Jumpin' Jack Flash I've got GAS, GAS, GAS

[AdClem]

I've only got myself to blame - my compulsion got the better of me. I saw a listing for.."..possibly the last brand new Pentax Spotmeter V, anywhere in the world.". I just had to have it. Its cost, plus shipping from New Zealand and customs charges would have afforded me a mint digital version; I really NEEDED this one, though. Imagine my delight when it finally arrived, and I discovered that not only was it genuinely brand new, but that it was the even rarer FL version! I can now measure light in foot lamberts.

Okay, this isn't just a cautionary tale. I suppose I know that the rational thing to do would be to put it down to experience, and get myself another [V, not V-FL]; hey, maybe get a cine camera too. I've tried, without success, to find a repairer who could modify it. So I'm considering doing it myself. I would need the outer calculation dial, and a light level scale. The ft/L scale is in 18 increments, while the EV one is in 19. So keeping the existing one and using a conversion table is out; anyone fancy reading off 0.082 ft/L (EV1), 41.7 ft/L (EV10), etc?

So. Has anyone else been stupid enough to find themselves contemplating this; and actually done so? Should I find a dead one and cannibalise, or just cut my losses?

 

[kavandje]

?

Looks like you're missing the part of the post where the delight turns into something cautionary. What happened?

 

[AdClem]

Oh, the "delight" was entirely ironic. p.28 of the manual covers if fairly well: "SPOTMETER V-FL. Designed exclusively for T.V. and film making, Spotmeter V-FL gives viewfinder readings directly in foot lamberts...". For all practical purposes it's useless for still photography.

 

[AdClem]

The 'cautionary' bit, is not to be so desperate to acquire gear, without exercising proper due diligence.

 

[removed account4]

you can still return it to the seller, since it
was mis-described and get one that is at least useful to you ...

good luck getting your money back!

 

[kavandje]

Ah. Gotcha.

I thought I'd missed something. Turns out I had, indeed, missed something.

 

[AdClem]

you can still return it to the seller, since it
was mis-described and get one that is at least useful to you ...

good luck getting your money back!

It's a moot point. They advertised a Spotmeter V, which it definitely is. Also, though they didn't accurately describe it in the text as this variant, nonetheless, if I had known that there was such a thing as a V-FL, I could have identified it as such in the pictures. To that extent it's my own fault. Maybe if they were in the UK, like me, I'd argue the point.

 

[André E.C.]

Or maybe you can resell the item and buy the model you need?


Cheers


André

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Let this be a lesson to each and everyone of us. G. A. S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) can strike any one of us regardless of age, sex, geographic location, monetary situation. G. A. S. is indiscrimnatory. And more often than not it hits you can least afford it to. Standard treatment for mild cases of G. A. S. require you to take two rolls of film and call us in the morning. Acute cases require more immediate and drastic attention and can only be treated by your local PhD (Doctor of Photography).

Don't be caught unawares. G. A. S. is serious. Do not allow G. A. S. to do to you what it has done to poor . . .(Hold on while I scroll up . . .) AdClem, that's it. Don't let this happen to you as well. The impulse to acquire gear will overwhelm any ounce of common sense you once possessed. It is wise to make a list of REQUIRED gear before it becomes ACQUIRED gear along with a boatload of Holgas from a Hong Kong eBay seller or forty boxes of P/N 55 you've been dying to try before it completely disappears from the face of the earth or that 25 lens lot of fixer uppers for only $69.99 plus a mint in shipping.

Get help now. Do not waste another minute. Don't let G. A. S. run your life. Take control back.

This has been a public service message from, oh CRAP! That lot of 45 sr-T101's as-is is going off eBay in a minute. Gotta run . . . ;p

 

[Claire Senft]

Exlax

 

[BrianShaw]

For all practical purposes it's useless for still photography.

Not totally useless... just more difficult to use. Somewhere, and of course I can't find it at the moment, I've seen and used a footlambert (and footcandle... or maybe lux) to EV table. Once upon a time we used a goniometer for scientific measurement and photographic exposure - imagine footlamberts with 6 decimal places! Not having the EV readout just puts another step or two into the process. You did want to do "contemplative photography", didn't you?

EDIT: I haven't had a chance to look at this, but it might give a clue as to what needs to be done to use that meter. Or maybe not. Hve you looked in the instruction manual... there is likely a conversion table there.

http://johnlind.tripod.com/science/scienceexposure.html

 

[CBG]

Might want to get in touch with people who might be able to do an adaptation to gey you your photographic readout rather than foot lamberts or whatever:

Richard T Ritter
POB 401
Townshend, VT. 05353-0401

(802) 365-7807

OR

Quality Light Metric Co.
7095 Hollywood Blvd. No. 550
Hollywood CA 90028

Tel: 323 467 2265
Fax: 323 467 2284

George Milton
light meter specialists

 

[AdClem]

Brian, thanks; CBG, thanks; Claire, no thanks.