[BigMackCam]

I was thinking of getting one because I've been doing more and more film photography lately but I think I had a mini heart attack looking it up on ebay and looked at the prices.

Is there anything available that's accurate and doesn't cost more than most of my lenses?

Out of curiosity, is there a specific reason why you're wanting to use spot rather than the more common reflected or incident metering? My limited experience thus far suggests there's more than enough exposure latitude with negative film such that the basic reflected light metering present in many older film cameras is accurate enough in many instances, and with a bit of thought and manual exposure adjustment, is sufficiently accurate in even quite challenging scenarios such as subjects in shadow with heavy back-lighting.

The hand-held Gossen Digisix 2 light meter I recently bought is superbly accurate both in reflect and incident configurations, with great results when shooting digital - hence it will undoubtedly work well with film too. Unless you have a specialist requirement for spot metering, it seems like you'd be well-served by something like this...

[ZombieArmy]

My limited experience thus far suggests there's more than enough exposure latitude with negative film such that the basic reflected light metering present in many older film cameras is accurate enough in many instances

I wish to use more slide film for landscapes and more slide film in general. Plus I have a few cameras now with no metering so it helps with that too.

[BigMackCam]

I wish to use more slide film for landscapes and more slide film in general. Plus I have a few cameras now with no metering so it helps with that too.

Gotcha. Well, if you're unable to find a cost-effective spot meter, an alternative to consider would be incident metering from a proxy location. That will give you very accurate results so long as you're able to replicate or approximate the same lighting conditions as for the area you want to measure. It's not always practical - but then, neither is spot. They all have limitations - it's just a case of learning to work with them...

[UncleVanya]

I wish to use more slide film for landscapes and more slide film in general. Plus I have a few cameras now with no metering so it helps with that too.

I shot a lot of slides for many many years. I never used a spot meter. I’m aware of how that can help but simply using standard center weighted in camera metering and using my brain to decide when to underexposed
was sufficient. I used a gray card or more often grass as a means of normalizing complex subjects lighting.

An option for your cameras without a meter is this: https://www.reveni-labs.com/shop/p/lightmeter but that’s not their spot meter.

[tuco]

I wish to use more slide film for landscapes and more slide film in general. Plus I have a few cameras now with no metering so it helps with that too.

I shoot a bunch of film cameras none of them have a light meter. These slide pictures were taken using a light meter app on my phone. This lightmeter app takes a picture using your phone's camera to get the metering and that is matrix metering on my phone.

I have compared what the app selects for a middle grey exposure to what I would select with my one-degree spot meter and the lightmeter app does a good job placing highlights in general. I have learned to include more highlights in meter's view if I want to favor an exposure that is bias for them as well as the reverse for the shadows. YMMV.

Slide film results metered with a phone lightmeter app:


Picture In A Picture by tuco, on Flickr

[Viking42]

Just to add my 2 cents to this conversation, you don't necessarily need to be looking only at a 1-degree spot meter. There are some that are 3 or 5 deg. and they are still perfectly useful for checking shadows and highlights. I have a 3 deg. Sekonic L-438 and I have never felt I needed a narrower angle. That model seems to be rare, but I can highly recommend it. I've owned it since the mid-80s and it has never failed me. Runs on a single AA battery too, not some obsolete mercury cell.

Another option for a reasonable cost, are the Gossen Lunasix, Profisix and Luna Pro models. They all share the same "Tele" attachment which gives you 5 and 10 deg. field. The early Lunasix 3 and similar vintage units ran on mercury cells, but the later models use common 9V batteries. Great meters, and very versatile - incident, reflected, and spot metering all in one unit. And their EV range goes crazy-low (-5EV for the Lunasix 3, I think), which would be brilliant for night shooting. You can probably pick up any of these for well south of $100. Check out the descriptions and specs of these and others on the camera-wiki.org site, under "List of Companies".

I also really like Tuco's suggestion of the smartphone app. Great functionality with the touch screen, for little or no money.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Svend

[tuco]

Here are a couple of examples of using the Lightmeter App on BW film too. Of course BW film is far more forgiving on the exposure end but I think the meter does well on conditions like these. Anyway, I hope this helpful and for the price it could be worth a try.



P.I.P. by tuco, on Flickr



Lowell Footbridge by tuco, on Flickr

[PKMike]

Spot meters come in a variety of configurations. I'm sure that they are all useful in some way for different situations, and each photographer has various needs and ideas. In attempting to use the "zone system" (developed by Ansel Adams) I found that to properly measure for my black and white negatives 5 degrees was too wide for me, particularly for vast and or distant landscapes with varied lighting. It is easy to measure a 5 degree area with a 1 degree meter, but not vice versa. I suppose if all you need is 5 degrees then a 5 degree meter would be fine. It might be prudent to know your needs before purchasing the tool. 2 cents.

[disconnekt]

I shot a lot of slides for many many years. I never used a spot meter. I’m aware of how that can help but simply using standard center weighted in camera metering and using my brain to decide when to underexposed
was sufficient. I used a gray card or more often grass as a means of normalizing complex subjects lighting.

An option for your cameras without a meter is this: https://www.reveni-labs.com/shop/p/lightmeter but that’s not their spot meter.

They have a spotmeter, but its currently in "preorder" & wil be available next month

[UncleVanya]

They have a spotmeter, but its currently in "preorder" & wil be available next month

I'm well aware of that - however that spotmeter is double the cost and larger and not as simple to use in many ways. I think the regular meter is probably a better choice for most people as a spot meter is not required for most people but a light meter is a bit more generically useful on a camera lacking a meter. On the other hand some posted they have had good results with a phone camera and app as well.

[tuco]

... I think the regular meter is probably a better choice for most people ...

I think so too especially if you only use a one-degree meter to find the highest and lowest EV value in a scene and then split the difference for your choice of a middle grey exposure.

[niels hansen]

@ ZombiearmyI got my 1 degree meter on a fleemarket for 5§, it works great, but I dont use it very often. It was intended for bw films a la Ansel Adams zone system. I admire AA but the zone system only makes sense if each pose is developed individual, thats the case when I do 9 x 12 cm sheetfilm., in all other cases I use a reflected meter or a variant of the zone system where I make an average between the brightest highlight and the deepest shadow, development standing development Rodinal 1:100. You can try to evaluate your technique by comparing your estimations with a digital cameras values
good luck

[tradigi]

You can find the original Gossen Luna-Pro meter all over the web (ebay, Amazon etc.) and also a variable angle spot meter attachment made for it. The normal angle of view without the attachment is 30˚ but with the attachment you can take readings of 15˚ and 7.5˚ measuring angles. The meter itself is excellent and a real workhorse. I've had mine for over 40 years and the only maintenance I've had to do is change the batteries. I'm a commercial photographer shooting quite a bit of tungsten lighting in the studio and through the years the meter has performed flawlessly. And the cost of a used one won't break the bank.

[UncleVanya]

You can find the original Gossen Luna-Pro meter all over the web (ebay, Amazon etc.) and also a variable angle spot meter attachment made for it. The normal angle of view without the attachment is 30˚ but with the attachment you can take readings of 15˚ and 7.5˚ measuring angles. The meter itself is excellent and a real workhorse. I've had mine for over 40 years and the only maintenance I've had to do is change the batteries. I'm a commercial photographer shooting quite a bit of tungsten lighting in the studio and through the years the meter has performed flawlessly. And the cost of a used one won't break the bank.

7.5 degrees isn’t really a spot reading but seems handy.

[Viking42]

7.5 degrees isn’t really a spot reading but seems handy.

For sure, not precise pinpoint measurements by any means, but still very useful to measure larger areas of shadow/highlights. I've used that same Gossen meter and tele attachment (borrowed from my brother for a year), and can confirm it works well. If I didn't have my little 3 deg. Sekonic I'd probably be happy to own a Gossen. They are great meters.