Spot meter recommendations

MurrayMinchin

Membership Council
Subscriber
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
5,481
Location
North Coast BC Canada
Format
Hybrid
Pentax digital spotmeter...mine has been flawless for almost 30 years.
 

Richard S. (rich815)

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2003
Messages
4,924
Location
San Francisco
Format
Multi Format
For simple spot the basic Minolta or Pentax pistol types are terrific. For something with more bells and whistles consider a Sekonic L-508. I bought mine used many years ago and it's never let me down.
 

Dan Quan

Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2009
Messages
804
Location
Albuquerque,
Format
Multi Format
rich815 said:
For simple spot the basic Minolta or Pentax pistol types are terrific. For something with more bells and whistles consider a Sekonic L-508. I bought mine used many years ago and it's never let me down.
Click to expand...

That Sekonic L-508 ZoomMaster looks like a cool meter. I have a 758DR that I really like, but since getting back to table-top and +lifesize I am considering the L-508 ZoomMaster as well. It seems to be a great meter and it accepts the accessories like the mini light receptor, which I absolutely love for getting into very tight places. The spot on my 758DR does not allow focus at very close range. This may be more of a nuisance than a problem, but I still remember using a wand on my old Minolta Flash IV and it was a great little tool. However, the L508 does lack the inboard Pocketwizard radio transmitter, so one might need to be velcro'ed to the back.

The other thing I remember is that the Pentax Digital Spotmeter had a variation which was modified by ZoneVI to improve reading through colored gels, for enhanced accuracy in B&W Zone System readings. However, I shot almost exclusively transparency film and never adopted the Zone system on what little B&W I did shoot so I am not going to enter the fray on the argument of the effectiveness of the modifications, that is for smarter folks than I.

http://www.sekonic.com/downloads/l-508_english.pdf

edit: Apparently the Sekonic L-608 Super Zoom Master also takes the Mini Light Receptor and has an onboard transmitter. I need to research this a little more.

http://smc.temple.edu/fma/files/2011/07/L-608Manual.pdf
 
Last edited by a moderator:

jk0592

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2011
Messages
107
Location
Canada
Format
Medium Format
+1 for the Pentax Digital Spotmeter. Going on strong for 25+years, trouble free.
 

kintatsu

Member
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
366
Location
Bavaria, Ger
Format
4x5 Format
I have the Gossen Starlite 2 and love it. It does flash, reflected, incident, 1 or 5 degree spot, and also gives photometry readings. It will also do zone system measurements, allowing you place values and shows you the range of values in the scene.

Pricey, but worth it.
 

Pumalite

Subscriber
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
1,078
Location
Here & Now
Format
Multi Format
+1 Minolta Spotmeter F
 

Mark_S

Subscriber
Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Messages
563
Location
Portland, OR
Format
4x5 Format
I shoot mostly LF, and some MF - I find that the Pentax Digital Spot is very intuitive for my pseudo-zone method when I am shooting both LF and MF, although because of the type of photography that I do with MF, I find myself using an incident meter more often when shooting MF (Minolta Autometer IVF).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…