Gossen vs Pentax Spot Meter

[Bruce Barlow]

Pentax. It's fabulous and esay to work with. Get the Zone VI mod if you can, but if you can't the world probably won't end and you'll be just fine and very happy.

Here's where the zone dial for it is:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...s/ZoneDial.pdf

At least I think it's still there. Too lazy this morning to check it out first. Print it, cut it out, put it on your meter, and wrap a sliced length or transparent tape around it.

Enjoy!

[Justin Cormack]

Mark, if you like Minolta meters - are the Kenko range any use? There's not a true spotmeter in there but the others have 'similarities'

To the original topic, I have both - a Pentax digital spotmeter and a Gossen Starlite. I'd unfortunately have to say that the Starlite was one of the worst purchases I made with respect to the low light photography I was doing - it used to take a lot of repeat button presses for it to wake up and get a stable reading and would quite often give up the ghost on 1° readings and just show 'Err.' It was great for flash metering but that's only a minute percentage of the requirements for me. It was flimsy and was sent back to Gossen for repair (front screen cracked and battery compartment door lugs snapped and I wasn't being heavy-handed)

I bought a Pentax Digital and haven't looked back - OK it won't do all the things of the Starlite as it's not a digital whizzbang gadget meter but it's bulletproof in what it can do. One reason I bought the Starlite was for the ZS measurements but I've got a zone sticker on the Pentax and it's a lot more intuitive (or it's me that's simple... )

I've sometimes looked round for a second Pentax as backup but for some of the exorbitant prices they're selling for new and on the auction site, I'm considering the Kenko KFM2100 as I know someone with the Minolta original and they tend to get decent exposures. I already have a Minolta colour meter and that's accurate / well made for what I want so hopefully the Kenko stuff is as well.

In what way isnt the Kenko KFM-2100 a true spotmeter? It claims to be. Given that the Pentax is pretty much unavailable (and £500-600 in the UK it seems) I was wondering about this or the Sekonic at some point.

[Andrew_4548]

In what way isnt the Kenko KFM-2100 a true spotmeter? It claims to be. Given that the Pentax is pretty much unavailable (and £500-600 in the UK it seems) I was wondering about this or the Sekonic at some point.

My mistake - I think I'm getting the Minolta confused with the old Gossen Spotmaster 2 - the big and expensive one that's the dedicated spotmeter rather than a do-it-all type...

The prices I've seen for the Pentax over here range from £480 (Speedgraphic) to approx £600 (Calumet.) Calumet US sells it for 399 USD which brings it a bit more in line. I paid £280 for mine approx 7 years ago. One's just gone on eBay for £400 in 'as new' condition. For this price it seems worth looking for alternatives...

Andrew

[Brian Ellis]

I vote for the Sekonic. I used the modified Pentax digital for twenty years and it truly is an adequate meter to ZS practitioners. However if someone will ever consider using BTZS the Pentax meter is not as easily amendable to BTZS since it is restricted to reflective readings. I switched to the Sekonic after I switched exposure methodology. Beyond having both incident and reflective capabilities the Sekonic that I have has flash capability and radio triggering capability that makes it more of a full featured meter from where I saw it. The price difference was a non issue when I considered the inherent value of the two meters.

I used the BTZS system for about five years with a Pentax spot meter. I know Phil had a personal preference for the use of incident meters but he knew that many people didn't share his preference so he programmed the BTZS calculator to work with either and in fact it worked fine with a reflection meter such as the Pentax. I don't understand why using the BTZS system would influence anyone one way or the other as to choice of meters.

[Mark Woods]

I don't understand why using the BTZS system would influence anyone one way or the other as to choice of meters.[/QUOTE]

It makes a difference in terms of how one works in the field or studio, and in the subsequent work flow. The meter is HUGE in terms of methodology in photography.

[Frank Petronio]

I used a Pentax 1 degree spot for 20 years, as well as several Minolta and Gossen meters for flash and as all-around meters. I no longer use the Zone system tied to darkroom work since I use a lab to process my film, but I was as anal as any of 'em when I had darkrooms. A third of a stop mattered somehow....

For the money, I would get a cheap digital slr instead. And maybe a simple, inexpensive Gossen Digi-flash or whatever they call their tiny pocket-sized meter.

Sure I miss my Pentax's little zone scale sometimes... for about 5/10ths of a second. Then my brain remembers that I have 3 stops headroom for highlights and 2 stops bottom room for shadows and everything else is in the margins... and that minor metal calculation helps prevents elderly dementia... and my exposures have been right on and consistent ever since.

I wouldn't fret so much about the Zone system. Just go shoot. Bracket a few if you must. Use Polaroid tests for the life and death stuff.

[Renato Tonelli]

Pentax. The combination Sekonic seemed like a fantastic solution and I used it for all of my cinematography work. But I feel that the meter is too delicate and I've had to have it re-calibrated too. For B&W I have reverted to using the Pentax and for cinematography I've gone back to the old reliable Spectra, augmented by the Pentax. The end result has been peace of mind.