Pentax 1°/21° Spot Meter

[WGibsonPhotography]

that's the way my Pentax model V works.

Mike

Ok, well that makes me feel better. This meter doesnt have an instruction manual, so I'm just having to guess at how it works.

Tomorrow, I will probably do some test shots with my digital camera before I start shooting film. I'd rather screw up a digital photograph than waste perfectly good film

[WGibsonPhotography]

I compared readings from my XTi's meter and the Soligor spot meter, and the Soligor is consistently giving me readings of one stop more exposure than the XTi's meter. After comparing exposures a few times, I decided to take some pictures. First, I took a picture using the XTi's reading and then another using the Soligor's reading. I think the Soligor is actually giving the more accurate reading.

I was getting my meter readings by metering the wood of our deck, which is a bit brighter than zone 5, but if both meters were metering for zone 5, there shouldnt have been a discrepency if both meters were calibrated the same, right?

Oh, and before anyone bashes me for using a digital camera for comparison, I also used my K2 and got the same 1 stop discrepency. The reason I used digital to take the test pictures is instant feedback.

[Ian Grant]

Probably not the best way to make a comparison, I've ben testing a meter on my Yashicamat 124 alongside a Gossen Luna Pro - one reflective the other incident and surprisingly I get exposures within half a stop consistently. I also use a Capitol (Soligor) or Pentax spotmeter and again it's the same.

Ian

[WGibsonPhotography]

Probably not the best way to make a comparison, I've ben testing a meter on my Yashicamat 124 alongside a Gossen Luna Pro - one reflective the other incident and surprisingly I get exposures within half a stop consistently. I also use a Capitol (Soligor) or Pentax spotmeter and again it's the same.

Ian

I know it's not the best way to test, but I wasnt sure what else to do (I'm running low on film and need to go buy some more). Honestly, I just wanted to make sure I was actually using the meter right. My Polaris meter is a reflected/incident meter with a digital readout. I've never used dials on a meter, so I wasnt sure if I was doing it right or not. The dials are simple for someone who's used one for a while, but it was completely new to me. More than anything, I wanted to make sure I was using it right and that it wasnt off by like 5 stops (assuming I was using it right)


sometime within the next few weeks, I'm gonna buy a few rolls of film and use the Soligor. I'm getting ready to buy some slavich unibrom paper. I'll shoot and develop the film when the paper comes in and then make some prints.

[Fred Aspen]

Digital cameras/meters are biased toward underexposure to avoid blown highlights, just as you would expose with slide film. My wife shoots an XT and brackets everything and she/we consistently choose the -1/3 stop exposure as best exposure.

Take a white piece of printer paper outside on a sunny day and measure with the meter, then open 2 1/3 stops and that should be a pretty good exposure. Or the palm of your hand on a bright sunny day and open 1 stop. This also should be darned close to proper exposure and both will typically agree with the Sunny 16 rule, f16@1/ISO film speed.

My Digisix, designed primarily for the digital market, is about -2/3 stop compared to my Pentax V and other meters of the same vintage.

-Fred

[WGibsonPhotography]

Digital cameras/meters are biased toward underexposure to avoid blown highlights, just as you would expose with slide film.
-Fred

That did cross my mind when I first realized my camera meter was off about a stop with my Polaris meter when doing reflected readings with it, but I had no way of knowing that for sure

[John Koehrer]

That did cross my mind when I first realized my camera meter was off about a stop with my Polaris meter when doing reflected readings with it, but I had no way of knowing that for sure

You still don't.
Not all that you find on the internet is fact. But if the rationale sounds good & works properly then there's no harm done.