Pentax 1°/21° Spot Meter

BobNewYork · Feb 7, 2009

I've used a Minolta spot meter for the past 20 odd years. (I'll check if its an Auto Spot). It's worked flawlessly and accurately since I got it. (I bought it at 47th Street Photo to show you exactly HOW old it is!)

Anscojohn · Feb 7, 2009

WGibsonPhotography said:
Yeah, that's what I thought when I saw the dials on the side. Is there a manual I can download on the internet, or will it be fairly self explanatory when I get it?

*****
Itis just like using the dail on a radio. Oooops, I forgot--radios don't have dials any more!!

Vaughn · Feb 8, 2009

xtolsniffer said:
They're great and easy to use. Learning how to interpret the readings properly, that's the difficult bit!

I believe the above means not that it is difficult to get the light readings -- but actually deciding what to do with them once you have them! An analogy would be a highly accurate rifle...one will only hit the target if one knows how to aim and fire it.

Congrats on winning the meter...but keep your eyes open for a Pentax...if you find a good deal on one, buy it and use the Soligor as a back-up!

Vaughn

WGibsonPhotography · Feb 12, 2009

Ok, so the Soligor Spot Meter came in today. It's actually a good bit bigger than I expected, and I hope I have enough room in my camera bag for it.

I've been playing around with it a little today by pointing it at stuff and seeing what the readings were. I'm not sure how the dials on the lens works yet, but I think I got it figured out.First, I decide what the film speed is and set the rear dial to that by lining it up with a dot. Then I take a reading off something, which gives me a numerical value in the viewfinder. I rotate the front dial until I line the number in the viewfinder up with the dot. When I do that, the aperture and shutter speed will be lined up on the dials. that reading should give me the proper exposure, assuming I want what I metered in zone 5, right? I know I'm probably wrong, but I want to make sure before I go shooting some film I guess I could test it out with my DSLR, but that would be too easy

mikebarger · Feb 12, 2009

that's the way my Pentax model V works.

Mike

WGibsonPhotography · Feb 12, 2009

mikebarger said:
that's the way my Pentax model V works.

Mike

Ok, well that makes me feel better. This meter doesnt have an instruction manual, so I'm just having to guess at how it works.

Tomorrow, I will probably do some test shots with my digital camera before I start shooting film. I'd rather screw up a digital photograph than waste perfectly good film

WGibsonPhotography · Feb 13, 2009

I compared readings from my XTi's meter and the Soligor spot meter, and the Soligor is consistently giving me readings of one stop more exposure than the XTi's meter. After comparing exposures a few times, I decided to take some pictures. First, I took a picture using the XTi's reading and then another using the Soligor's reading. I think the Soligor is actually giving the more accurate reading.

I was getting my meter readings by metering the wood of our deck, which is a bit brighter than zone 5, but if both meters were metering for zone 5, there shouldnt have been a discrepency if both meters were calibrated the same, right?

Oh, and before anyone bashes me for using a digital camera for comparison, I also used my K2 and got the same 1 stop discrepency. The reason I used digital to take the test pictures is instant feedback.

Ian Grant · Feb 13, 2009

Probably not the best way to make a comparison, I've ben testing a meter on my Yashicamat 124 alongside a Gossen Luna Pro - one reflective the other incident and surprisingly I get exposures within half a stop consistently. I also use a Capitol (Soligor) or Pentax spotmeter and again it's the same.

Ian

WGibsonPhotography · Feb 13, 2009

Ian Grant said:
Probably not the best way to make a comparison, I've ben testing a meter on my Yashicamat 124 alongside a Gossen Luna Pro - one reflective the other incident and surprisingly I get exposures within half a stop consistently. I also use a Capitol (Soligor) or Pentax spotmeter and again it's the same.

Ian

I know it's not the best way to test, but I wasnt sure what else to do (I'm running low on film and need to go buy some more). Honestly, I just wanted to make sure I was actually using the meter right. My Polaris meter is a reflected/incident meter with a digital readout. I've never used dials on a meter, so I wasnt sure if I was doing it right or not. The dials are simple for someone who's used one for a while, but it was completely new to me. More than anything, I wanted to make sure I was using it right and that it wasnt off by like 5 stops (assuming I was using it right)

sometime within the next few weeks, I'm gonna buy a few rolls of film and use the Soligor. I'm getting ready to buy some slavich unibrom paper. I'll shoot and develop the film when the paper comes in and then make some prints.

Arvee · Feb 13, 2009

Digital cameras/meters are biased toward underexposure to avoid blown highlights, just as you would expose with slide film. My wife shoots an XT and brackets everything and she/we consistently choose the -1/3 stop exposure as best exposure.

Take a white piece of printer paper outside on a sunny day and measure with the meter, then open 2 1/3 stops and that should be a pretty good exposure. Or the palm of your hand on a bright sunny day and open 1 stop. This also should be darned close to proper exposure and both will typically agree with the Sunny 16 rule, f16@1/ISO film speed.

My Digisix, designed primarily for the digital market, is about -2/3 stop compared to my Pentax V and other meters of the same vintage.

-Fred

WGibsonPhotography · Feb 13, 2009

Fred Aspen said:
Digital cameras/meters are biased toward underexposure to avoid blown highlights, just as you would expose with slide film.
-Fred

That did cross my mind when I first realized my camera meter was off about a stop with my Polaris meter when doing reflected readings with it, but I had no way of knowing that for sure

John Koehrer · Feb 14, 2009

WGibsonPhotography said:
That did cross my mind when I first realized my camera meter was off about a stop with my Polaris meter when doing reflected readings with it, but I had no way of knowing that for sure

You still don't.
Not all that you find on the internet is fact. But if the rationale sounds good & works properly then there's no harm done.

Pentax 1°/21° Spot Meter

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