Which Spot Meter Do You Use

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Ian-Barber

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My Sekonic L758-D no longer works afrer dropping it into a pond about 12 months ago.
For a replacent, I quicte fancy the Pentax digital one.

So which one do you use?
 
I have a Pentax Spotmeter V, it's not digital but is quick and easy to use. I have a Capital/Soligor digital meter but the on/off switch has failed, U was going to have it repaired but then acquired a Minolta Spotmeter F for £20. The advantage of this meter is it can be used with daylight and flash.

Ian
 
£20 for a Minolta Spotmeter F, you got a very good deal there. I was also looking at the Spotmeter V as these seems to be a little cheaper than the Pentax digital models
 
I thought the spotmeter v needed a battery work-around?
 
My favourite is my Gossen profi-six with profi-spot. Bulky, I know.
I picked up a gossen spot master to try and get to grips with digital readouts but it doesn't come naturally for me.

I think the pentax digital is the best of all worlds but there is a price tag...
 
MartyNL said:
I thought the spotmeter v needed a battery work-around?
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It may, but last time I used it the battery was OK.

I agree with the Profisix/Lunasix, I have a Profisix ans also a Lunasix F, as well as two Profi-spot attachments. They can be found for £10-£20 at the camera fair I go to.

Also the Luna Pro meters but you need the battery adapters, which is probably why one I bought last year is not reading correctly, it was very cheap.

Ian
 
I still have a Pentax Spotmeter V that I bought new from Great Western Cameras in the Brunel Centre, Swindon in 1983. I also have a Sekonic L-758-D (huge, and too many buttons), a Pentax Digital Spotmeter (very small), and a Gossen Starlite 2 (Zone System scale built-in). It's a close-run race for my favourite with the Spotmeter V (an old friend) and the Gossen tying.
 
Collas said:
I still have a Pentax Spotmeter V that I bought new from Great Western Cameras in the Brunel Centre, Swindon in 1983. I also have a Sekonic L-758-D (huge, and too many buttons), a Pentax Digital Spotmeter (very small), and a Gossen Starlite 2 (Zone System scale built-in). It's a close-run race for my favourite with the Spotmeter V (an old friend) and the Gossen tying.
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How big is the Pentax Digital Spotmeter compared to the Sekonic L-758-D
 
Not much in it with the height but the V is wider and has more depth. But I give it the benefit of the doubt after all these years.IMG_5963.jpeg
 
Pentax digital spotmeter for me, complimented by a Gossen Profisix.

I've never really gotten on with my Sekonic 758D......don't know why.

Mike
 
mpirie said:
Pentax digital spotmeter for me, complimented by a Gossen Profisix.

I've never really gotten on with my Sekonic 758D......don't know why.

Mike
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I do miss my Sekonic as I did like its functions so I may start looking for one of these as the Pentax digital is not easy to find at the right money.

I am using a ProFsix for incident and never really thought about the spot adapter for it
 
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Ian-Barber said:
My Sekonic L758-D no longer works afrer dropping it into a pond about 12 months ago.
For a replacent, I quicte fancy the Pentax digital one.

So which one do you use?
Click to expand...

Pentax Digital modified by Zone VI

Sekonic l-408 adjusted to match the Pentax

Functionally, the meter in my Leica M5 is somewhat of a spot meter and can substitute in a pinch

Ditto my phone light meter app

I also have several Luna Pros I have either installed with battery adapters, or I've recalibrated them for 1.5V batteries. I have the spotmeter attachment for them, but, frankly, it's pretty much trash and not useful at all.
 
I use a Sekonic L858D, I also have a Sekonic L308s and a manual Sekonic L 398A Studio Deluxe.
 
I have a Soligor digital spot meter and a Sekonic DigiSpot L-488.

I generally prefer the Soligor which reads out in EV and then has analogue dials to calculate exposure, but unfortunately the switch is a bit dodgy.
The Sekonic does also have a wide field option, but I find the LCD hard to read (it's leaked a bit) and its "shutter priority" mode of operation (pick an exposure and it tells you the aperture) doesn't really match my "aperture priority" mindset (from many years of using a Minolta X-500).
 
Alan Klein said:
I can get a spot reading on my digital camera. Moving it to full zoom mode it gives me around 2%. That all depends on the lens you use.
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That's a profoundly good idea and so simple. I dunno why I never thought of it. Old Dogs, New Tricks, etc. Thanks!
 
I use the Pentax digital spot meter. In more recent years I've acquired the Gossen Starlite 2 and then the Sekonic L-858D-U against the possibility of the Pentax no longer working and repairs no longer being possible. Not sure this was a smart thing to do. So far I've not been able to figure out how to make the Gossen or the Sekonic usable with the zone system, certainly not in the facile way the Pentax is.

Gossen does tell you how to set one of the DIP switches for use with the zone system. Doing this doesn't do much for me. Be nice if it made a Weston Master-like dial appear on the screen, but it doesn't:) Maybe some day I'll get it worked out.

As for the Sekonic, I did find someone on-line who sells a hard copy print-out, nicely spiral bound, of the 200+ page manual. So I have that for bed-time reading:):)...

And back in 1973 I bought (new) an SEI Spot Photometer. Someone once said of it that its encyclopedic scales covering three brightness ranges made getting an exposure reading an end in itself. Unfortunately its selenium cell that is used to set the brightness of its bulb to a standard level failed years ago. I wish someone would undertake to resurrect these the way Ian Partridge does the Weston meters.

Not spot meters; I also have a Weston Master IV and a Weston Master V, both functioning and a Sekonic L-398D incident light meter. What is it about me and light meters? I like to paraphrase that old saying about watches: "A person who has more than one light meter never knows how bright it is."

David
 
thronobulax said:
That's a profoundly good idea and so simple. I dunno why I never thought of it. Old Dogs, New Tricks, etc. Thanks!
Click to expand...
The other nice thing is you can use Blinkies and its histogram, especially in center or matrix modes, something light meters don't have.
 
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