The question of spot meters comes up frequently, and the usual outcome is either 1.) a Pentax Spot V or Digital or 2.) a Minolta Spot F or M. An Soligor (or its Adorama replacement) is also mentioned for those on a budget. But I have discovered a another option that I think fits well with our application, and I thought I'd seed future searches with some description of it.

I own a Pentax Spot V and that's my preferred meter for use with 4x5, particularly if I'm in a Zone System frame of mind. When I am doing the Zone System, I will sample the scene, and then place values on the zone scale according to how I visualize them. I will then measure other values to see where they fall on the zone scale. A meter that reads in EV and provides a scale that shows all the EV at once is perfect for this concept of use, in that one can put a zone scale on the dial and see all the values they have measured across the continuum of zones. I had put a home-made scale on mine, and last year replaced that with one of the commercial stick-on scales from Zone VI sent to me by a generous forum member. In this application, the Pentax meters shine--they read in EV and have excellent mechanical calculation dials for assessing zone values across the subject brightness range. With a memory for several values, one can make several readings at once and then consult the scale.

The only things I don't like about the Spot V are the fragility of the mechanical needle movement (which forces me to devote a lot of brain cells to being careful with it), and its bulk, particularly for a travel kit. The Pentax Digital Spotmeter solves these problems, but at a price.

I also own a Minolta Spot F. It does provide a feature for doing the Zone System, but it requires that you measure a value you want to place on Zone III, press a button, measure another value that you want to place on Zone VII, press another button, and then it will provide the exposure. I usually put my finger on the wrong button, or spend a lot of time moving the meter around to where I can see the buttons. I find that I have two choices in using this meter in this application: I can either let it read in EV and do the math in my head (since there is no scale), or I can fiddle with the buttons quite a lot to make use of its built-in feature. If I used the meter for that purpose every day, I might get used to it, but I found myself reverting to the first approach because I didn't have to remember what the buttons did.

The Minolta has a feature that is quite nice--it will measure flash and includes a PC outlet and a flash trigger. This is useful when measuring lighting ratios and the like using strobes. I have used and enjoyed this feature when using studio strobes (I have a Speedotron kit).

The Minolta is also small and light, making it perfect for squeezing into the corner of a camera bag that will fit in the airline overhead bin. It has therefore been my standard meter when I travel with my Pentax 6x7, despite its fiddliness.

The Pentax and Minolta meters are so commonly recommended that they get a high price on the used market. Even the old Spot V routinely gets close to or more than a couple hundred bucks, and the Spot F gets more. I bought my Spot V new for $175 decades ago and the Spot F maybe 10 years ago at a camera show for $180 (a right-before-closing deal).

The Spot F is small and light, but there is a limit on its durability. It cannot survive being crushed by the hydraulic slide-out of a rented motorhome, even (or perhaps especially) with my wife at the controls. It folded in half, dividing the interior circuit board into two parts in a way that shredded far too many traces to contemplate a repair. I've just taken it apart to assess the damage, and have determined that it is a pile-'o-parts.

So, my choices: Replace the Spot F for considerably more than what I paid for it (if I want it without having to wait for manna from Heaven), get another Spot V (which seemed wasteful--I already have one that I could move back and forth between kits), or pay far more for a Pentax Digital. Or I could search for something else.

I rejected getting another Spot F, despite that I think it's a wonderful meter. In my usage, it's too fiddly. Neither Pentax will do the flash, so I'd give up that feature that I have used, in addition to the Pentax Digital just being too expensive. So, I started looking around at the alternatives.

Requirements are:

1. Calculation scale that is amenable to Zone System markings.
2. Flash measurement.
3. Small and light.
4. Durable for travel (preferably with no mechanical needle movement).
5. Cheap.

I suspect these requirements are fairly common among the people on this forum, with the possible exception of the support for flash measurement.

And I think I have found a rarely mentioned solution: A Sekonic L-488 Digi-Spot.

This model has been mentioned perhaps two or three times in the entire archive of LFPF, which is surprising given that it fulfills all the above requirements. It will read in EV (or in exposure settings), and has a dial with a ready-made spot for a zone scale, roughly similar to the Pentax. But it will also read exposure settings directly for someone working with a gray card who is not concerned about subject brightness range.

It will read flash and provides a PC socket for triggering flash.

It is, of course, a real 1-degree meter, but will also read the 21-degree full field of the viewfinder. That was not a requirement, but it does not damage its versatility as the only meter in a travel kit.

Sensitivity is EV1 at ISO100.

My Sekonic L-718, which is a similar vintage, has been excellent, so I do not doubt that this one will be also. Sekonic is not a budget-brand.

$125 at KEH, with case--the usual price for a far older Spot V that has something that doesn't work. And that was the more expensive of the two.

Rick "who will add to this thread a more detailed review when it arrives" Denney