Thanks for the advice. The Reveni should fill my needs and both its size and price were appealing. Right now, KEH has almost a dozen Pentax digital meters. Half are factory meters and the rest are Zone VI modified.
Meter Mania
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Thanks for the advice. The Reveni should fill my needs and both its size and price were appealing. Right now, KEH has almost a dozen Pentax digital meters. Half are factory meters and the rest are Zone VI modified.
I do that with my Minolta Autometer IIIf. Of course, Minolta added an on-off switch on their Autometer IVf which came out afterwards.
I’ve always wondered how good spot meters are at rejecting light outside of the circle? I’ve never really tested, but it’s not uncommon for that darkest part of my scene to be pretty close to the lightest part 6 or 7 stops away. You’re saying the Reveni doesn’t exclude out of frame light as well as other spot meters?
I recommend bitting the bullet sooner rather than going through buying-almost-but-not-quite-as-good-and-then-having-to-sell-and-repeat-the-process.
The Reveni will arrive at the end of next week. It will be another three weeks before KEH is finished with my quote. Early estimates would put me in the ballpark for a bulk of the funds towards a digital Pentax.
This should give me enough time to evaluate the process and see if I do want to buy one. My biggest concerns are size and age of the meter. Normally when I head out, it’s just a body and a lens. Even the 308 is a bit bigger than I would like but I prefer it over the Digisix.
If I were to add a medium format camera, then a spot meter would be considered a necessity. I’m avoiding stepping on that slippery slope.
I really like GE's PR-1 and PR-2. Cheap, reliable, and pretty durable from my experience. Almost every one I've picked up to test in antique shops worked right off the bat. I recently got an Ikophot with a Contaflex (not the cool kind, the SLR) that I'm excited to try out but I can't put down the PR-1 lol.
Thanks for the suggestion but I've settled on my hand held.
Sirius should be around shortly to welcome you to the forum.
I have a GE, not sure what model, it has the removeable front, the lid closed for very bright light, lid open dim, and the entire front removed for very dim light. I keep it with my Argus C3, it is spot on when compared to the Gossan, SCB. I need to test it see how well it does in really low light.
Now we are talkin'...I want to see pictures of all these meters!
Not sure if this question is directed toward me, but..
The Reveni Spot Meter has two circles overlaying the scene that its pointed at. The inner "spot" seems to read 100% of the light coming into the meter. The second circle can be thought of as an area of influence. The influence is greater as something bright approaches the "spot" while the effect diminishes--probably is even 0%--as you get closer to the outer perimeter of the second circle. I've tested mine and the influence on the meter can be quite significant, if you're not careful with what you're doing. The closer you get to your subject, the more reliable the center "spot." This isn't always feasible, of course. Does this make sense?
To be fair, my other spot meters (Pentax Digital and Sekonic L558) are also influenced when brighter areas are just outside the spot, but not as much as the Reveni. When using the Reveni Spot, I've learned to read boarder areas of the scene using Zone Mode, and then place that value on whatever zone I want. Then, it has this neat function whereby you can hold down the read button and scan the entire scene to see where those areas fall in relation to your original placement. I should probably note that I shoot mostly B&W film.
When I was using the little cube meter, the best readings were when I was close to the subject. I haven’t used a spot meter in years and never really considered one while just using 35mm film.
It’s good to hear from someone who is actively using the meter.
Not sure which one that is, since I only know the PR-1 and PR-2, but usually they don't perform really well in low light. That's really their only weakness. I usually just use my phone to meter when presented with a situation like that. Here you can see the PR-1 (left), PR-2 (middle), and PR-3 (right) for comparison.
I love meters, too. My collection:
Minolta Flash Meter II: Made in 1975, the year I was born. Still spot-on accurate.
Minolta Auto Meter IIIf: The first handheld meter I ever bought. I saved money mowing yards when I was 15 to buy it. It cost me $206 new.
Sekonic L-758DR: I like this meter so much that I bought two of them, both brand new. I only use one, the other is kept as a backup in case the first dies or gets lost. I use this for pretty much all of my work. It does incident metering and one degree spot metering.
Pentax Digital Spotmeter (Zone VI Modified)
Pentax Digital Spotmeter
Gossen Ultra Spot II: The first spotmeter I ever owned. I bought it when I was in college. Its the worst spotmeter I've ever used. It is huge and heavy, but worst of all the sensor is EXTREMELY sensitive to infrared and is overly sensitive to red and orange visible light, too. This is a problem I have found with Gossen meters generally.
Gossen Ultra Pro: Incredible low-light performance, does incident and wide-area reflected metering. Great for the Incident/Reflected Averaging method for determining exposure for backlit subjects. Unfortunately, it has the typical Gossen oversensitivity to IR and warm light. It underexposes one stop under incandescent and halogen lights and in very warm sunlight, like at sunset or sunrise. Matches my Minolta, Pentax, and Sekonic meters in normal daylight, LED, and fluorescent lights.
Weston Master V: This one was rebuilt by Ian Partridge in the UK. The Invercone incident light attachment for this gives more accurate readings in extreme side-lighting than the normal dome-shaped incident receptors all other meters use. I've always wondered why no one else has made one like this.
I did a comprehensive series of tests of the spotmeters I own, checking their color sensitivity, IR sensitivity, and flare control that you might find interesting.
Minolta Flash Meter II: Made in 1975, the year I was born. Still spot-on accurate.
Minolta Auto Meter IIIf: The first handheld meter I ever bought. I saved money mowing yards when I was 15 to buy it. It cost me $206 new.
Sekonic L-758DR: I like this meter so much that I bought two of them, both brand new. I only use one, the other is kept as a backup in case the first dies or gets lost. I use this for pretty much all of my work. It does incident metering and one degree spot metering.
Pentax Digital Spotmeter (Zone VI Modified)
Pentax Digital Spotmeter
Gossen Ultra Spot II: The first spotmeter I ever owned. I bought it when I was in college. Its the worst spotmeter I've ever used. It is huge and heavy, but worst of all the sensor is EXTREMELY sensitive to infrared and is overly sensitive to red and orange visible light, too. This is a problem I have found with Gossen meters generally.
Gossen Ultra Pro: Incredible low-light performance, does incident and wide-area reflected metering. Great for the Incident/Reflected Averaging method for determining exposure for backlit subjects. Unfortunately, it has the typical Gossen oversensitivity to IR and warm light. It underexposes one stop under incandescent and halogen lights and in very warm sunlight, like at sunset or sunrise. Matches my Minolta, Pentax, and Sekonic meters in normal daylight, LED, and fluorescent lights.
Weston Master V: This one was rebuilt by Ian Partridge in the UK. The Invercone incident light attachment for this gives more accurate readings in extreme side-lighting than the normal dome-shaped incident receptors all other meters use. I've always wondered why no one else has made one like this.
I did a comprehensive series of tests of the spotmeters I own, checking their color sensitivity, IR sensitivity, and flare control that you might find interesting.
Here is an image of some of my meters. Not included is the Soligar spot meter, a few more Westons, a Vivitar and a Bower, the spot meter is the boot of my SUV with some LF gear. The Weston V is shown with the inveracone, the GE which I do not know the model number is show with the cover off. sitting above the main body of the meter. Of all these I perfer the Weston V, it can be used with one hand. The Gossen although quite accurate needs to 2 hands to get the LEDs just right. In the bottom right are a Sekonic and Norwood Directors. My understanding is that Sekonic bought Norwood and moved the factory to Japan? Although the dome is quite yellow from age it is still spot on.
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This thread reminds me of the old saying that if you have a watch, you know what time it is. If you have two watches, you never know what time it is.
All of the metes I posted are within a stop of the Gossen which is dead on with mu Minolta 9 film and Sony A900 SLR with 50mm lens and in average mode. I did find a couple of Weston's that have dead cells, I just put in a box to take the recycling center at the Goodwill. I use the GE with my Argus 3, the Gossen and Weston V and VI with various MF gear. I hate to admit, but I do use my Pentax K2000 DSLR as a meter as well. In spot mode with a 28 to 90 zoom it reads just as well my spot meter, one of the reasons I have spent the money to replace the Soligar.
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I used a Minolta Autometer IIIf for years - still have it. But lately I've used my Olympus E-PL1 micro 4/3 camera as a meter and director's viewfinder.
Would you describe yourself as a belt-and-braces kind of guy? I mean, that’s a LOT of light meters!
That was a big part of my thinking. I know what to expect from the L-308 and thought I wanted to stick with just one meter but I'll give the Reveni a try.
Would you describe yourself as a belt-and-braces kind of guy? I mean, that’s a LOT of light meters!
Not really, just gathered up over 50s years. The only meter I bought for a particular purpose was the Soligar zoom, for Zone, the others were given to me, found at garage and estate sales for a few dollars, others came with camera I bought. As they are not worth much never sold any.
Light meters can be calibrated, preferably at the same lab, while we can Simonize watches.
Light meters can be calibrated, preferably at the same lab, while we can Simonize watches.
Do you synchronize them before or after they're waxed?
This is has been a reading & comprehension test, which you passed very promptly!
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