pentax digital spotmeter and minolta m

[game]

Hi,
The metered prism of my pentax 67 has broken. And because I like the principle of spotmetering I decided to buy either the pentax digital spotmeter or the minolta m spotmeter.
Some things are important for me but I can't really find too many info in the internet including this forum about it.
What meter would you guys recommend?
Till what exposure time can they measure? Are they both readible in low light, read night. Do you set aparture first, or exposure time?

Hope someone can tell a bit more about any of this. thanks for the effort! Best regards Sam

 

[glbeas]

I like my minolta spotmeter because it's reasonably accurate and only needs a single AA battery to power it.

 

[jbbooks]

I am not familiar with the meter prism on the Pentax 67, but if I were thinking of the meter prism on the 67II vs a Pentax spotmeter, I would spend the money on the meter prism. I don't think the smaller angle on the spotmeter would make it worth giving up the capabilities of the camera meter prism or putting up with the inconvenience of a separate, hand-held meter.

 

[Soeren]

The Minolta Spotmeter M Manual
http://66.49.230.119/flashes_meters/minolta_spotmeter_m.pdf
Cheers Søren

 

[jbbooks]

Till what exposure time can they measure? Are they both readible in low light, read n

Meant to include this earlier.

The Pentax f stop scale reads from two-thirds less than one to f 128. Shutter speeds shown are from 1/4,000th of a second to 4 minutes and EV scale reads from 1 to 19 2/3's.

You enter the film ISO number and set the pointer to the number shown when you look through the eyepiece while depressing the trigger.
Pentax calls the number the EV (exposure value). However, if you are familiar with the Hasselblad system, for example, the number given by the Pentax meter as the "EV" cannot be used directly except for an ISO of 100.

Practically speaking, then, what you do is, with the correct ISO selected, set the pointer to the meter reading and the suitable pairs of f stops and shutter speeds can be read from the dials.

 

[Alexz]

IMHO, metering in EV is a great advantage over direct exposure that regular meters provide. EV allows you to customize actual exposure to your preferences (especially with Pentax Digital Spotmeter calibrated for Zone VI or at least just with Zone sticker).
Coming from auto-everything 35mm world, even though my EOS-3 metering system is very robust and procesie in 90% of cases, I find working with Pentax Spotmeter to be a breeze. It provides you with EV of the spot metered area, then you decide where to put it into Zone scale thus being able shift your film dynamic range over the entire brightness range of the scene. For instance, I meter for highlights (usually shoot slides), then set the EV to zone VII and obtain a full set of appropriate exposures.
If you happen to be familiar with electrical engineering field, this is quite similar to a convolution operation (or wavelet transform) over scene brightness range, i.e. shifting the the window of particular film dynamic range over the brightness range of the scene, thereby making you a Master of the scene interpretation in terms of brightness range.
If your shooting style doesn't involve rapid actions allowing you to invest some time into exposure, composition, etc..., IMHO, Pentax Spotmeter is a clear winner.

Alex

 

[game]

thanks for all the replys, have to go to work now but when I come back I'll surely take a better look.
Maybe someone can elaborate a little more on the differences between both spotmeters? in raction to the suggestion to buy a new prism, I deceided to buy a seperate because the pentax67-1 has no spotmetering, just an overall metering. and because I might wanna get into LF. So the choice has been made wether to buy a spotmeter. Which one of the two is not clear yet.

some point that have not really been discussed, except for one post saying 4 minutes, is:

> till what exposure time will they put out? I do, night photography every now and then, and mostly I guess the exposure time. mostly it turns out fine, but it would be nice if a meter could perform there too. are there differences between the both in this aspect?

> as a concequence, will any of the two give some form of light, making themm readible in low light?

> is setting them up a matter of chossing aparture first, or time first?? and do they differ in this aspect?

hope to get an even better image of their performences and differences, thanks so far! Best regards Sam

 

[Soeren]

As you will see in the link I posted earlier the Minolta will meter to 30min.
from EV 1 to EV 22,5
You choose your Time and the meter gives you the appropiate apperture.
You can meter a highlight and press the h button and it gives you a value 2,5 stops wider.
When pressing the (s)hadow button it gives you a value 2,7 stops further down the scale. I would recommend you to read the manuals of both meters before you decide.
Cheers Søren

 

[game]

good suggestion,
I'll search the internet for a pentax digital spotmeter manual.
Thanks SAM

 

[Soeren]

Have you found the Pentax manual ?
You can find it here
http://www.pentax.com/docstore/index.cfm?show=6&app_id=1
Cheers Søren

 

[game]

hi soeren, thans for the cooperation, I allready had it but thanks anyhow! I'll read the both of them soon and hope to make a choice.

Thanks Sa,

 

[game]

after globally reading the manuals, seem sthe minolta is cpapable of doing more things. But the pentax strikes me as very elegant. I'll am very close think, what the heck with minolta. the Pentax is so simple, and it does all I want. Minolta only does stuff I don't need.
there is just ONE thing:

Pentax goes upto 4min.
Minolta goes uptop 30 min.

I do a lot of night/evening stuff...

Sam

 

[game]

or could I, when shooting in very dark circumstances, set the meter to a high ISO and then meter? guess that's possible. Can someone elaborate on that?

and allothough the red leds are giving light, the rings for aparture etc, are they too giving light? Cause if not, than you still can't read the right exposure time in dim light....

Best regards SAM

 

[Helen B]

Sam,

The Pentax reads down to EV 1 at EI 100, which isn't particularly dim. I can read the dials quite easily in that level of light - though there would be a problem if you were reading a brighter place but standing in the dark.

As far as the 4 minute limit goes, it is easy enough to count the stops beyond if you want - as if there were imaginary markings for 8 m, 16 m, 32 m etc. You could even mark them on yourself if they were important to you.

I have both the Minolta F and the Pentax Digital, as well as a Sekonic L-508. The 508 takes the Minolta Booster II that improves the low light sensitivity by eight stops, but that is only in wide-angle reflective mode, not with the 508's incident or spot sensor. The 508 doesn't have a meter readout in the viewfinder window.

If I was buying a spotmeter now I'd think about the L-558 because that has a readout in the viewfinder, as do the Minolta and the Pentax Digital. The L-558 doesn't accept the Booster II though, as far as I know.

Best,
Helen

 

[haziz]

after globally reading the manuals, seem sthe minolta is cpapable of doing more things. But the pentax strikes me as very elegant. I'll am very close think, what the heck with minolta. the Pentax is so simple, and it does all I want. Minolta only does stuff I don't need.
there is just ONE thing:

Pentax goes upto 4min.
Minolta goes uptop 30 min.

I do a lot of night/evening stuff...

Sam

Another vote for the Pentax digital Spot meter. It is in fact very simple and elegant, and with the Zone dial "sticker" from Calumet very easy to use for Zone system placement. You could also look out for a Zone VI modified meter though I am not positive if the benefit is significant. The most important factor is the simple elegant design of the meter itself and the ease of using the dial preferably with the Zone "sticker" from Calumet to make Zone placement for B&W totally seamless. I believe you could also download a PDF or similar file of the "sticker" to print yourself.

Sincerely,

Hany.

 

[game]

Sam,

The Pentax reads down to EV 1 at EI 100, which isn't particularly dim. I can read the dials quite easily in that level of light - though there would be a problem if you were reading a brighter place but standing in the dark.

As far as the 4 minute limit goes, it is easy enough to count the stops beyond if you want - as if there were imaginary markings for 8 m, 16 m, 32 m etc. You could even mark them on yourself if they were important to you.

thanks for all replys,
Do I underdstand correctly that, reading the f stops and exposure times in situations that the meter can actually meter, are quite unreadible due the low light situation?
In other words, one can find the EV value(cause it's illuminated), but not the matching f-stop and time because those aren't illuminated?

this may sound picky and all, but I would like to see anyone confirming my thoughts on the above....

Best regards Sam

 

[Soeren]

Sam,

The Pentax reads down to EV 1 at EI 100, which isn't particularly dim. I can read the dials quite easily in that level of light - though there would be a problem if you were reading a brighter place but standing in the dark.

As far as the 4 minute limit goes, it is easy enough to count the stops beyond if you want - as if there were imaginary markings for 8 m, 16 m, 32 m etc. You could even mark them on yourself if they were important to you.

thanks for all replys,
Do I underdstand correctly that, reading the f stops and exposure times in situations that the meter can actually meter, are quite unreadible due the low light situation?
In other words, one can find the EV value(cause it's illuminated), but not the matching f-stop and time because those aren't illuminated?

this may sound picky and all, but I would like to see anyone confirming my thoughts on the above....

Best regards Sam

Ehh Pentax maybe, Minolta No. In the Minolta meter you can illuminate the f-stop (if chosen) in the finder. The only spot only meter display I have seen that could be read in darkness is the Gossen spot(something). I could choose between that and the Minolta Spotmeter F (which is the M + flashmetering ability). Unfortunately the finder in the Gossen is to small and cluttered for my taste and it don't have an external display. It does however have a ZS. All the spotmeters I have seen will meter to EV1 some combinated meters e.g.
Sekonic 502? will meter to EV-2.(5) in incident mode. As said EV 1 is not very dark and if you can't read the display you probably can't meter anyway
Cheers Søren

 

[Soeren]

BTW a small flashlight may help you in those situations where you can meter read the result.
Cheers Søren

 

[game]

yeah is true,
To me, 1ev is kinfoff abstract yet. I think when one has been metering a while the term will get clearer. But when that thing has a 4 minute time written on it, one would think 1 ev is pretty dark.
I mean, when shoting 160 iso film in the middle of a clear night in a field, I can't read the display anymore, but I know from experience my exposure time lies under the 4 minutes...
That's sort off weird...
Sam

 

[game]

LV18 and above: Bright reflection off a sunlit object, including reflections off the sea
LV17 White object in full sunlight
LV16 Light gray object or skin in full sunlight
LV15 Gray card in full sunlight; typical exposure for ugly front-lit noon daylight photos
LV14 Typical light level for side-lit daylight shots in good afternoon light
LV13 Typical shadow cast in a daylight scene; cloudy bright days
LV12 California bright overcast
LV11
LV10 Dark, dreary overcast day in Boston, London or Paris
LV 9
LV 8
LV 7 Typical indoors; light outdoors about 10 minutes after sunset
LV 6
LV 5
LV 4
LV 3 Brightly lit night street scenes
LV 2 Typical night street scenes
LV 1 Dark scenes outdoors at night
LV 0 LV Zero is defined as the light level that requires a 1 second exposure at f/1 with ISO/ASA100 speed film.
LV-1
LV-2
LV-3
LV-4
LV-5 Scene lit by the full moon
LV-15 Scene lit only by starlight.

found this somewhere...

sam

 

[Ted Harris]

They are both good meters. I have used both and both do the job. As others have said the pentax digital spot is a single purpose, simple, elegant design. It won't let you down. I'd recommend it strongly before the Minolta or other meters. Two additional points in its favor that have not been mentioned: 1) It is small and nicely compact and 2) you can have the Zone VI modifications done to it by Calumet. The Zone VI modifiction is ONLY possible on the Pentax and Soligar meters (and I don't believe they do them on the Soligar meters anymore). Some disagree, but many find the Zone VI modification a real improvement in terms of the way the filters and baffles in the meter handle the input.

 

[game]

thanks ted!

 

[RJS]

Have a look at the Metered Light Pocket Spot. Butzi has a review that makes it sound good.

 

[game]

It's quitte impresive indeed. -2EV! very nice.
But very unavailable second hand. I saw a pentax digital spotmeter for 110 euro, think I'm gonna go for that.

game

 

[game]

Hi there,
figured I'd update this thread since I made a decision.
I was on my way pickin up a pentax digital spot. They are rather seldom seen second hand in my neighberhood for reasonable prices, and a guy in amsterdam was willing to sell his for 130 dollar.
But on my way he called to say he did not want to loose it. He made excuses off course, but that was not going to help me.
because I am eagering to shoot again, I decided not to wait ages before one came along that cheap. So I bought a sekonic l488. It is quitte cheap everywhere, but it seems a neat thing. Maybe a little bulky.
It features 1degree spotmetering, incident metering, and very important to me: aparture or EV or exposure priority configuration. it measures till 30 minutes, and has an illuminated LCS screen, as well on the outside as on the inside. It also is a flash meter.
So maybe it looks like shit, it will do the job I quess. I'll receive it one of these days....

Best regards Sam