If you can find an X-rite Colormunki photo for a reasonable price you can not only profile your computer screens with it, but also hook it up to an Android phone (not iPhone, Apple prevents that) and buy a $100 third party app to use it as a spectrophotometer. With a light plate you can use it as a somewhat clunky densitometer. It can do colour densitometry in all Status modes. And you can record the spectrum of any illumination. That will tell you CRI, colour temp, etc.
I'm experimenting with it and it seems I'm in the 'ballpark' with my Status M readings of C41 control strips. I also have a Heiland b/w spectrometer and some Kodak colour filters from an ancient Kodak densi. But these don't seem to be Status M. Of course I checked their spectrum with the Colormunki.
I only found a small US company, which may still offer a Status M densitometer. I think I found a price eventually and you won't call the Heiland expensive anymore after seeing that. After all the Heiland was created with the intend of being affordable. I balked at buying one for a long time and eventually gifted it to myself last Xmas.
another vote for the Heiland from a very happy customer.If you can find an X-rite Colormunki photo for a reasonable price you can not only profile your computer screens with it, but also hook it up to an Android phone (not iPhone, Apple prevents that) and buy a $100 third party app to use it as a spectrophotometer. With a light plate you can use it as a somewhat clunky densitometer. It can do colour densitometry in all Status modes. And you can record the spectrum of any illumination. That will tell you CRI, colour temp, etc.
I'm experimenting with it and it seems I'm in the 'ballpark' with my Status M readings of C41 control strips. I also have a Heiland b/w spectrometer and some Kodak colour filters from an ancient Kodak densi. But these don't seem to be Status M. Of course I checked their spectrum with the Colormunki.
I only found a small US company, which may still offer a Status M densitometer. I think I found a price eventually and you won't call the Heiland expensive anymore after seeing that. After all the Heiland was created with the intend of being affordable. I balked at buying one for a long time and eventually gifted it to myself last Xmas.
Its basically doing the same thing that was suggested with the Besseler PM or Soligor SM20 earlier in this thread. Its just showing the logarithmic relationship between two light measurements in the projected image from the same negative. If the purpose is to simply evaluate the relative contrast range of that negative, that should be fine. If the goal is any other densitometer measurements (perhaps on a more absolute scale), then it may not work so well.I am surprised to see no one has yet to mention the RH Designs Analyzer Pro. It's not only a zone exposure meter, it has a dedicated switch to change it to densitometer mode: https://www.theimagingwarehouse.com/Products/Analysers-Meters/AVCA
For $30, you could have 3 of the PM1A; two working and one for partsView attachment 275556
I couldn’t resist- I bought this thing with a dozen Bakelite knobs… for thirty bucks free shipping. I hesitated only because I had to evaluate the risk that the vintage electronics might kill me.
Post #30? Is that what it is?I also got a Beseler PM4M .
I think the RH Designs unit tries to relate the tone you want to the grade and exposure. A nice trick that has a good reputation for working.
Now the Eseco unit should be interesting. I am not expecting it to meet my needs because it has such a short range, there’s only an 0.60 density range (3 stops) marked on its scale.
But I could work in steps. For example after exhausting its range I could open the lens on the enlarger a few f/stops (if the unit is sensitive enough to work three stops down in the first place).
Thanks Mike,
Do you use one? Just curious if it works well for a print aid.
To be clear, I bought these gadgets for the dials and knobs. And something to tinker with. I get a kick out of gadgets. I don’t expect to rely on it when printing.
As a densitometer, easel devices have drawbacks. You can’t easily read a “step wedge” (you have to move the negative back and forth in the carrier). Flare is introduced by the enlarging lens so the readings are not really correct for graphing.
I might “employ” one as a tool to guide paper grade choice and select f/stop (and whether or not I need ND 0.6) to get me in the ballpark for test strips.
But I fully intend to keep making test strips.
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