Does anybody use a PME-45 or PME-90 on their Hasselblad?

Deano

Deano

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Im' thinking about buying one of these to go with my Hasselblad 503CW. Does anybody on here have one and what is your opinion of them?
 
At the risk of stating the obvious, its a metered prism, it's made by Hasselblad, it works, it adds about a pound in weight to an already heavy camera and it is going to cost a lot.

There is no doubt that add one of these and a power winder and you have something that handles like a bigger heavier and slower 35mm SLR - the question is if that is a good thing or not.

You get spot and centre weighted metering, nothing fancy but good enough. You also get a translucent window on top for incident readings. At first this seems like a good idea but honestly it is easier to leave the 'blad on a tripod and take an incident reading with a seperate meter which is smaller and lighter than lug the camera backwards and forwards.

It all boils down to what you are going to be shooting and what other equipment options you have to choose from in your arsenal.

Not really a fan of these as you have probably gathered, but that is very much personal preference as there is nothing wrong with them and they "do exactly what it says on the tin".
 
hmm..:thinking:

I never in a million years considered a metered prism, or even a prism finder for use on my Bronica EC, it just doesn't feel right.
I want to look in that big 'ole focussing screen through a waist level finder, and meter by hand.
Once I start lifting big lumps up to my squinty eye to compose and meter, it all starts getting too much like every other camera I use.

Deano, do you have a meter ?
 
Yeah i have got a Sekonic 308 but still not too sure how to get a manual reading even after reading the manual :thinking: Just figured it might be easier with a built in metered prism......but maybe not
 
Well, it will be easier, but what do you want it to be easy for, you're wimping out ya big girl....:LOL:

Ere, do you fancy a shot with a hundred year old Western Master selenium ?
 
Deano said:
Yeah i have got a Sekonic 308 but still not too sure how to get a manual reading even after reading the manual :thinking: Just figured it might be easier with a built in metered prism......but maybe not
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The procedure for getting a light reading with any lightmeter shoudn't be rocket science.

My issue with your Sekonic, or indeed most digital readout meters is that for normal reflected or incident readings they are a lot more cumbersome than something with a needle and a calculator dial.

I know that there are a lot of people out there who get on fine with Sekonic meters so my advice to you is to have a play with it and see if you can work it out (and hope that there is a Sekonic user here to help you).

For a fraction of the cost of the metered prism you could pick up an old school meter which would solve your problem.
 
Deano said:
Yeah i have got a Sekonic 308 but still not too sure how to get a manual reading even after reading the manual :thinking: Just figured it might be easier with a built in metered prism......but maybe not
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LOL. Seriously mate, what I think you need to do is set your DSLR on Manual Mode. Do it now in whatever room you're in. Now slide the white cone into place on your meter for an incident light reading. Stand by whatever you want to take a shot of and point the meter BACK TOWARDS THE CAMERA POSITION - right at the lens.

Take your reading

Now set that aperture /shutter combination on the camera. (Ignore what the camera meter says)

Take your shot.

Tell us what you get. (y)
 
CT said:
LOL. Stand by whatever you want to take a shot of and point the meter BACK TOWARDS THE CAMERA POSITION - right at the lens.

Take your reading
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If you are shooting landscape should you not point the meter at the landscape CT? (I don't fancy a five mile run to take a meter reading :naughty:)
 
LOL. There's two types of reading

Reflective, which is what you'd use for a landscape, well mostly anyway.

Incident. Which is what I'm advising Deano to try. ;)
 
Deano, the PME-45 and the PME-90 are both horrendous prices, even 2nd hand if you can get a decent one.

If you're set on a metered prism, I'd say the one to go for is the PME-3. It's a 45 degree angle one, and the PME3 is calibrated to the brighter focusing screen in later blads. You can pick a decent one up for a couple of hundred quid.

It's a lot lighter than the two you mention, and you get an LED reading in the viewfinder against an EV (exposure value) number. You simply have to transfer that EV No to the EV scale on the side of every Hasselblad lens and yoiu're cooking with gas. ;)
 
I use an old Weston Euromaster. For well lit landscape shots I fit the invercone and point it over my shoulder whilst facinhthe scen I want to capture and take an incident reading. Seems to work o.k. in most situations, pretty easy really if you take your time.
 
sprog said:
I use an old Weston Euromaster. For well lit landscape shots I fit the invercone and point it over my shoulder whilst facinhthe scen I want to capture and take an incident reading. Seems to work o.k. in most situations, pretty easy really if you take your time.
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I dunno why people are so scared of hand held metering. All that white cone does is reduce the amount of ambient light down to 18%, so it's the equivalent of metering on a grey card. It gives a good solid basis for exposure calculation, and with many scenes the reading can be used directly.
 
Yeah, I'm used to doing incident in the studio and I did figure I should be using reflected (which is what a dslr is doing anyway!) for lanscapes.

Thanks for the confirmation CT.

I do like the Sekonic, I really don't find it that difficult to use either.
 
LOL I have a Sekoninic L-558, it's all the meter I'll ever need, in fact I've disabled some of the modes on it to simplify things, but I do like it a lot.

Ali have you sussed out those EV numbers on your blad lens and the significance they have to being able to lock the shutter and aperture scales together? It's actually a very useful feature.

Have a read of this, it really explains how little you probably need a meter at all. :)

CLICKY
 
I did manage to get a PME 3 but its readings were a bit intermittent so i sold it on. I have got some film pics to do for college over the next few days so im' going to crack on with the Sekonic and see how i get on. Thanks for all the advice, i do appreciate it and i will let you know how i get on.
 
Deano said:
I did manage to get a PME 3 but its readings were a bit intermittent so i sold it on. I have got some film pics to do for college over the next few days so im' going to crack on with the Sekonic and see how i get on. Thanks for all the advice, i do appreciate it and i will let you know how i get on.
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Cool. I'm probably gonna get a PME-3 anyway for the occasional convenience and 'right way round image' in spite of all I've said above. :D How much did you sell it for?
 
Deano said:
. I have got some film pics to do for college over the next few days so im' going to crack on with the Sekonic and see how i get on..
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Seriiously, what you need to do is establish some confidence in the meter, so using your DSLR on manual or even a compact you can set on full manual, like the G9, but taking the settings from your meter, will give you results you can see. If it works on the digital camera it will work on film - f8 is f8 -1/125th is 1/125th regardless of the camera and regardless of whether it's film or digital.

Just make sure you set the ISO the same on the camera and meter. (y)
 
Yes it is non-metered. Im' more than happy with it though. I really struggled to get pin sharp focussing using the waist level finder.
 
I can understand that mate. It does look a nice piece of kit. (y)
 
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