Soligor Spot Meter II vs. Pentax Digital Spotmeter

[borgida]

Hello

I am looking for a spotmeter to get back into large format photography. I am looking at either the Soligor Spot Meter II vs. the Pentax Digital Spotmeter. What are you experiences/recommendations with this meters? I have used the Pentax digital spotmeter before but am trying to keep expenses low.

Thank you,
Ross

[John Olsen]

My succession of Pentax Spot Meters has never let me down, except when they fell off the roof of the truck in N.M. or got lost by UPS in moving from Japan. Over years they're stable and similar in readings from one to another. What more could we want?

[jk0592]

I have used the Pentax Digital Spotmeter for approximately 20 years now. No moving parts save for the ev dials makes it a very dependable piece of equipment. I would not hesitate to recommend it.

[dsim]

Another vote for the Pentax Digital Spotmeter, very reliable and affordable.

[Adrian Pybus]

And another vote for the Pentax Digital Spotmeter.

[Roger Cole]

I vote for the Pentax digital even though I'm on my second Soligor. It works ok - I'm on my second because I lost my footing and grabbed a fence to stop myself from falling and my first one, which was dangling from my wrist at the time, smacked the fence and died. Meter movement is relatively fragile. I bought another because it was cheap and available, not because it was the best. Then I tried to use it to meter a distant, spot lit monument at night and it was impossible to read the meter against the black night background. I think a digital would solve that. My next will be a Pentax digital.

[Michael Graves]

Guess I'm the only voice to vote for the Soligor. I am on my third. The first lasted twenty years before I dropped it about 30 feet into a rocky river bed. For some reason it didn't like that. I bought another digital to replace it, used it for about a year and they had eye surgery. After the surgery, I had difficulty with the LEDs and bought an analog Soligor Spot to replace it. I bought at one point in time a Pentax digital and tried it. Perhaps it's just me, but I didn't see what the hoopla was all about. The Soligor fit the hand better, had a better angle of view and was overall easier for me to use. The Pentax certainly wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't me.

[Tony Evans]

Another +1 for Soligor Digital Spot. Can't fault it and cheaper than Pentax.

[Nguss]

I have never used a Pentax but have heard nothing but good things about them. I have, use and like the Soligor, the only problem is using it in low light, which is difficult with the screen not being lit.

[perfectedmaya]

i bought an old soligor , i regret it. sometimes the needle jump and sometimes it don't moves.. but usually it works..

i feel it is best not to buy old things if u have a choice

[Marc B.]

It might be prudent to ask professional repair facilities
with regards to parts and future servicing of these meters.
It would also help to know...where in the world you are located?

The 'gold standard' for meter calibration and repair are these folks:

Quality Light and Metric
7095 Hollywood Blvd # 550
Los Angeles, CA 90028
USA
Ph# (323) 467-2265

[Bill Burk]

i bought an old soligor , i regret it. sometimes the needle jump and sometimes it don't moves.. but usually it works..

i feel it is best not to buy old things if u have a choice

I too, had problems with jumpy needle with the original Soligor Spot Sensor which I bought new, though I suspect it had been demo'd a lot in the shop before I got it. So advise for analog meters, to avoid the Soligor Spot Sensor unless you can tolerate that.

The meter switch was "home-made" and crude, this suggested a possible mod with higher quality parts, but I never got to it and passed it along to a pre-press operator I was training in Indianapolis who was getting into photography.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

I think you should consider two meters. the spot of your choice, and a decent incident meter.

[E. von Hoegh]

I think you should consider two meters. the spot of your choice, and a decent incident meter.

I think Kevin is correct. A good incident meter is a worthwhile thing to have.

[Leonard Evens]

I've used the Pentax digital spo meter since my Pentax analog spotmeter died. I have a zone system scale taped to the scale, and I can very quickly determine exposure from sampling appropriate areas of the scene.

[LarryG5]

Bought my Soligor spot meter in 1974 and it is still working just fine.

[neil poulsen]

My first spot meter was a new Solibor many years ago. The 1 degree circle in the center didn't line up with the sensitive area, so I took it back and bought a Pentax V. Since then, no problems with that issue.

[Joseph Dickerson]

Like a lot of other spot meters the Soligor meters are prone to lens flare issues. When trying to read a backlighted subject the readings are inflated by the internal lens flare which the meter sees as additional illumination. At least that was the case with the samples I tested some years ago.

This is not a problem with the Pentax.

JD

[Drew Wiley]

The Pentax is multicoated and this helps; but nonetheless I still use a collapsible rubber
shade on them and try to avoid readings directly into the sun.

[mikebarger]

Fred Picker wrote when he was doing his conversion of Zone VI meters that he sent a lot more faulty Soligor's back compared to Pentax meters. Not sure if that means anything, but.......

Mike

[Chauncey Walden]

At one time in the past I had 2 Soligors and 5 Pentaxes (2 digital, 2 analogs of different vintages, and one really old one that you looked down into.) All 5 of the Pentaxes agreed with each other; the Soligors neither agreed with the Pentaxes or even each other. FWIW.

[Roger Cole]

I don't think the quality is there compared to a Pentax or other bigger name, and the price reflects it. Mine works ok, which is why I haven't yet replaced it, but I will eventually and keep the Soligor for a spare. I'll get a Pentax.

Which pretty much sums it up - if you can afford a Pentax, which I couldn't back in the 90s when I bought my first Soligor, get one and don't look back. But if you can't, a Soligor can do the job and if you already have one it's certainly usable.

[Curt]

Fred Picker sent me a Soligor Zoneized, reconstructed and labeled spot meter. He told me it was the best dammm meter, period. I still have it and it matches perfectly my iPhone meter app! So there!! I have a Metered Light, Pocket Spot and I really like it. Waited only a year and a half but it was well worth it. These meters come in handy with 15 minute exposures on shutterless lenses.

[Curt]

At one time in the past I had 2 Soligors and 5 Pentaxes (2 digital, 2 analogs of different vintages, and one really old one that you looked down into.) All 5 of the Pentaxes agreed with each other; the Soligors neither agreed with the Pentaxes or even each other. FWIW.

I can't imagine how I managed with a Seconic Studio Deluxe. The deluxe was the Lumispheres and slides I guess, no battery, who needs a stinkin battery anyway! Hello Chauncey, still have your Ram diesel? I'm making the oil companies rich with my 10 mpg gasoline Ram, and I had it tuned up!

[joselsgil]

It might be prudent to ask professional repair facilities
with regards to parts and future servicing of these meters.
It would also help to know...where in the world you are located?

The 'gold standard' for meter calibration and repair are these folks:

Quality Light and Metric
7095 Hollywood Blvd # 550
Los Angeles, CA 90028
USA
Ph# (323) 467-2265

I spoke to George at Quality Light and Metric, about calibrating some of my older Gossen, Pentax, and Soligor meters. The advise he gave me was to purchase a new or just calibrated (by QL&M), Minolta meter and forget about the rest.

This was the advise from someone that repairs them. Not sure if he actually uses them in large format photography.

[john borrelli]

I own a pentax digital spot meter but my first spot meter was one of the older version pentax spot meters. I had the one that requires two different batteries. The meter was heavier and had that funky low range indicator but I loved the analog quality and all the funky buttons which all worked on my meter. Not sure if both batteries are still being made but you can find them inexpensively. My sample was accurate enough though the newer meter is probably more accurate in lower light.

[Peter Gomena]

I've owned both. Pentax, hands down.