Zone VI Pentax Spot Meter

Hello there

I first posted this @ rec.photo.equipment.misc & got little response.
So I'm trying it here. If you know of a better group to post this,
please tell me & I'll be happy to post it there.

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter for
about $110 from a reputable mail order store. This seems to me to be a
very good price. Too good perhaps. I have heard bad things about Zone
6's modification workmanship, & quality on these meters. I assume that
for an analog meter, it would have been modified before Calumat started
doing this work.

Your opinions, comments appreciated, John

On 13 Oct 2005 20:53:36 -0700, john wrote:

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter for
about $110 from a reputable mail order store. This seems to me to be a
very good price. Too good perhaps. I have heard bad things about Zone
6's modification workmanship, & quality on these meters. I assume that
for an analog meter, it would have been modified before Calumat started
doing this work.

Your opinions, comments appreciated, John

Digital ? If not, I wouldn't touch it.

John

john wrote:
Hello there

I first posted this @ rec.photo.equipment.misc & got little response.
So I'm trying it here. If you know of a better group to post this,
please tell me & I'll be happy to post it there.

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter for
about $110 from a reputable mail order store. This seems to me to be a
very good price. Too good perhaps. I have heard bad things about Zone
6's modification workmanship, & quality on these meters. I assume that
for an analog meter, it would have been modified before Calumat started
doing this work.

Your opinions, comments appreciated, John

Was the original meter the Pentax analog meter or the Soligor? I no longer
remember which analog meter Zone VI modified.

I have a digital Zone VI meter which is a modified Pentax digital meter, and
it works very well. After flying with it on airplanes for a while, its
sensitivity dropped by about one stop, requiring recalibration. Well, I
could have ignored it for B&W, as it just overexposed about 1 stop. But for
color transparancies it would have caused me trouble if I forgot what it was
doing.

But I had an old Pentax 1/21 analog meter and it was very unreliable.
According to Fred Picker, he had (IIRC) two of those analog meters and gave
up on them when he tried to get them repaired and was told by the repair guy
that all the Pentax 1/21 meters were like that. He switched to the Soligor.

I am not willing to trust analog meters in the field where they are subject
to shocks and bumps. I did have the use of an analog photometer once, with
interchangeable lenses (Nikon bayonette mount) with 1/2 degree spot size
(with the 55mm f/3.5 Macro lens anyway) that had to be plugged into the wall
to power the electronics. Quite a meter, but not the thing for use in the field.

So I suggest avoiding analog meters for use in the field, and avoiding the
Pentax 1/21 if that is the analog meter Zone VI modified in particular. If
it is the Soligor analog meter from the 1970s or so modified by Zone VI, it
may be OK, but you would want it recalibrated.

--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
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"john" wrote

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter

My experience is that they are not very rugged - the needle starts
to stick, problem with all analog light meters.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm

Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
"john" wrote

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter

My experience is that they are not very rugged - the needle starts
to stick, problem with all analog light meters.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm

I've known for years that Analog light meters are frailer than digital,
but I didn't realize just how failure proan they are. This sounds like
it's one of those deals that even for free, it' may not be a bargain.
Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll save my pennies and get a
digital Pentax spotmeter. How does the Minolta digital spot meter
compare to the Zone VI digital Pentax in terms of flair baffling,
spectral response, sensitivity to low light, linearity, & ruggedness?


Thank you for all the good info, John

Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:
"john" wrote

I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter

My experience is that they are not very rugged - the needle starts
to stick, problem with all analog light meters.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm

I've known for years that Analog light meters are frailer than digital,
but I didn't realize just how failure proan they are. This sounds like
it's one of those deals that even for free, it' may not be a bargain.
Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll save my pennies and get a
digital Pentax spotmeter. How does the Minolta digital spot meter
compare to the Zone VI digital Pentax in terms of flair baffling,
spectral response, sensitivity to low light, linearity, & ruggedness?


Thank you for all the good info, John

john wrote:
Nicholas O. Lindan wrote:

"john" wrote


I have the opportunity to buy an analog Zone 6 Pentax spot meter

My experience is that they are not very rugged - the needle starts
to stick, problem with all analog light meters.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
To reply, remove spaces: n o lindan at ix . netcom . com
Fstop timer - http://www.nolindan.com/da/fstop/index.htm


I've known for years that Analog light meters are frailer than digital,
but I didn't realize just how failure proan they are. This sounds like
it's one of those deals that even for free, it' may not be a bargain.
Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll save my pennies and get a
digital Pentax spotmeter. How does the Minolta digital spot meter
compare to the Zone VI digital Pentax in terms of flair baffling,

Dr. Henry tested a few spot meters and came out with (summarizing) the
following for flare. Each step here is about one zone less flare, except
that the Photo-Research PR-1500 had about 3 stops less flare than the Zone
VI modified Pentax digital and Minolta.

Worst: Soligor
Pentax digital unmodified
Pentax digital modified by Zone VI; Minolta
Best Photo-Research PR-1500

Minolta is Minolta Auto-Spot 1 degree CdS photocell. Non digital readout.
Motor driven scale.

Pentax digital is 1 degree. Silicon photocell.
Zone VI is modified by 4 color filters, added field stop baffles (to reduce
flare)
Soligor is 1 degree CdS photocell. Old type with pointer on meter scale.
PR-1500 is by Photo Research Division of Kollmorgen Corp. 1 degree
spotmeter. Uses photomultiplier tube with S-4 response.

spectral response, sensitivity to low light, linearity, & ruggedness?


Thank you for all the good info, John



--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ PGP-Key: 9A2FC99A Registered Machine 241939.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
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