Light meter advice

[Sirius Glass]

I found that the easy solution for me was to purchase a Pentax Digital Spot Meter and sent it with my cameras to be all calibrated together. It turns out that my Hasselblad PME had to be calibrated by Hasselblad New Jersey. Now everything agrees: refectance, incident and spot.

 

[CMoore]

Hi all,

I've recently begun shooting on film and have acquired some vintage cameras to do so. I know the Sunny-16 rule well enough, but would like to add a light meter to my bag.

Researching said light meters... I quickly feel like i'm being pulled into the deep end of the pool. I began by thinking that I wanted to get a spot meter but they are quite expensive. And... do I want to buy a used one?? Seems I'm buying the meter and viewfinder from my D750 without the camera bit. Yikes.

So... (a) advice on used vs new, (b) spot vs reflect meter when shooting manual unmetered film cameras (TLR & 35mm), and lastly, are there analog options that are worth pursuing?

Thanks if anyone feels like pointing me to some reference material on the topic as I'm not keen on blowing $600+ on this piece of my kit.

For the money, this is about the best gadget you can ever hope to buy.

https://www.amazon.com/Sekonic-L-30...p-B079YWCZNC/dp/B079YWCZNC/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

 

[Sirius Glass]

For the money, this is about the best gadget you can ever hope to buy.

https://www.amazon.com/Sekonic-L-30...p-B079YWCZNC/dp/B079YWCZNC/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

I have one of these. It is a great accurate light meter.

 

[wiltw]

I've been using my micro 4/3 camera for metering lately. There's a spot mode that varies in degrees depending on the zoom setting of the lens. How would you calculate the degrees of the spot?

Based upon which camera you use, you are given a visual reference for the spot area. Calculate what fractional percentage of the full image height is covered by the spot. For example if its actual size was 7mm, and your frame was 14mm tall, that is 50% of the frame height. Then, consulting a Angle of View of a specific lens on your camera, simply take 50% of that angle as the spot size with that lens!

 

[Eric S]

You know, after all the great advice I got in this thread... I wound up buying a used meter on Craigslist. I'm pretty happy with the results thus far...

 

[BradS]

Wow!
You found that on Craigslist?!?!?
Nice.

 

[madNbad]

It's been a few years but I bought an unused Sekonic 398A (latest version) in the box with all accessories including the direct reading slides for fifty usd off of a craigslist listing. Good choice on the Minolta.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Based upon which camera you use, you are given a visual reference for the spot area. Calculate what fractional percentage of the full image height is covered by the spot. For example if its actual size was 7mm, and your frame was 14mm tall, that is 50% of the frame height. Then, consulting a Angle of View of a specific lens on your camera, simply take 50% of that angle as the spot size with that lens!

I did that and came up with around 1.5 degrees for my Olympus E-PL1 micro 4/3 with the zoom lens at 42mm. Almost a 1-degree spot. Not too shabby.

 

[Stephen Prunier]

Our job is to enable members to spend money on photographic equipment, darkroom equipment, projectors and supplies. Your spending will help us reach our goals.

That made my day!!!!