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  #1  
Old 8th February 2021, 03:00 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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Default Reveni spot meter

I've had my Reveni cold shoe meter on a Leica for a while now and it's performing well.

Now Mr Bechberger has announced a new Kickstarter project for a spot meter here .

He also has a video here .

Last edited by Michael; 8th February 2021 at 03:17 PM. Reason: second link
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Old 8th February 2021, 07:04 PM
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Hi Michael,
Thanks for this one! Good to have guys like him around, who do these things. Like my old Sekonic, but this seems to be a very good choice for photographers finally going for a spot meter.
Frank
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Old 9th February 2021, 07:53 AM
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A really interesting operating method.

Mat Marrash (whose channel I follow there) has a review on ebay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBlacFq74JA [edit: just seen this is linked to from the kickstarter ]

The Kickstarter price of 225 CAD is approx £128 (but don't forget postage, VAT, import duties and handling charges!).

I do wish he would do something other than a 3d printed case tho - or at least mix and match materials as the single material design looks awful. I am tempted, it's a lot smaller than my Sekonic, but the look of it is seriously putting me off.

Last edited by Bob; 9th February 2021 at 09:03 AM.
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Old 9th February 2021, 03:11 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I found that at some points, Mat's explanation confused me. Just speculation on my part but I assume that part of the smaller price compared to the like of the Sekonic meter is that the Reveni doesn't do incident or flash and maybe the biggest saving comes in the form of not needing the optics that such meters as the Sekonic has. By that I mean that apparently by using both eyes the non-meter eye transfer what it sees to the brain which superimposes it on the screen that meters the 1.5 degree spot. This seems amazing but clearly is what happens otherwise the meter could not be aimed and held at the spot it was placed on.

If it works for all two eyed people in this fashion and doesn't require " a period of learning" by the brain then this is quite a breakthrough

Mat made quite a bit of its small size for LF photographers but I wonder if its size might not in fact appeal to 35mm and MF photographers more my impression is that LFers( especially the 8x10 ones) carry that much equipment anyway that the normal spot meter's extra weight and size becomes on a marginal addition

Mike
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Old 9th February 2021, 03:46 PM
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It doesn't appear to require any special training - you do this every time you keep your other eye open when you look through a camera viewfinder - superimposing the image from one eye over the image from the other.

What I am now wondering about is that it seems to me that you will need to hold the meter precisely perpendicular to the pupil of your eye - which seems a little hopeful. You can simulate this by holding a 35mm film canister in front of one eye. It is easy to have the canister at a small angle or off-centre, throwing the axis several degrees off and hence missing what you think you are pointing at on the horizon by, potentially, several miles.

I would need to try this before I believed it.
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Old 9th February 2021, 04:06 PM
Michael Michael is offline
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Bob, my eyesight is problematic in that I am very strongly left-eyed (also had squint surgically dealt with in childhood) but I have no difficulty using the Suunto KB-14 compass (see here). Unlike the usual prismatic compasses (got those too), the Suunto is used in exactly the same way as this meter; and I find that my measurements with it are corroborated by a more "reliable" prismatic compass (or using a map, come to that).

I share your reservations about the meter's appearance. The first Reveni has to compete with some much prettier cold shoe meters also recently on the market.

All in all, I think I'll get one of these and risk being diddled by HMRC.

Thank you for linking to that video: it and the other one by Nick somebody look like useful material.

[edit: he's already reached his target, by the way]

Last edited by Michael; 9th February 2021 at 04:20 PM.
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Old 9th February 2021, 04:21 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike O'Pray View Post
on the screen that meters the 1.5 degree spot.
Mike
I was sure that I saw something on this that showed in print rather than stated by a presenter that it was 1.5 degree spot which is half a degree more than the other one degree spot meters but today in none of the videos including one by a photographer called I think Todd Karol on YouTube was anything shown or said that indicated 1.5. It was a normal 1 degree

So it might have been my brain that got confused. If none one else has noticed this then I'll conclude it was my mistake. So apologies for that

If the video's explanation of how a person's binocular vision superimposes the actual scene on top of the 1 degree spot is the case then I see no way that you cannot sight the spot on whatever you choose in the scene just as you would with a normal spot meter

However I may be failing to appreciate the actual way the brain works and a problem of correct sighting does exist.

If it does can anyone explain how this can happen in layman's terms?

Thanks

Mike
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Old 9th February 2021, 04:40 PM
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Mike, the written information in the first link posted by Michael refers to 1.5 degrees.
The metering range is very large, and very useful for film use, especially at the low end for IR and other ‘slow’ films. The basic price is also pretty competitive.
Alex.


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Old 9th February 2021, 04:59 PM
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The way I am looking at it Mike is that you are just looking at a screen with your left eye. There is no way to tell if the target dot on the screen is aligned with what you are seeing with your right eye.

The meter's sensor will presumably be aligned with the centre axis of the meter, but I do not see how you can tell if that axis is exactly perpendicular to your eye. Your two eyes will be aligned as per your usual binocular vision, but there is nothing to force the axis of the meter to be aligned along the same axis - you are just holding it in your hand. It could easily be a couple of degrees, or more, off-axis, pointing slightly to the left for example and hence, the sensor is not actually pointing at where the target dot is showing in your superimposed vision.

For it to work, the axis of the meter's sensor must be aligned along the same axis as your eyes (or at least, within some fraction of a degree) and I can't see how that is guaranteed without some way to sight it along that axis. For sure, our eye/brain/hand coordination will get it close - but to within a fraction of a degree? I don't know, but have my doubts... (I'm sitting here, waving a board marker in front of my eye, looking like a complete nutter...)

Last edited by Bob; 9th February 2021 at 05:10 PM.
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Old 9th February 2021, 09:22 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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2 questions. So I wasn't going mad. There was a reference to 1.5 degrees. That's a relief but now it begs the question what is the actual sensor's vision - 1 or 1.5 degrees?

Second question:As far as the sighting deviation is concerned I am not sure that short of a diagram of what you mean, Bob, I have fully grasped what you mean.

Do you mean that until the "scene" eye has transposed the scene to the black metering scene you cannot be sure that what you believe the spot to be on is in fact the spot your scene eye has chosen? I can appreciate that this can happen but as the scene and spot on the black screen merge so one transposed onto the other then doesn't your brain send a message to the hand holding the meter to slightly alter it so your hand aligns the spot to where in the scene you wish it to be?

If this is the case then the Reveni might take just a fraction longer to sight but when metering this won't matter will it

On the other hand if there is reason to believe that there is an inherent flaw for want of a better word in the Reveni's system that means that even when the spot appears to the brain to be on the area you want to measure it is not then this is I agree far more serious.

Can anyone else here think of a way to explain this "flaw"

If it is of any help and it may not be, the video by Todd Karol mentions that he found the Reveni and his Sekonic to be within 1/10th of a stop of each other which seems to indicate that it was the same spot that was being measured or so close to the same spot that the difference was only 1/10th which sounds acceptable

What may be the case is that if the spot from which the measurement is taken is a long way away, is small and surrounded by much lighter areas then mistakes are possible even with a conventional spot meter due to the size of the area being metered vis a vis its distance

Mike
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