digisix with Mamiya 7

[fralexis]

I shoot with a Mamiya 7 II and love it. I don't love the metering system. I am thinking about getting a Digisix to use with this camera. I have a Pentax spot meter that I love, but it sometimes is a pain to have to manage all these pieces of equipment. My question is, with the Digisix is the metering more center balanced or a wider selection? I want to mount the meter on the hot shoe and use it as one would use a meter in a modern digital camera, with reflected metering. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[benjiboy]

The digisix has an acceptance angle for reflected light. reaadings of 25 degrees.

 

[Dan Daniel]

I won't speak to the Digisix, but I tried a meter mounted on the hotshoe of my Fuji GW690. Didn't really work out that great. You have to drop the camera down to meter and read. So instead of a one-handed small meter, I had a large bulky meter brick that took two hands to use. I found hand-holding a meter worked much quicker for my style of shooting- medium paced street in B&W where precise exposure wasn't critical. Of course the Digisix would work for that, also.

 

[gone]

I had the same results as Dan w/ a hot shoe mounted meter. In that regard, the MR meters on the Leica M cameras seemed almost useless to me due to all the time and hassle of reading the things. Much more convenient and quicker to just go w/ a hand held meter.

 

[J.Marks]

I have a hot shoe mount on a small hand held meter when using my Yashica Mat 124. It makes a great storage spot for the meter when moving around with the camera and tripod. I remove it and handhold hold for exposure.

 

[AgX]

with the Digisix is the metering more center balanced or a wider selection?

No auxilliary exposure meter is "balanced" the way some camera-meters are. Instead they all average over their metering angle.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I be lieve the Digisix is mainly meant to be used as an incident meter,and used as such it is very good and accurate in my experience. why don't you use your spot meter to just measure the shadows and base your exposure on that?that's quicker and makes for good exposure.

 

[EdSawyer]

Just learn to use the Mamiya meter, it works great.

 

[pdeeh]

Plus the Digisix is a fiddly annoying thing with built in alarms and whatnot that set and reset themselves in one's pocket;

 

[MattKing]

Plus the Digisix is a fiddly annoying thing with built in alarms and whatnot that set and reset themselves in one's pocket;

I really like my Digiflash meter (same as the Digisix, but with flash metering capability).

But it is small, so you have to adapt to it somewhat.

I always carry it in its pouch, and I have an additional battery in with it, in a small plastic re-closeable bag.

The battery helps cushion the meter, and protect it from re-setting itself.

 

[Matus Kalisky]

I use Digisix with my Mamiya 6 95% of the time. Mostly in incident mode (though reflected does come handy at times). Rarely I have the need for a 'better' (read 'spot') light meter.

The Digisix measures an angle of around 30° and I have the impression that response is relatively flat over the angle.

 

[AgX]

I always carry it in its pouch, and I have an additional battery in with it, in a small plastic re-closeable bag.
The battery helps cushion the meter, and protect it from re-setting itself.

I don't understand how a battery can cushion and protect.
Or do you mean by keeping the meter from sliding around within the pouch.

 

[Matus Kalisky]

I would guess that Matt meant the pouch and not the battery. Since you can not turn the light meter off, keeping it in a pouch (= in darkness) makes it use less energy and so the battery will last longer. Once the battery dies, the meter settings will be reset (e.g. the exposure compensation one can set when putting the battery in).

 

[MattKing]

I should have been more clear.

The battery is one of those coin sized batteries - about the size of a 25 cent piece (either US or Canada).

The only thing that really exhausts the battery is using one of the functions - like taking a meter reading. That requires pushing one of the buttons.

It is easy to push the buttons accidentally. Even if the meter is in its pouch, it is still easy, because the pouch itself is soft. By putting the battery inside its plastic "sleeve" and putting both inside the pouch, it helps protect the buttons on the meter - they are much less likely to be pushed accidentally.

The meter would really benefit from having a more rigid case.

 

[Matus Kalisky]

Aha, I got you wrong too thanks for clarification and a good idea.

 

[Dr Croubie]

FWIW, I've never had a problem with 'accidentally' pressing buttons on my digisix in my pocket or bag, the worst that happens is that it comes out reading 'Ev' because it's been pressed to measure in total darkness. I shoot so many film speeds in different backs that I've taught myself to automatically check the ISO every time I use it, so if it changes itself in the bag I won't waste a shot.
Having it hotshoe-mounted is possible, but you don't have to, you can just use it as a regular handheld meter. Just point it at the subject and press the button. With practice you can do this in your left hand as you frame with the camera in your right, you can even read it through the viewfinder and adjust the camera with your right fingers if you're really in tune with your equipment.

 

[pdeeh]

FWIW, it happens to me all the time.

The other thing that annoys me intensely is changing ISO (if I'm carrying more than one camera and using different EIs) - you have to cycle through all the ISO settings every time you change.

 

[baachitraka]

Digisix is one cute meter. I will be more happier if they remove all those additional features and introduce cycling ISO on both directions.

 

[KenR]

I have the Mamiya 6 (meter like the 7?) - the meter is very sensitive to backlight and so I have learned to take a second shot with the meter reading from the floor or ground. Other times I use the Digisix and just set things once and go around taking photos. I generally leave the Digisix around my neck - as it is tiny and weighs nothing, it really is not a burden especially compared with the weight of the 6. But I too have had the battery run down on the Digisix if it bumped against something - it does have to be transported carefully.