Pentax Spotmeter Light Meter

[braxus]

There is one of these available for sale locally and Im wondering if I should grab it? Does this meter take several spot meter points and average them out? Or does it only take one reading? Im wondering if its like the Sekonic spot meter in their units?

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Spot Metre 1 or the Digital 1? I got to play around with both while living in Japan. I went for the Minolta F spot. Much better metre as I can take multiple readings, and it'll tell me difference in stops. The pentax's don't. If I had extra cash, I'd probably buy another Minolta F. Mine has served me well for 30 years.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Mike Butkus has manuals online. You can read up on it before deciding.

 

[braxus]

Its the old meter from well over 35+ years ago. Here is a pic. It looks like the Spotmeter V. I have used this meter once back in late 80s, but its been so long, I forget how it works. In the viewfinder, it showed a meter with numbers 0-13 or so. I dont remember how those numbers correlate to a number you can use for your camera? Im guessing you use the number on the meter inside and move the outside dial to get your reading on the above scale?

 

[braxus]

Looking at it now, it looks like it will only take 1 reading. Not an ideal way to get a reading.

 

[braxus]

There's some Minolta Spot Meter M and Fs on Ebay at the moment. Most around $300. Ms are cheaper. What is the difference between the M and F?

 

[abruzzi]

There's some Minolta Spot Meter M and Fs on Ebay at the moment. Most around $300. Ms are cheaper. What is the difference between the M and F?

flash metering was the main thing, though there may be other differences.

 

[braxus]

Im wondering if I should just bite the bullet and just get a Sekonic that does both incident and reflective metering, with both the spot meter and incident bulb on the same unit? Once you get up to $300, the Sekonics that can do both aren't much more. Im going to open a new thread, since this is no longer about the Pentax.

 

[BrianShaw]

I use a Sekonic L-558. It’s heavy and big and does every form of metering imaginable. I’d be lost without it. You can’t go wrong with a meter in this series.

 

[Lachlan Young]

Looking at it now, it looks like it will only take 1 reading. Not an ideal way to get a reading.

It does all you need a spotmeter to do in order to get a useful meter reading. More importantly, It has the IRE scale which will do a better job of indexing your exposure than any of the silly zone dials or time-wasting multi-spot tea-making functions. Personally, I'd go for a Pentax digital spot meter in preference - mainly because it doesn't rely on electro-mechanics.

 

[wiltw]

Dedicated spotmeters generally measure a ONE degree angle, whereas the multi-purpose light meters generally measure only FIVE degrees, or TEN degrees. Up to the individual user to determine if 5 degrees is narrow enough...soimetimes it isn't.

 

[ventdesable]

Hello,

When one wants to get an average on spot metering it means that he doesn't know how to use it !

Pentax spotmeters are very good tools. They are simple and do the job.

You shoot B&W ? Then take a reading on the shadows where you want to get details, place them 2 stops under and let fly the highlights.
You shoot E6 ? Then take a reading on the highlights you do not want to be burned, place them 2 stops over and be with it with the shadows.

One reading - One solution. Averaging is the best way to get highlights burned and shadows buried as soon as the brightness range is over your film capacities. Especially with E6 and there 5 stops.
No need to average. Just a need of knowing how to use it.

If you want to know the contrast range of the scene take two readings : one on the shadows and the second on the highlights. And as the reading is in EV, you only need to know how to do a subtraction to get the contrast of the scene.

I do own a Digital Pentax Spotmeter and I won't trade it for anything else. It does the job it is paid to do and does it well.

J

 

[Donald Qualls]

You shoot B&W ? Then take a reading on the shadows where you want to get details, place them 2 stops under and let fly the highlights.

And if you also want to preserve highlight details in a particular area, take a reading there as well, and subtract the first. If the difference is more than 4-5 stops, specify minus development; if it's 3 or less, specify plus -- in both cases, aiming for 4 stops range.

The exposure part of Zone in a nutshell.

 

[Saganich]

Yup, the hardest part is choosing the right spot.

 

[Chan Tran]

There is one of these available for sale locally and Im wondering if I should grab it? Does this meter take several spot meter points and average them out? Or does it only take one reading? Im wondering if its like the Sekonic spot meter in their units?

Both the Pentax analog and digital spot meter commands high price because... It takes exactly 1 reading that is the LV value (which is EV number for ISO 100). That's all. The rest is done with the purely mechanical dial. Check the Minolta Spot meter M which is less expensive than the Petax today (was significantly more expensive in its day) would do that averaging and also read to 1/10 stop like modern meter and not 1/3 like the Pentax.

 

[Bill Burk]

The Spotmeter V has a nice snap like a microswitch when you take the reading. Unlike the Soligor Spot Sensor which had a home-made trigger that barely maintained contact.. It’s one scale so you don’t have to select high/low range. You can hold the trigger down and “Scan”. That’s something you can’t do with the digital ones.

 

[braxus]

You're right guys. I don't really know how to use a spot meter correctly. My T90 was my one exposure to such metering and it did averaging. I'm spoiled by in camera evaluative matrix metering, that that's all I've used since 2003. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Bill Burk]

You're right guys. I don't really know how to use a spot meter correctly. My T90 was my one exposure to such metering and it did averaging. I'm spoiled by in camera evaluative matrix metering, that that's all I've used since 2003. Thanks for the tips.

If you can get the same reading as a evaluative camera system by using a spotmeter and choosing spots and computing the exposure based on the spots you read, then you know what you’re doing.

 

[markjwyatt]

Its the old meter from well over 35+ years ago. Here is a pic. It looks like the Spotmeter V. I have used this meter once back in late 80s, but its been so long, I forget how it works. In the viewfinder, it showed a meter with numbers 0-13 or so. I dont remember how those numbers correlate to a number you can use for your camera? Im guessing you use the number on the meter inside and move the outside dial to get your reading on the above scale?

Depends on how much it costs.

I have one. It works (button is a little flaky,but it works). It is big. Light on the inside does not work, so no light, and this is unfortunate. Right now it is my only spotmeter (had a Minolta M, but it failed). I must asmit I do not use it a lot because I do more "walking around" and travelling photography, and it is kind of bulky for either.

 

[Bill Burk]

People always complain about the light… did you know it only lights up the first few numbers? You can only see it in the dark for the only numbers you need light to see

 

[Lachlan Young]

If you can get the same reading as a evaluative camera system by using a spotmeter and choosing spots and computing the exposure based on the spots you read, then you know what you’re doing.

Many of the matrix/ evaluative systems tend to be much more geared towards transparency rather than neg films - apart from the IRE based spot-meter indexing system in the Olympus OM-3 & OM-4 - and if you already have a Pentax spot meter, you are essentially going to end up in the same place as either of the Olympus cameras...

 

[Donald Qualls]

People always complain about the light… did you know it only lights up the first few numbers? You can only see it in the dark for the only numbers you need light to see

Mine is an old one, mercury battery old, and it did a good job lighting up the whole dial -- until I installed an adapter for a lithium button cell; the regulator won't pass enough current to light the dial lamp. OTOH, I don't have to deal with zinc-air hearing aid cells dying in a few months whether I use the meter or not, or pay for Wein cells -- the little lithium button cells aren't free, but they last a long LONG time, and the adapter ought to last longer than I will.

I suppose if I were going to do a lot of low-light work with it, I could carry a packet of hearing aid cells for when I need the light -- or get it converted with an internal regulator to use silver oxide. But since I almost exclusively use Fomapan/.EDU Ultra, which has the worst reciprocity on the market, seeing the dial in the dark isn't a high priority.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

There is one of these available for sale locally and Im wondering if I should grab it? Does this meter take several spot meter points and average them out? Or does it only take one reading? Im wondering if its like the Sekonic spot meter in their units?

It takes one reading. But you do but you take as many readings as you need. Typically you take one shadow and one highlight reading. The first to determine exposure and the second to determine the overall seen contrast. It's a wonderful neither and perfect for zone-system users.