Good Spot Meter to go with M8?

[DaveEP]

I have been having some issues with metering over the last few days. Nothing too drastic, and things I can mostly get over when time allows. However, trial and error with ev+/- is all well and good if you are in a situation where you can keep trying until you get it right.

However sometime you can have all the time you like to prepare, but ony get one shot, due to other factors (like people and cars plowing towards you).

So, in this instance it would be good to get some spot meter readings of various parts of the scene. Hmmm.... so what can you recommend for a (currently available) small hand held spot meter?

[gravastar]

For medium & large format work I used to use a Pentax Spotmeter. It's very simple and basic with a LED readout system indicating to the nearest 1/3 of a stop. It's the smallest and easiest to use spotmeter I could find. You can get or make a "Zone" scale to attach to it's scales if that's the way you work.

Bob.

[wparsonsgisnet]

I also use a Pentax, in this case a Zone VI-modified digital spotmeter. Nice meter.

[jobe]

Another vote for the Petax. I have a twenty year old Zone VI modified model from my 4x5 days that stll works very well.

[Bill Sievers]

The meter in the M8 is definately not a point and shoot meter ;-)

[marknorton]

3 current options from Gossen:

GOSSEN Foto- und Lichtmesstechnik, Exposure Meter, Light Meter, Luxmeter, Luminance Meter

- Starlite
- Variosix F2 with attachment
- Spotmaster 2

[stumac]

I have had the Gossen Variosix F2 with spot attachment for about 10 years and found it does all I have needed, reflected, incident and spot. Unfortunatly it is not a cheap meter, there was not much change from $ 1000A.

Regards, Stuart

[cbretteville]

How about a 2nd hand Minolta Spotmeter F? Should run at about $200.
- C

[tom0511]

I had to choose a Spotmeter 23 years ago and went for the Gossen Starlite.
Its a nice size (not too big), easy to use and also kind of supports zone system.
However I admit I dont us it (much). I find the metering of the M8 pretty good , and in combo with the dispplay/histogramm you can check if light is critical and compensate.
cheers, tom

[DaveEP]

Originally Posted by gravastar

For medium & large format work I used to use a Pentax Spotmeter. It's very simple and basic with a LED readout system indicating to the nearest 1/3 of a stop. It's the smallest and easiest to use spotmeter I could find. You can get or make a "Zone" scale to attach to it's scales if that's the way you work.

Bob.

Is ths the one? (I am only looking for a the model - not the source )

http://www.wolfcamera.com/product/541612107.htm

[gravastar]

Yes, and this is the Zone VI modified one eBay: PENTAX ZONE VI DIGITAL SPOT METER - MINT (item 160076264067 end time Jan-30-07 14:11:00 PST) with a description of the modifications.

Bob.

[DaveEP]

Originally Posted by stumac

I have had the Gossen Variosix F2 with spot attachment for about 10 years and found it does all I have needed, reflected, incident and spot. Unfortunatly it is not a cheap meter, there was not much change from $ 1000A.
Regards, Stuart

Is anything in photography that is quality and "worth having" cheap nowadays?

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to look in to here....

[graeme_clarke]

I use a Minolta Spotmeter F with a Bronica - works well.

Graeme

[Woody Campbell]

Originally Posted by gravastar

Yes, and this is the Zone VI modified one eBay: PENTAX ZONE VI DIGITAL SPOT METER - MINT (item 160076264067 end time Jan-30-07 14:11:00 PST) with a description of the modifications.

Bob.

You can sure spot the large format refugees by their meters. The Zone VI modified Pentax is outstanding.

[lars_bergquist]

My experience with spot meters is that they create as many problems as they solve. Can you find a nice 18% surface? If not, you're deep into guesswork, and you will spend more time that way than with bracketing your exposures.

Now, if you know where it will happen, but will get just one shot, then meter the place in advance -- one or two F1 cars will not make much of a difference.

My solution for tricky lighting has for many years been the exact opposite of a spot meter -- an incident meter (those with the funny little white half-spheres on them). Totally accurate if you can find a place with the same light as on the subject, and you usually can, if in the open.

The old man who bought his first meter in 1956

[DaveEP]

Originally Posted by lars_bergquist

My experience with spot meters is that they create as many My solution for tricky lighting has for many years been the exact opposite of a spot meter -- an incident meter (those with the funny little white half-spheres on them). Totally accurate if you can find a place with the same light as on the subject, and you usually can, if in the open.

....and there is the problem. I last needed a solution like this on Friday. I was stood in a totally shaded are, and the subject was going to be in the sunny area a good hundred yards/meters away (which I could not get to due to barriers), with probably just one chance of a shot (I got two this time as it happened). I have a Sekonic L-358, and it has the dome etc, but the readings were way off the mark compared to where the subject was going to be. In addition, the DR required to capture the entire scene was more than any digital or film camera was going to be able to capture. and the M8 meter was not exactly perfect in this instance. I would have liked to have taken several spot readings and figured out my own average based on the parts of the scene that I wanted to get....

[lars_bergquist]

Originally Posted by DaveEP

....and there is the problem. I last needed a solution like this on Friday. I was stood in a totally shaded are, and the subject was going to be in the sunny area a good hundred yards/meters away (which I could not get to due to barriers), with probably just one chance of a shot (I got two this time as it happened). I have a Sekonic L-358, and it has the dome etc, but the readings were way off the mark compared to where the subject was going to be. In addition, the DR required to capture the entire scene was more than any digital or film camera was going to be able to capture. and the M8 meter was not exactly perfect in this instance. I would have liked to have taken several spot readings and figured out my own average based on the parts of the scene that I wanted to get....

Well of course; sunlight and shade are different things. Sunlight however is an old friend -- ever heard of the solar constant? You can learn to judge it: a) How high in the sky? b) State of the atmosphere. c) Direction of light (backlight, sidelight). Where I live close to 60° N, "sunny sixteen" usually works out as "sunny eleven". Sidelight, open up 1/2 stop. Backlight, + 1 1/2 stop. If the sky is hazy (indistinct cast shadows), use "hazy eight" and stop worrying about direction.

A digital image file which is about one to one-and-a-half stops underexposed can yield a good picture if corrected in the computer. But overexpose, and you have blown it! I learned that by scanning film. My M8 arrived just the other day, so I haven't had time to check this in practice yet, but people say this works fine with the M8.

The old man from the Age of Bathroom Photography

[nzav]

Having owned and used 1 degree spot meters from Pentax (Zone VI modified), Gossen, Minolta, Sekonic, and others, I have found the latest Sekonic L-758 to be the best of the bunch. It can read ambient or flash with a percentage display of the ratio, has the most sensitive spot reading for flash (down to f2.0), and can be used to find and calibrate the dynamic range of any digital camera. These clibrations can be stored in the meter for up to three different cameras.

The L-758 is ideal for adapting the Zone System to digital shooting because you can set the display to warn when exceeding clipping points and maximum detail limits in both shadow and highlight areas.

Even better, you can take an incident reading (which will give you an 18% gray Zone V equivalent) without using a gray card, save it, switch to spot mode, and use that reading as your middle EV. Readings of highlights or shadows taken after that with the spot meter can display as + or - EV with .1 EV accuracy in the viewfinder. If enabled, flashing displays will warn you when you are exceeding the DR of your M8 (or any other camera that you calibrate with the meter). If you want Zone System precision in exposure with ambient and/or flash, I know of no other meter that can do that as well as this one.

One final note... lightmeters are more complicated than just a mechanism to display a quantity of light. I have tested all of the above for accuracy in exposure and color response and found some of the most expensive (German) spot meters had the worst spectral neutrality. Up to four stops discrepancy between certain colors of equal intensity were not unusual. Unless you shoot only monochromatic subjects, this can affect B&W exposures, as well as color images. A meter that is not evenly sensitive across the spectrum, can cause issues to drive one nuts because it will be accurate under some conditions, and wildly off in others.

In response to this issue, the old Pentax Zone VI spot meter had special filters installed over the sensor as part of the modification to make its response closer to B&W films of the day. Unfortunately, this meter dd not work with flash.

[Woody Campbell]

Originally Posted by DaveEP

I have been having some issues with metering over the last few days. . . ..... so what can you recommend for a (currently available) small hand held spot meter?

By the way my Pentax meter has been gathering dust for years. If I've got time to use a spot meter I also have time to shoot and chimp - the histogram display gives me much more exposure information than a spot meter.

I was actually surprised at how well the M8 meters. The white stripe on the shutter curtain looks kind of funky - not nearly as sophisticated as the Canon 1Ds's multi zone system. But in actual use I get about the same high proportion of keepers (exposure-wise) from the M8 as I do (did?) from the 1Ds.

[square_one]

Originally Posted by Woody Campbell

You can sure spot the large format refugees by their meters. The Zone VI modified Pentax is outstanding.

So true - I've an analog PentaxV (with a helpful ZoneVI zone sticker) acquired when I got into LF. It's all I use as an occasional supplement to Sunny 16 with a Leica O. I've never worried about 'grey card in the field' stuff as some simple film testing fixes YOUR meter to YOU. To check continuing accuracy just spot a clear true blue sky about 60º to 90º opposite a mid morning sun for a brightness value of close to 14 which says the meter is cooking just fine. the more you use a spot the more you'll feel what you're looking at, and the fewer readings you'll take for a given shot. At first I noted 5-6 different zones and all the attendant decisions. Then I fixed Zone III and spotted upward if I needed to. Now - when I use it - I spot my V or VI and if critical shadow or highlight seems beyond two-plus zones down or up I spot them to see if the exposure needs tweaking.

Don't suppose incident or spot matters a lot, long as you get comfortable with interpolating.

As a supplement to an M8 brain tho, I would think spot the ticket.

Bruce