Economical Spot Meters?

Can anyone suggest an economical spot meter? I cannot believe how

expensive these things are, even old, 2nd hand models.

 

I use an old Gossen Luna Pro CdS incident meter and I know there are

some spot attachements for this which aren't as tight. Any other

caveats? This is a workhorse incident/reflected meter but it doesn't

really allow me to easily practice the zone system by measuring the

contrast range, unless I can actually measure close the subject.

 

Hauling around my Nikon F3HP with a 200mm lens just as a meter isn't

really my idea of a fun time!

Mike,

I have the Gossen spot attachment for the Luna Pro in excellent+ condition with leather case. It measures 15 or 7.5 degree spot. I would be willing to part with it for a reasonable fee. If interested, e-mail me for photos and price.

 

JF

I have a rateher cheap Soligor meter which workes quite well although it measures a bit beside the marked spot. Another solution is the TTL spotmetering offered for the Lunapro, but it's slow and bulky.

If memory serves your Gossen Luna Pro, which works as either an incident or reflected

meter, has an angle of view of 30 degrees. Thus, using one of the attachments will give

you either half or a quarter of of the full view ... depending on which side you look

through. OTOH, today's modern spotmeters give you 1 degree or 3 degrees, a much finer

slice of the scene. It all depends onhow you use metering whether or not this means

anything to you. For very detailed zone work you would be better off with the modern

spot meter but for if you are jsut interested in using the meter to give you a quick read

and do some averaging in your head then the attachment might work fine for you.

 

In the studio I use an incident meter almost exclusively and in the field a spot meter.

Meters such as the Pentaxc Digital Spot which enable you to sweepo across the scene and

note the changes in small areas allow you to finely tune your exposure and development

to get what you want out of shadow and highlight detail (or at least they help you to do so

I should say). Do you need it? Only you can tell.

 

Do you need one of the meters in the $500 or up range, depends on how rough you treat

them I guess. Ihave owned my Pentax Digital Spot for some 15 years and it keeps going

strong and believe me it has taken lots of abuse. The less expensibe meters (probably all

the same meter) marketd as Soligar or Adorama, etc. may take the same beating but i have

no experience....you can buyt these meters in the 100 range used.

 

Alos keep your eyes open for the full spot meter atachment for the Luna Pro. It is a clunky

unweildy beast but works quite well. They frequently show up used int he $50 range.

I picked up a Minolta Spotmeter F s/h a couple of years ago and have become completely addicted to it, both for studio flash and outdoors. I think owning it has actually driven my preference for manual camera gear in all formats. 1 degree metering makes a big difference, so even if they're hard to come by at the right price I'd hold out till you find the right one.

Sekonic makes a nice little meter with a 5 degree spot. The L-408 Multi-Master. It did spot, incident, flash metering and it's water resistant. I think I paid about $350 for it 7 or 8 years ago. Unless you need a tighter spot, this does about everything you might want.

The old Soligor meters are the most affordable of them all. Built solidly, no fancy features. Check to make sure they use a readily available battery; I'm afraid they use the old mercury cells. I second the vote on the Minolta M meter. I use one at work, and it's accurate and easy to use. I myself have a Sekonic L-508. At around $300 used, it's still not cheap.

I have used my Honeywell Spot Meter V for many many years and it has worked perfectly. It is a true 1 degree spot, internal light for reading in dark environments, and has a long battery life. You can often buy them for less than $100 on eBay. I find 5 degree spots unacceptable for the stuff I do, but that's my opinion.

I came a long way regarding light meters and their usage when practicing the Zone System. I started with the Weston V + a tube painted black as proposed by Minor White ( Zone System Manual and The New Zone System Manual with Zakia and Lorenz). I had to walk a lot.

The S.E.I. 1 degree spot meter was a very expensive preposition in those days. After that, I bought the Gossen Luna Pro with the 7.5 + 15 degrees accessory. Not good as I had to walk too.

 

However in the early '90s, I found the Pentax Digital 1 degree. Fantastic for the ZS usage. No more walking around! I like the Pentax as it has a fast digital reading but you can play with the "zones" using the analog type of dial around its lens. The plastic scale which fits next to the dial, can be acquired from Calumet; it shows the zone numbers as well as its shade of gray zones. It requires the common 9 Volts household battery.

I use a Zone-VI modified Soligar spot meter. The later Soligars use 9V batteries; make sure you get one of these if you go for a Soligar. The mercury batteries are a hassel, at best.

 

My Soligar is very precise, and has matched perfectly the three Pentax spotmeters I've compared it to. The only downside is that the meter takes a brief moment (much less than a second) to "settle down"; you can't just punch the button and trust the initial reading. Hold it for a half of a second, though, and it's right.

 

Igorcamera used to have some Soligar meters at good prices; it'd be worth checking to see if he still has any of them. I think mine was $129 if memory serves.

If you are willing to save up your money, my suggestion would be that you get a Sekonic 558R.

 

While I own both a Pentax Spotmeter (analog) and a Minolta Spotmeter F which I like alot, I use the 558R at work and I am more than impressed with it. It's very nice having the spot meter integrated with a true incident meter, and the built in PocketWizard transmitter is a very handy feature as well. If you are a student or teacher, Mamiya America (the distributor of Sekonic) has a VERY good educational purchase program that I would _strongly_ recommend looking in to.

Hi Mike,

 

It depends on your definition of "economical." :)

 

That said, I agree with the Luna Pro with Spot attachment as a reasonably "economical"

meter. I bought a mint condition one off E**y for a little over US$125.00

 

I agree that it's a little bigger than some of the more contemporary spotmeters but they're

fairly accurate and are easy to use. BTW.... with the attachment it becomes a 15 and 7.5

degree spots as opposed to the 1 degree "true" spotmeter you're asking about.

 

I have the newer Minolta-F Spotmeter but don't use it all that often (I could be persuaded

to sell it.) I prefer the straight-forward f-stop/shutter speed combination readouts that I

can visualize at a glance. And analog! :)

 

Personally, if I could pick up an older analog Pentax Spotmeter at a reasonable price...

that's the one I'd go for. :)

 

Cheers

Thanks all.

 

By teacher, does university professor (not in anything photography related) count? I use academic discounts all the time for computer software but never thought about it applying to photography.

I imagine (and hope) you would have to be connected to a photographer department in some way.

 

But that's a question you should ask Mamiya.

Just like a decent tool, a good meter is indespensible. There are decent ways around a spot meter, like what was mentioned above... spot attachments and alot of manufacturers have incorporated spots into their meters. The thing about it is, most of the time...(I say this with a bit of hesitation as I don't want to be slammed) the light that is shining on the far away subject is the same light that is close by to you... not considerering the atmospheric haze.