Spotmeters the good, the bad and the ugly.

[Baxter Bradford]

You don't say what sort of shooting you prefer tranny/ B+W or colour neg or whether you use flash etc. Don't go entirely by technical specs. It is a bit of kit that gets used frequently, so the display and buttons/triggers need to feel right to your preferences/reckoning. As it gets used for every shot, it is worth investing sensibly for this vital piece of kit. As others have indicated, they provide many good years of service.

I bought a Sekonic 508 5 years ago and have been very happy with it. Only used the incident metering to measure filter factors, liked the readout to show exposure range. Liked the AA battery too, cheaper and easier to find than a CR-123.

Recently bought a Pentax Digital Spot. First thing I noticed was that read 1/2 stop differently (this coinciding with large proportion of film which needed pushing 1/2 to 1 stop for second sheet), also that reads in far lower light than the Sekonic - about 3 stops lower. I recently made a dawn shot where the mid-tone was 0.3 EV! Still honeymoon period, but soon found I prefer the EV way of working. Coloured sticky tape provided me with my exposure latitude guide! Results from recent trip to Tuscany (120 sheets of 5x4) did contain a couple of nightmares, but essentially far closer than I would have achieved with the Sekonic.

The sad reality is that your choices are dwindling, not just in terms of makes, but the range of models is rapidly becoming one-stop shopping. Minolta, Sekonic, Gossen and Pentax

[argentic]

I have been using a Pentax digital spotmeter since 1996, and I'm very pleased with it. But I can recommend the Pentax analog spotmeter too, because it's the same quality, a lot cheaper, and the needle is actually more accurate than the digital indication of in 1/3 rds of a stop.

[Ruvy]

I had a soligor, was please with it but left it for two minutes on the ground in a field where I was shooting. Someone (didn't carry a camera so I assume not a photographer but who knows) noticed a gun and stoled it... Now I am using Sekonic 508. It has many advantages it has zoom spot (i.e. you can look at a spot in 1-4 degree view) it is not "just"spot meter, it measure also ambient and it has a flash function - very important if you plan touse flash.
I am not sure if there is something wrong with mine or all meters are like this but it will not measure very low light scenes (like moonlight reflections) other than that it works fine - nearly best of all worlds

[David Henderson]

Ruvy. I think the Sekonic 508 goes down to EV3 in spot mode, but considerably further in Incident made. I don't think the Sekonic is by any means the only meter to display the issue you mention, but there's no doubt that if you want to use the spot in very low light conditions then its going to be a struggle with this meter.

[Frank Petronio]

It'd be awesome if "they" could make a professional photographer's tricoder - 1. zooming spot meter (in RGB and Grayscale values); 2. large LCD with historogram 3. color temperature meter. And maybe a GPS with sunset and sunrise times. And a link to weather forecasting.

The thing about it is that it's all been invented and simply needs a nice package. And enough customers to bring price down to $500 or so.

[bobfowler]

I use a Gossen Ultra Pro with the Multibeam 1/5/10 degree attachment.

[mono]

I have a Gossen Spotmaster II, but recently bought a Zone VI modified Pentax Digital Spotmeter. And I am happy with it, much easier and quicker to handle. I can`t miss it any more!