Searching for a spot meter, on a budget.

[allie]

I was looking at the analog Pentax spotmeter, but was thinking it would be too difficult to read at night. Do you have any experience using one?

[Michael W]

I had a Soligor analogue spot meter and the needle was hard to see at night. I dropped it and it broke so I bought a digital Soligor where the readout is easy to see at night. Overall I've been pleased with the Soligors.

[Kevin Harding]

I was looking at the analog Pentax spotmeter, but was thinking it would be too difficult to read at night. Do you have any experience using one?

As the person offering that particular meter up for sale - it depends, but at night it can be challenging. I have used it at night but there are two challenges: It doesn't go below 1EV, so unless you're sort of metering for the highlights, it doesn't work super well. The illumination lamp doesn't work on it, so the scale doesn't light up, which arguably might make the scale easier to see.

But I have used it at night. This isn't intended as a bump of the other thread, so I apologize if it's perceived as such.

[Bill Burk]

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...king-condition

I also recommend this. Pentax analog spotmeters have a needle that locks confidently on readings in a single range sweep from 1 to 19 EV.

The low-light feature is clever because it actually lets you read around 1-7 EV at night, but won't be something critical to miss. Actually it might be working. I thought mine wasn't until tonight I checked it. It is a very dim sliver of light. If your eyes are not night-attuned you might not even see it.

I spent a week "forced" to use one because I smashed the glass on my Weston Master II (since replaced the glass)... I didn't want to use the SEI I brought on the trip... and I was surprised at what a pleasure it is to use this meter.

[Leszek Vogt]

I have nothing against analog Pentax....and if it works well, then it works....but the repair place in LA stopped servicing those, since there are no parts available for those. Just a hint.

Les

[Ted R]

re Pentax Spotmeter V I just had mine calibrated by the repair place in LA, it didn't need any parts. They come up on ebay all the time within the budget of the OP, very fine meters with sensitivity down to 1EV with illumination for reading the low scale numbers.

[Drew Wiley]

The Minoltas are superb, and are calibrated exactly the same as Pentax. They just aren't quite a fast and intuitive to use as the ring on the Pentax, esp for ZS work, but do it with comparison buttons. Don't know how well they hold up to wear and tear, since I kept mine in the studio. The Soligor clone to the Pentax apparently doesn't have multicoating, so would be more susceptible to flare. I even use a shade on my meters.

[alexmuir]

The Minoltas are superb, and are calibrated exactly the same as Pentax. They just aren't quite a fast and intuitive to use as the ring on the Pentax, esp for ZS work, but do it with comparison buttons. Don't know how well they hold up to wear and tear, since I kept mine in the studio. The Soligor clone to the Pentax apparently doesn't have multicoating, so would be more susceptible to flare. I even use a shade on my meters.

The version I have has coated optics, and has a filter thread of 43mm, so a shade can be easily attached.
Alex


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[Willie]

Just checked on eBay and Soligor spot meters are going for $30 - 50.
They work well.

[Corran]

KEH often has Soligor or Minolta spot meters for cheap. Pentax analog meters are great but the digital meter is quite a bit better to me just due to the size and bright LED numbers. If you are patient you can find deals on them - I found two for around $100 just cruising eBay.

There's also the option of a Sekonic with "add-on" spot thingy, which for me was not something I wanted to deal with but would give you multiple metering options for various situations. I think Minolta had a similar thing for some of their meters.