bit taking readings. Do you think I can damage the meter using a 6,2v battery instead a 6v?

The original PX28 is defined to be a 6.2V silver oxide battery (a stack of four 1.55V button cells) - nominally 6V as that is the next full number. According to the manual (which explicitly mentions Silver Oxides), this is the recommended battery type! The manual does not warn against using the alkaline PX28A of nominally 6V (rapidly dropping), even though these will probably already have been about. If you are lucky the meter is equipped to deal with the latter - if so, it can take any PX28 variant! If it does not, alkalines would be pointless, as their voltage (and hence the meters readings) may be all over the place depending on their use history.

There also are modern, lithium based replacements called a PX28L that deliver true 6V - these are far more constant than alkalines, but still have a considerable voltage drop towards the end of their life. You can safely try using PX28L, they will do no damage. Just bear in mind that a unstabilized meter using a PX28L will be off (compared to silver oxides) by a constant value (usually less than one stop, but you'll have to figure that out while you still have something to compare to!) for about half the battery capacity (i.e. weeks or months of use), and will get increasingly unreliable (alkaline like) after that point.

On the positive side, lithium cells have a shelf life of five to ten years and generally will not leak even when dead - wherever the cameras/meters can deal with them, I do prefer them to the rather leaky silver oxide and alkaline cells for that reason.