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Anyone use a handheld spotmeter, like the Pentax Spotmeter? Is it a
reasonable subsitute for a OM4?
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I use a Pentax Digital Spotmeter for most of my work. When I'm carrying
an OM-4T I sometimes leave the spotmeter at home, but always miss it.
A 35mm SLR makes a rather poor spotmeter by comparison. First, if you
are working on tripod and only are carrying 1 body, you have to remove
the camera from the tripod to meter. Second, a handheld spotmeter
meters a tight 1 degree angle of view. If you are shooting with a wide
angle lens, you often would have to change the lens to meter a scene
as the 5% meter on an OM camera is too wide for critical exposure
determination.
the user interface on the Pentax spotmeter is really simple but does
everything I need. it is just one button, and it gives an EV reading.
I work with EV readings until I decide on the exposure (in EV) and then
the meter has a little cylindrical slide around the barrel that converts
EV to f-stop and shutter speed at a glance.
Once you get used to using a meter like this, a spotmeter in a camera
becomes a real compromise, a compromise I'm willing to make when I'm
trying to carry a small package.
One advantage of a TTL spotmeter though is you can meter through filters
more easily. It also takes bellows factor into account, but it is virtually
impossible to spotmeter macro scenes with a camera body. I normally use
OTF metering in real time when I need TTL meter.
Memory to save readings is nice, but it is at the expense of a significantly
less intuitive user interface. I prefer the user interface of an OM-2s
personally.
Joseph
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