Spot meters...

Wesley_Wong

Wesley_Wong

Active member
Hey Barry and all the gurus here .

just wondering, I intend to get a spot meter on top of my incident (which I use mainly for still film photography) .

I read about the Pentax digital spot meter used on the cinealtas for 'Collateral'

I wonder what's the diff between that and film spot meters ? Does that work as well for, say, Super16 , which I occassionally , get to work on ?

It will be most ideal to have a spot meter that will allow me to do both film and digital, I guess. Esp for sitll photography too.


any recommendations ?
 
Digital spotmeters are not meant to be exclusively with digital cameras. Digital spotmeters are the ones that feature a digital scale instead of a needle-like scale (just as digital incident lightmeters). Some photographers prefer the former, others the latter.

Any lightmeter will serve the purpose of working with video or film. It's just a question of determining the ISO of your video camera...
 
Ah... I see. Many thanks.

Reading the AC article on Bebee using the Pentax digital, I assumed it was a specific spot meter for digital filmmaking, on the Cinealta. since it gives readings of IRE too.

I'm using a Minolta V F - which is wholey digital too.
 
I have Pentax Digital Spot meter and have for years. I really rate it for one feature that it has. The IRE Scale. No other spot meter uses this scale ( or at least none I have found).

Basically the IRE scale provides reflectance values from Black to White.

I usually take an incident reading and set it. Then I run the spotmeter over the scene so I can know what to expect relative to my incident reading. The Pentax meter allows you to set in the Incident reading and then read off the IRE value readings against it.

Apart from grey card/scale readings for stock and meter tests - I do not think I have ever exposed a frame of film based on a spotmeter reading. To me it is a tool for establishing tonal zones.
 
But... isn't the IRE value dependent on the latitude and sensitivity of the video camera you'll be using to shoot? How can a separate spotmeter possibly be accurate for those conditions?

Here's an example: set the DVX on Master Ped -15. When you shoot a scene, all sorts of low values will be forced to zero in the camera. How can the spotmeter know that the camera is going to record that way? And therefore, how can the spotmeter's IRE response be useful information? If one video camera has three stops of latitude, and another has 8 stops, that'll need to deliver very different readings. How does it know? Do you calibrate the spotmeter to your camera somehow before using it?
 
Sorry Barry - I did not make it clear. I was referring to my film shoots and simply extolling the values of the Pentax meter.
 
The IRE values are equivalent for a fim shoot and telecine, at least that's what I'd think. What's geat about the DVX100A is it's included built in spotmeter that gives the true IRE readings of your image. It's exactly as a waveform monitor.
 
Our DVXs are basically meters all by themselves. Use the Zebras and you should then be able to bring down the hot spots into acceptable exposure levels. Or you can use DV Rack for the waveform monitor. I use my Spectra incident meter for gauging overall ambient lighting and ratio sometimes, but once again our cameras will basically do this also. What we really need are good monitors and a hood to stop glare so we can judge the shot.
 
ok. getting a little way over my head now...

so shooter, Barry :

would or wouldn't the spotmeter's IRE scale tally with the DVX's own IRE readings , regardless of the camera's own stops of latitude ? If not , the ire scale and the whole spotmeter itself would really just a be a guide to set up tonal zones only, right Barry ?

Especially when digital cameras do not hold a constant ISO unlike filmstock ?
 
I believe that what you have said is correct, that it could not directly relate. I don't see how a spotmeter's IRE scale can correspond with a camera's specific IRE scale, especially when you have 7 gamma curves that can change the IRE response, and the spotmeter would know nothing about it.

As was said earlier, the DVX is in and of itself a spotmeter; the "Marker" function lets you read out basically the exact IRE of anything that's in the center of the small marker box.
 
You must know the latitude of the recording medium. Either by experience and knowledge in the case of film or with a good, calibrated field monitor in video. The IRE scale is 1 stop increments and it gives you the ability to adjust contrast ratios to suit your needs and tastes. But you do have to know what you needs and tastes are somehow.
I use my pentax spot meter all the time when shooting film but never when shooting tape.
 
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