Topic: Digital compacts that remember their settings after you switch them off.

[chris667]

Hello

I occasionally have use for a spot meter, but they are an expensive item. So when I need to use one, I take my little point-and-shoot Canon compact camera out.

I can select spot metering with a couple of buttons, and it works well enough. It's fiddly though.

Do you know of any digital compacts that I can buy for cheap(read about ten years old) that don't forget their settings when you switch them off? Or am I better buying a spotmeter?

Cheers!

[Pete_R]

I noticed the latest version of the LightMeter app for Android has a zoom function which gives you about (I'm guessing) a 10 degree spot. Would that work?

[Late Developer]

Hi Chris, aside from a Fuji F10 (many years ago) I haven't owned a digital compact and I can't recall whether or not that offered spot metering.  My current digital camera definitely remembers the spot meter setting (I've just tested it). However, there's loads of spot meters on the Big Auction Site.  This one looks useful and is probably less than the cost of a digital compact.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gossen-Lunasix-3-Exposure-Meter-Spotmeter-Attachment-/201968248955?hash=item2f063ee87b:g:1CQAAOSw-89ZU9yg

[cs1]

I noticed the latest version of the LightMeter app for Android has a zoom function which gives you about (I'm guessing) a 10 degree spot. Would that work?

I second that! If you've got an Android phone, LightMeter is definitely worth a try. I've been using LightMeter for some time now and I like it a lot. The paid versions has a few advantages over the free version.

[Francois]

But if you insist on a compact, the Powershot a720is has a spot mode and remembers the settings.

But the only reason I'd go for something else is that they are getting quite old and you never know when they're going to go kaput.
Spotmeters of yore were built to last. And the Android lightmeter app is quite good, especially if you calibrate it against a known good meter.

[chris667]

Well, that was an interesting day. But only if you find lightmeters interesting.

I asked my friends on Facebook if any of them had a lightmeter, and one of them is posting me a Sverdlovsk-4. I've had one in the past, and it was excellent. Incident, and a sort of spot meter with a little viewfinder.

I then went through all (two) of the digital compacts in my house. I found the old Minolta Z10 remembers that you selected spot metering between power cycles, but my Canon A720is doesn't. The Minolta reads a bit lower than I would expect it to though.

Re: the lightmeter app, I don't have a smartphone for everyday use. I try not to be too contactable when I am away from work.