I need a spot meter, what is recommended

[timparkin]

I know many people like the old minolta spots that have been reincarnated as Kenko

http://www.thkphoto.com/news/news-pr-kfm-2100-0407.html

[neil poulsen]

One nice thing about the Sekonic 608 over the 508 is that one can see the reading inside the meter. You see the reading as you point the spot to different parts of the scene.

With the 508, you click a button and then have to take your eyes off the scene to read the body of the meter. This works, but it's more time consuming.

But my preference is for the Pentax. So, I use the Pentax for B&W and use the Sekonic for color applications.

[Pat Kearns]

Why not get you soligor calibrated? Richard Ritter calibrates them to the zone system. If after calibration you still don't like it then go the new meter route.

[Vaughn]

I like my Pentax Digital Spot....relatively small and light, and a minimum of moving parts. Frankly I don't need nor want the meter to average, remember stuff, etc. I just want to know the relative values of lioght throughout a scene.

Vaughn

[ckruvand]

I have been reading the board on getting a spot meter calibrated which makes no sense to me. A spot meter or any other light meter should be accurate from the get go. Either a meter reads the 17% reflectivity of a grey card correctly or it's a piece of junk. My Gossen Luna Pro, 25 years old, is a reflective and incident meter combined and it is dead on and always has been but it is not a 1 degree meter

Perhaps someone can explain why it is normal to need a spot meter calibrated.

Thanks,
Charles

[Vaughn]

Charles...why does one ever get his/her car tuned? Same thing...things fall out of calibration when used. How do you know your Lina Pro is still reading as it did 25 years ago? Also look on the back -- there is a screw that can adjust the meter by about a half-stop in either direction.

We have several Luna Pro SBC's -- I occasionally get them all out and adjust them to match each other -- may not be 100% accurate but they are precise.

Vaughn

[Frank Petronio]

The 'calibration" is to adapt the Pentax spot meters to read color - ie greens, yellows, blues - as a tad darker or lighter value as it should be with unfiltered B&W panchromatic emulsion.

Calibration isn't the correct term.

Richard Ritter does the modifications to existing Pentax meters.

Nobody listens to me, but having owned and loved the Pentax for 20+ years, nowadays I use a digital SLR and get more accurate exposures than ever, plus I have a composition and preview device to rival Polaroids and yes, a built in spot and a usable color temperature meter.

For less money than a modified Pentax digital or some Sekonic "Forbin 9000" supercomputer.

Now back the regularly scheduled banter ;-)

[Vaughn]

Frank, Mr Ritter does the modification, but he also repairs/calibrates them.

I have a built in composition and preview device on my 8x10...it is called a ground glass.

Vaughn

[audioexcels]

The 'calibration" is to adapt the Pentax spot meters to read color - ie greens, yellows, blues - as a tad darker or lighter value as it should be with unfiltered B&W panchromatic emulsion.

Calibration isn't the correct term.

Richard Ritter does the modifications to existing Pentax meters.

Nobody listens to me, but having owned and loved the Pentax for 20+ years, nowadays I use a digital SLR and get more accurate exposures than ever, plus I have a composition and preview device to rival Polaroids and yes, a built in spot and a usable color temperature meter.

For less money than a modified Pentax digital or some Sekonic "Forbin 9000" supercomputer.

Now back the regularly scheduled banter ;-)

How are you calculating different focal lengths, equivalent to a piece of sheet film, and then transferring the settings?

What DSLR meters as well as your analog/digital light meters?

[Frank Petronio]

Per Vaughn, the ground glass works really well ;-) but with a dslr used as a Polaroid/Meter you have to make educated guesses and fudge to translate focal lengths and formats, but it isn't that hard if you have a lick of common sense. It beats spending $4 a sheet on Polaroid that doesn't exist anymore anyways....

A 1983 Nikon F3 meters better than 99.99% of all the photographers ever in existence, and over the past 25 years Nikon has made their metering even better. I'm pretty darn happy looking at a histogram. But if you wanted to be super anal about spot readings, it makes sense that the spot metering mode and a long tele lens would be the most ultimate spot metering system ever, far tighter than even the Pentax 1 degree could ever get.