Light meter questions -

[Sean]

the exchange rate is pretty bad, that 275 would almost double + shipping. Guess I'll just do that though, get a used one.

 

[Robert]

How about the no-name meter sold by Adorama? I think it's only about $200 new. With a used meter I always wonder if it'll need to be adjusted.

 

[dr bob]

> snip < When I belonged to the camera club in texas, I went out to photograph with a member who was a PhD in Chemistry. When we got back to the darkroom to develop the film, he was trying to control the temperature to 1/4 of a degree.....I laughed and he never went out with me again......

That was NOT me! But I know some people like that too.

My main meter is the Minolta Spotmeter F. I have found it to be as acurate as I need for most purposes. I still use the old Gossen Luna Pro, like yesterday when photographing a bird nest with my Contarex and color print film. I use the spot meter for practically all b&w "zone system" work, which dominates most of my present efforts.

My spot meter is a little flucky in the flash meter mode. Sometimes several attempts are required before I am satisfied that I have proper readings. Maybe someone could help diagnose my technique?

Truly, dr bob.

 

[RAP]

The meter I use currently is an old Soligor Spot sensor II. I one I owned previously did a swan dive out my pocket, and bounced down the back steps, into an unrepairable mess.

I happened upon another, identicle for $50.00 in a local shop. It seemed to work fine so I took a chance. I then sent it into Zone VI for modification, when Fred was still around. That was back in 1988 and I have been using it ever since for color and B&W.

If I were to buy a new one, it would be the industry standard Pentax "D" word.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

I have a working and a corroded analog 1/21 Honeywell Pentax Spotmeter.

The Big Button cell was a 1.3 V 640 mercury cell. There is now a 640A or A640 alkaline replacement which is 1.5 V. Some people say that screws up the calibration.

Someday I am going to do some 'spot checks', for lack of a better term, with a power supply at 1.3 and 1.5 & see what it really does.

I have a lab photometer with an 8 degree sensor that matches CIE curve within 2% & I've already seen significant differences between it and one of the
Pentax'es, with a 1.5 V alkaline battery...I do NOT have any fancy light sources, so I'm going to just change my distance from an illuminated 18% grey card (because it sounds like a good thing to measure off).

I note the spectral response in the manual for the Pentax Spotmeter is kind of lumpy compared to the CIE curve, so that probably contributes to differences a little too.

Some people have played around with reducing the output from a 1.5 V 640A to make it look closer to a 1.3 V battery. I don't know how that works out.

I don't know when I'm going to get to do the meter comparisons. It's at the top of my list, but unfortunately so is everything else, so nothing gets done!

Murray

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

I read that paper, and was initially impressed that it came from Brooks.

I emailed to inquire who the author was; faculty or student, etc, and the school didn't bother to respond.

The longer I thought about it, the less scholarly that paper appeared to me. I have decided it appears to be a paper by an undergrad-level student who found it easier to dismiss the science that to research the reasons behind it.

Murray

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Oops, typo; ...than to respond to it.

Murray

 

[Ka]

I just dumped my Sekonic, albeit a puny 308L II... it was consistantly 1.5 stops off, and all my studio work underexposed.
My replacement: Gossen Luna-Star F2.
It's spot on and my work reflects it's accuracy (no pun intended).
Cheers!
Ka

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Any idea how old it was, whether it was photodiode or CsS sensor-based?

It would be nice to know that, at least for me, out of curiosity, because I have never heard of a photodiode type beign 'off', but this is not unusual for other sensor types.

Thanks

Murray

 

[Fintan]

I love my L608, personally I find it very accurate in terms of correct exposures in all modes. I have no idea how it works, but it really does for me.

I think www.hksupplies.com are the cheapest new [their store on ebay is here http://www.stores.ebay.com/id=5360883&ssPageName=L2], however I bought used.

Don't buy without the instruction manual though as its quite complex.

 

[Aggie]

my 508 Sekonic is dead on. You can download the manuals. Have to find the link, hubby used.

 

[Eric Rose]

Buy an ExpoDisk and calibrate your meter. I found that my meters were all over the place. Now they all agree and my negs are the happier for it. The meters I use are a Pentax 1 deg, Sekonic (semi spot, zoom thing) and a Gossen Luna Pro 6 with spot attachment.

 

[ThomHarrop]

I have a 508 and love it too. Get a photography student to buy it for you - it's only about $300.

 

[dr bob]

Person who has light meter always knows how to set shutter and aperture. Person with two meters, never knows.

 

[Aggie]

What if you have 3?

 

[dr bob]

Actually, I own six not including the ones in camera. Confusion reigns!

 

[Aggie]

We're counting the ones in cameras too? omg now I know why they talk about blonde roots.