From: donl@glass.esd.sgi.com (donl mathis)
Subject: Re: Spot meters
Reply-To: donl@glass.esd.sgi.com (donl mathis)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 02:43:00 GMT


In article <CLEV.92Jul23172834@lager.cisco.com>, clev@cisco.com (Robert
Clevenger) writes:

|> How does [Pentax Digital] compare to the Gossen Ultra-Spot 1 meter (~$400)
|> for zone system photography?  The Gossen has zone functions built in.
|> You may take a reading and essentially tell the meter to put that spot
|> in whatever zone you like.  Further readings will indicate relative
|> zones.  It will also average a number of readings and allow the user
|> to select the zone for this average.  I am ready to purchase my own
|> meter for large format zone work and would appreciate any input.

Oh, hey -- glad you asked!  :)  I shall avail myself of the opportunity
to be quite (ahem) honest about this meter.

I have owned or own a Pentax V (analog), Sekonic L-488, Pentax Digital,
and Gossen Ultra-Spot.  I owned the Ultra-Spot for about two days, long
enough to find out how it works, and then send it back.  It was horrid.

The problems are many, but nearly all fall into the category of
usability.  The size and weight are a major drawback for field work, in
my opinion, but if you like carrying big, heavy meters, that wouldn't
be a problem for you.

The only display is within the viewfinder.  That means that for
anything you want to do with the meter, you have to be holding it up to
your eye.  This may not seem like a bad thing, but I found it
incredibly annoying.  You have to hold this big heavy thing up to your
eye to change the ISO, or the mode, or tinker with the readings, or
remind yourself of the shutter speed and aperture, or any of a whole
list of other things that have absolutely nothing to do with viewing
the subject.  And you can't see the whole frame when you have your
glasses on, so you have to wiggle the meter back and forth to see
the edges, which is where all of the interesting data is.

The processor is either dismally slow, or the button debounce time is
set extraordinarily long, because whenever you press a button, you
have to wait a good fraction of a second before you can push it again.
So when you want to do your up-down settings, you have to "push, wait,
push, wait, push, wait", and it is excruciatingly slow and frustrating,
especially if you're thinking fast and you want to get on with your
work.  Really bad.

The zone system features were apparently designed by someone who didn't
really know the zone system very well.  There is a locked-in sequence
that you are required to follow.  I'll base this on memory as best I
can: The first step is to take a single measurment that gets put on
zone V.  You may then shift it down (and *only* down) as far as zone
III, but no further.  Once your very first reading is placed between
zone III and V, you bonk a button to go to the next phase.  This is
truly bad, bad, bad -- I need to be able to place that reading anywhere
on the scale.  In the next phase, you can do the falls -- each reading
is followed by a bonk that shows you were it falls on the scale.  Now,
if you want to change your zone III placement to zone III.5, you're out
of luck -- you can't shift the whole set of readings up or down by
adjusting the placement.  You have to start over.  This is also truly
bad, bad, bad, and makes the whole thing completely useless.

It's really a shame, because all the basic pieces are there for making
a nearly-perfect meter.  It's just that the whole thing was poorly
thought out, and it ended up useless.  I have no doubts about its
accuracy -- the optics, spot localization, and flare control all seemed
quite fine.  The user interface is really crummy.

It's interesting that in real-world conditions, this high-tech marvel
is essentially useless for zone system work, and the simple little
Pentax Digital is nearly perfect, with none of the big meter's
shortcomings.

- donl mathis at Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, Mountain View, CA
donl@sgi.com