Reveni spot meter

[Alan9940]

- Even though I signed up for the project, there is one serious point of concern: the ISO range: "1, 3, 6, 12, 25, 50, 80, 100, 125, 160, 200, 250, 320, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800" Because the FP4+ developed 7'00'' in HC110H 1+63 at 20°C reaches density 0.12 in Zone I with an exposure of ISO 32. ISO 32 is not in the ISO range. In the lower ISO range only half steps are listed. Why? Isn't the goal of a spot meter to be accurate in thirds? I would URGENTLY ask the inventor to divide the ISO range into thirds.

Intermediate ISO's can easily be derived by +/- exposure compensation. For your EI 32 FP4+ example, set the ISO on the meter to 25, then dial in -0.03 exposure compensation.

[Heroique]

Heroique, My Pentax spot meters are on lanyards that tie to a tab on my vest (about shirt pocket height) or something similar, like a button, or even around my neck. The meter lives in a pocket, but the lanyard is short enough that the meter won't hit the ground if dropped (unless I'm kneeling...). The lanyard has saved my meter more than once...Best, Doremus

That sounds like a smart method to keep a Pentax close and protect it from dropping.

Me, I like to keep accessories on a nearby “pocket” pancho and not be distracted by weighty pockets or swinging items. Yet a lanyard with the tiny Reveni might work really well.

I don't want to use something that uses someone's system of exposure. And if I did use that guy's system, I'd always be paranoid of losing it. It's pretty tiny.

I believe the Reveni’s P.M.M. mode (by Nick Carver) is used in conjunction with one’s own personal meter tests. That is, it’s a customizeable mode. The Reveni can be switched to traditional modes, too.

Like you, I keep coming back to its tininess. In the Nick Carver video which I linked in post #4, when he pulls it out of his sweatshirt pocket, I keep waiting for him to fumble and drop it on his hardwood floor. He should have mentioned the lanyard it comes with.

Overall I think the Reveni looks like a promising product if your field habits harmonize with it.

[Ulophot]

Perhaps you intended 0.3, or am I missing something?

[Heroique]

There is a potential design flaw which Nick Carver briefly addresses but should have explained in greater depth.

Namely, parallax:

For one does not see the subject directly through the Reveni. It’s a black screen with a digital read out. One needs to keep the other (uncovered) eye open to see the subject. That way, the read-out and subject superimpose on each other. However, this naturally introduces the problem of parallax. What the Reveni sees (especially in a tiny spot area) is potentially different than what your uncovered eye sees.

Nick Carver offers a good example: what happens if you’re pointing the meter toward the sky but using your "seeing" eye to look at your subject straight ahead? He only says intuition mitigates this problem, but doesn’t go further. I wish he had.

[Michael R]

Intermediate ISO's can easily be derived by +/- exposure compensation. For your EI 32 FP4+ example, set the ISO on the meter to 25, then dial in -0.03 exposure compensation.

Easy enough. I'd also add that flare introduces enough slop so that evaluating things in increments of 1/3 stops is really false precision anyway. If I had an EI of 32 for a B&W negative film, and a meter that only had 25 and 50, I'd simply use 25.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I am totally excited about a tiny spot meter, and am supporting the kick starter. I love my Pentax spot, but it is too big to carry with me traveling (if I ever travel again...).

That said, there seems to be a whole host of problems with the meter. None are irredeemable, but I can see that they will be annoying in use. The limited ISO settings is one (fixable by +/- exposure compensation, as pointed above), the other is the "whole stop" aperture settings. It only shows full apertures (f5.6, 8, 11, 16, et cetera) and speeds (1, 2, 4, 8, et cetera) with a "remainder" setting below, so f6.3 (AKA 5.6 1/3) might show as f5.6 R+.3 and 1/50 (on an older Compur shutter) or 1/48 (24fps on some 16mm cameras) might show as 1/60 R-.3. I can likely work with this, but it will be annoying. Hopefully this is something that would be fixed in the future.

[f9likethekey]

I think the P.M.M of Nick Carver is made up of a lot of hot air, so he can promote it as a video.

I had been using the zone system for about 6 years and was a skeptic about Nick's class. However I'll admit that his method works better for me (maybe not everyone), and has dramatically increased my metering ability and exposure accuracy.

[Daniel Casper Lohenstein]

I had been using the zone system for about 6 years and was a skeptic about Nick's class. However I'll admit that his method works better for me (maybe not everyone), and has dramatically increased my metering ability and exposure accuracy.

Can you explain the P.M.M, please.

[Daniel Casper Lohenstein]

Intermediate ISO's can easily be derived by +/- exposure compensation. For your EI 32 FP4+ example, set the ISO on the meter to 25, then dial in -0.03 exposure compensation.

Imagine you buy something on the Internet. There you have a form. For the date of birth you have to select the days 1-31. But not all days are listed. Only "1-2-3-4-7-9-10-11-15-18-22-23-24-25-31". Like this. Perhaps the PHP machine at the other end of your connection is supersticious and doesn't like 27. So, because you were born on the 27th, you enter 31 and in an extra field you write "-4". Month: "September -3". Imagine calculating effective ISO, bellows factor and N+1 in the field ... What should be easy or intuitive or sensible about such a derivation? It is no problem at all to write a clean ISO series in thirds into a table or an array of the controller program. If you program a form in the above style, you will have to reorient yourself at some point.

[Alan9940]

I'm currently using Matt's teeny "sugar cube" meter with my MF folders and the whole stop readout isn't an issue for me. When I take a reading I watch the EV value displayed just prior to the measurement which tells me if the meter rounded up or down. If I know it rounded up, based on the EV readout, then I know that if I use the shutter/aperture shown I'll effectively be under-exposing my image slightly. Therefore, I'll tweak the aperture to compensate. Conversely, if it rounded down, then I go the other way. Working this way is close enough for B&W or color neg film, but probably not precise enough for transparency film. Since I shoot primarily B&W, it works great for me.