LunaProSBC

rmolson · Feb 26, 2009

Luna Pro SBC

When my old Luna Pro died and the repair would cost more than the replacement I opted for a newer Luna Pro SBC..I must have looked at the wrong illustration for I ended up bidding on not a zone dial Luna Pro but the null meter SBC model. Something I have come to know and hate!
I am analog to my bones and can transpose a dial with numbers into zones in my head. But the null meter principle totally confuses me And using the Gossen Spot attachment from my old Luna Pro is even worse if that is possible , nothing computes. As the joke goes by the time the exposure was figure out the glacier had melted. Instead I wipe out my trusty Weston Master V and get a reading that makes sense Oh I have the manual and studied it , no help there. Now some people love the latest things, I am not one of them If anybody wants to swap an old working Luna Pro with a regular dial and needle with numbers for a reasonable new SBC in very good working order, I would be interested. I never considered a spot meter as I dont want something so bulky I need a holster to carry it. instead of slipping it into my pocket.

John Koehrer · Feb 26, 2009

rmolson,
I think you've just convinced yourself that the SBC's inconvenient. I haven't had either for years but have used both prior to moving to Sekonic Never had a problem changing from the pro to the SBC or back again.
I gotta say if you understand the Weston dial. Nothings impossible. Wish I had my old master V back

archphoto · Feb 26, 2009

There is a thread about this subject somewhere on this forum AgX had the correction data for this lightmeter setup.

Please digg a bit deeper into the threads !

Peter

BobNewYork · Feb 26, 2009

I used the Luna Pro F for many years and that had the null system. I rather liked it. Nulling the meter gives you Zone V and the needle for subsequent readings show you in full and 1/3 stops the relative luminance to the Zone V or null level. In the studio I loved it for setting lighting ratios. Null for the main strobe and adjust the others to the relative level versus that.

removed account4 · Feb 26, 2009

rmolson

from time to time
the good folks at
equinoxphotographic dot com
have them for sale ... if you
ever want to replace yours in kind ..
i still use mine, which was my dad's, purchased back in the early 1980s ...

Ian Grant · Feb 26, 2009

Thanks Bob, that's useful to know, I bought a Luna Pro SBC last summer and it's sat waiting for when I return to the UK in 4/5 weeks. I also have a Luna Pro so it will be interesting to see if I find it much different to use

Ian

rmolson · Feb 26, 2009

John Koehrer said:
rmolson,
I think you've just convinced yourself that the SBC's inconvenient. I haven't had either for years but have used both prior to moving to Sekonic Never had a problem changing from the pro to the SBC or back again.
I gotta say if you understand the Weston dial. Nothings impossible. Wish I had my old master V back

Luna Pro follow up

Wow if everybody is getting good results then maybe the problem lies not with the equipment but the operator. Went back to the manual and found my basic mistake. I was not nulling on Zone V first! Then the dial becomes direct reading. Also all the reading should be taken from the same set up. I was creating problems switching from incident to spot . Thanks for the input guys

David Brown · Feb 26, 2009

rmolson said:
Luna Pro follow up

Went back to the manual ...

Ta Da!

Not picking on you. I'm really glad that this worked out. The SBC is a fine meter with readily available batteries, to boot!

Chazzy · Feb 26, 2009

rmolson said:
Luna Pro SBC

When my old Luna Pro died and the repair would cost more than the replacement I opted for a newer Luna Pro SBC..I must have looked at the wrong illustration for I ended up bidding on not a zone dial Luna Pro but the null meter SBC model. Something I have come to know and hate!
I am analog to my bones and can transpose a dial with numbers into zones in my head. But the null meter principle totally confuses me

What is the null meter principle? I'm afraid that I don't understandprobably because I don't own a Luna Pro.

Ian Grant · Feb 26, 2009

Any null meter is one you adjust the reading dial on it so that the needle returns to a zero point, they aren't just used in photography and the set point could be a temperature, a pH, a speed, it doesn't have to be zero, just a fixed reference point.

Ian

AgX · Feb 26, 2009

Charles,

In photography that null meter principle means that you `place´ a given luminance (by adjusting a needle or a digital mark) at null which means that the exposure read-out wil be correct if the object was of that standard 18% reflectivity,.. or you want it to come over as such.

The same time you can place the luminance at any other value (the Luna Pro / Profisix has got markings from -3 to +3). For instance white skin at +1.

This abilitiy of easy `placing´ is the advantage of those meters that employ that kind of principle.

vickersdc · Feb 27, 2009

It's funny, but after buying a 1937 Leica II I wanted to use a light meter that was used about the same time. I purchased an early Weston Meter to use but the cells were well past their use-by date. That meter sat in a cupboard for a few months before I finally got around to sending it to Megatron for a new cell and calibration (£42).

Since then, I've not used anything else! I love using this meter, I like the fact that it is analog and I like even more that I don't have to worry about batteries.

benjiboy · Mar 29, 2009

AgX said:
Charles,

In photography that null meter principle means that you `place´ a given luminance (by adjusting a needle or a digital mark) at null which means that the exposure read-out wil be correct if the object was of that standard 18% reflectivity,.. or you want it to come over as such.

The same time you can place the luminance at any other value (the Luna Pro / Profisix has got markings from -3 to +3). For instance white skin at +1.

This abilitiy of easy `placing´ is the advantage of those meters that employ that kind of principle.

I've used a Lunapro/Profisix for more than twenty years and have found it to be very easy to adjust the tones of the exposure with, as the previous post says each calibration is one tone , white skin is Zone V1 so +1 stop from the reading, black skin is either Zone1V or 11V depending how dark it is, so requires one or two stops less exposure to show detail in it.

jeroldharter · Mar 29, 2009

I have a Luna Pro SBC and love the null meter. Just as someone else said, you null the meter and then you have instantaneous visualization of a 5 stop range that is graphic rather than having to use any math.

For example, if I take a spot reading of the shadow and place that on zone III (putting the null meter at -2) and then take a reading of the highlights I can just look at the null meter to get a visual confirmation of the contrast of the scene. If the meter goes past +2 then the scene is contrasty, less than +2 it is low contrast. With my Sekonic spot meter, I take a reading of a shadow and get a number (e.g. 6.3) and then take a highlight reading and get 9.9 then I have to do some quick arithmetic. Not exactly neurosurgery but just one more thing to screw up.

I especially liked the null meter feature when I did color slides. Now for Black and white, I use it mostly as an incident meter for BTZS methods and it works great also. I think I have had mine for almost 20 years without a problem.

LunaProSBC

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