Is Zone VI modification necessary for 35mm.

[baachitraka]

I may acquire a Pentax spot sooner or later and wondering whether the Zone VI modification is necessary for 35mm.

[L Gebhardt]

I have no issues with the unmodified meter for 4x5, 35mm or any format in between. I wouldn't spend the money to get a meter Zone VI modified.

[BrianShaw]

ditto

[BradS]

I wouldn't spend the money on a spot meter...especially not for a 35mm camera. Doesn't the camera have a built in meter?

[baachitraka]

Yeah, a CW one. I just wonder how easy to use CW meter during low light.

My primary interest are, photographing city scapes(esp., monuments) during night when lit only by artifical light. I have some plans to travel to India this year and may be shooting some temples and monuments....

[BradS]

Yeah, a CW one. I just wonder how easy to use CW meter during low light.

I am uncertain what is meant by "CW" in this context......center weighted?

It seems to me that a center weighted meter, if used properly would be a very good compromise in night photography.

[baachitraka]

Sorry for not writing clearly. Yeah, CW=Center-Weight.

Another problem with OM meter is, it is almost impossible to see the meter needle during night. I do not know how others are managing it.

[John Koehrer]

You need to realize also that a dark area with a bright light(s) in it will give you an erroneous reading, underexposing dark areas.

[Bill Burk]

I believe my use of center-weighted metering caused me to produce some lesser quality images over the years and delayed my understanding of exposure.

I would say a spotmeter is useful even with 35mm. If you are familiar with Zone System vocabulary, then it helps to have Zone System markings on your meter. It is easy to find the sticker design to print out yourself.

I don't think the meter has to be real Zone VI modified, but I believe it would be interesting to have one and use it with Tri-X.

The value of Zone VI modification has been disputed based on a few points::my opinion on those points...

-Testing done using Macbeth Color Chart:: Doesn't effectively demonsrate summer foliage
-Newer sensors::Quite possibly less infrared sensitivity
-Better design with newer meters::Quite possible
-Film less sensitive to infrared::Quite possible, TMY-2 tolerates development by infrared inspection.
-Ultraviolet not corrected with Zone VI modification::So use a UV filter

[chriscrawfordphoto]

I agree with Bill. I use a spotmeter for EVERYTHING, except color transparency and digital (I use an incident meter for those). Centerweight meters are less than worthless, they are basically the same as guessing, especially for lowlight work where you don't have the kind of 'average' scenes that centerweight meters are designed for.

There's a webpage by Paul Butzi who tested the modified vs unmodified pentax meters and found the unmodified one had less flare, while there was virtually no spectral response difference between them. Save your money and get the unmodified one. You're gonna get shafted anyway because people on ebay have driven up the price of all the pentax meters. I'd get a Minolta Flash meter VI or Spotmeter F; they're better meters and cheaper used. I LOVE my Flashmeter VI. Has incident and spot together. Sekonic makes several such meters too that are less costly than the Pentax, and really are better meters.