Can I use my K1000 as a light meter?

[quidrilas_kelly]

<p>I just recently purchased a Bronica ETRS, and it has a non metered prism. With that said will, my Pentax K1000 work sufficiently as a stand alone meter for a medium format camera? </p>

<p> </p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Sure. Any camera meter that's close to the ISO standard will do as a meter. I have a good Pentax Spotmeter V - the analog needle type - and a Minolta incident meter. But I've toted my Olympus C-3040Z P&S digicam as a meter for my meterless medium format TLR and folding cameras, usually with ISO 100-400 films.</p>

<p>Besides the good smart metering and averaging modes, that Olympus digicam has a multi-spot integrated mode that's very handy. It can spotmeter multiple parts of a scene and average them together. Handy for some scenarios. It's smaller than my Pentax Spotmeter V. And the zoom lens makes it easier to zero in on small details better than the Pentax meter's fixed lens.</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>I always thought the meter in the Pentax K1000 and MX that I used to shoot years ago was fantastic.</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>I remember asking this type of question few years back when I got my first meterless camera. Just buy analog light meter such as Sekpnic. It will run you $30 and it's much easier than carrying a digi cam.</p>

[BrianS1664879711]

<p>One thing to remember is that the K1000 is an averaging meter, not center-weighted. So meter carefully and know what you are metering.</p>

[mukul_dube]

<p>You'll need to know how accurate the meter of your K1000 is, and you'll need to know what area it covers (as Brian said). Beyond that, it's a simple matter of following the rules for all reflected light meters. I agree with Kris that a separate meter will be better -- unless you propose to use the K1000 also to take photos.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I'm with Kris.<br>

Meters (used) are not very expensive and are much better than carrying a whole separate camera and lens combination.<br>

Sure you CAN do it, but you need to ask whether it's at all convenient.</p>

<p>Besides, the latitude of film is great enough to make sunny-16 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule">link</a>) work quite well, especially if you are shooting color-negative film.</p>

[quidrilas_kelly]

<p>Thank you guys!<br>

What model Sekpnic would you recommend?</p>

[BrianS1664879711]

<p>I'd be looking for a "Sekonic" instead. Ha ha ha.</p>

[mukul_dube]

<p>Sekonic meters are good, but there are many other brands that are also good. I'll advise a meter that does both reflected light and incident light readings. Selenium meters are not good for low light, while battery powered ones usually are. You should not buy a meter that takes mercury cells, which are no longer made.</p>

[kris-bochenek]

<p>I use both, selenium meter and digital one. It is Sekonic (that pesky P was to close) The one I have is Sekonic Auto-Lumi. Very easy to use. My Gossen Pilot 2 is also nice and it has incident light metering function, but it has never been the same since its crash onto concrete pavement. I also use Sekonic 306s digital meter from time to time. If I want to focus on a shot and have time for it, I take my Minolta spot meter. Buy one and test it to see if it works OK- When I got mine I tested it against evenly lit wall and noted the reading, I then checked my Nikon's meter on the same wall (meter set to center weight) and noted the reading- it should be very close. Good luck.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Some of the smart phone apps are excellent, and save you carrying anything other than the camera and your phone...</p>

[glen_h]

<p>But if you are going to carry the other camera anyway, you might as well use it.<br>

So far, I have been using alkaline cells in meters and cameras designed for mercury. Then again, I am not shooting slides, so I don't have to be all that close. As far as I can tell, though, they work fine. (I check against sunny-16 once in a while, or use the actual battery check.)</p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>Here I use Gossen meters but IDK if their price dropped far enough yet. K 1000 metering worked fine wherever its average characteristic cuts the cake. - Keep in mind that you might have to compensate for the floating aperture of some zoom lens. personally I'd consider rising k1000 to my eye match needle read the set aperture setting and transfering to MF camera too annoying, so I'd go for any alternative in reach but well if you are enthusiastic enough it should work well.</p>

[c_watson1]

<p>Get a handheld incident meter. Film and processing aren't getting any cheaper, so why not increase your keeper quotient by getting consistent exposure(sadly, they don't help much with compostion).</p>

<p>The little Sekonic 308 is near- perfect: flash and incident, large readable LCD readout, AA-power in one small package. It and the earlier 318 and 328 are usually available used for reasonable prices.</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>I think a basic SLR makes a good light meter if it makes good pictures. Of course you have to get used to what its metering pattern is, and remember that it is metering only the field of view of its lens. <br>

Of course a hand held meter would be much more convenient, but you could put some film in the Pentax and take some pictures while you're at it. </p>

<p>My favorite meter for calibrating the ones in other cameras is that in the Minolta X370 and the X700 (which agree). I readjusted all my old Nikon Photomics using that and a featureless beige wall, and shot miles of Velvia. </p>

[peter_simpson1]

<p>I have a Gossen LunaPro SBC which takes a 9V battery. I like it a lot. I also have a couple of apps for the iPhone which purport to be light meters. YMMV, but the advantage is that as long as you have your phone, you have a light meter. They match up pretty well with what the meter on my Nikon F3 reads.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>My Gossen LunaPro SBC is the best meter I've ever had, and I've had a lot over the years. It is a little more costly than some alternatives, but a good investment if you mean to go on with this sort of thing.</p>