Minolta Spotmeter

[@randallstewart175]

The Minolta Spotmeter M ( and the later F) is nearly perfect IMO - all the info you might want with none of the gimmicks. If you shop for an "M", note that the great majority of the M meters are powered by a silver-oxide battery (LR44), not the AA battery seen here. The LR44 lasts about 18 months whether you use it or not, it's more expensive and not available everywhere. When Minolta introduced the "F", they used a AA for its relative convenience. The M continued for a short time, and those last Ms used the same AA power source as the F. I found that my M, taking an LR44, worked fine with the lithium version of the LR44 format, and it has about a 10 year shelf life. The Minolta M/F meters are much more color neutral than other spot meters, particularily the Pentax Digital, which has the worst metering consistency color to color.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Randall Many thanks for that interesting info, especially on the batteries - always an issue for photographers! Dave

[@danielemilazzo432]

So M or F?

[@randallstewart175]

@@danielemilazzo432 The metering circuit of the M and F models are functionally identical, except that the F will additionally measure flash exposure. I've got both models and I've never in decades had a use for the flash feature of the F. I suppose that it might find a use in a studio setting, using flash only or a mix of flash and natural light. I would pick a model which takes a AA battery, just for its convenience.

[@thewhiteapparation]

So the lithium LR44 has a shelf life of 10 years, but how long does it last in the meter?

[@randallstewart175]

Fully agree with that.

[@jasonb9890]

Thank you! I had the spot meter F in early 2000’s, used it till it died. Recently got a used one from B&H and had forgotten how to use ( I thought the “S”, “A” and “H” stood for Spot, Ambient and didn’t know what the “H” was for”). I’m back on the road for great exposures again, with your help, today. Thanks!

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Jason, You are very welcome, I am glad it was of some help Dave

[@davidmcfarland3940]

Thank you so much for this introduction to this spotmeter Coming into photography again after many years absence and am deciding which spotmeter to purchase and use Much appreciate your experience and expertise

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi David You are welcome, I'm glad it was of some use Dave

[@sevsuk2011]

Excellent video. I just bought my large format film camera and only need a spot meter. The prices of the Pentax ditigal spot meter and sekonic are £400+. I got a monolta spotmeter f for £172.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi there I am sure that you won't be disappointed. These are excellent meters Dave

[@andyvan5692]

yes, you do use it, 1/2000th is the fastest speed of the 200/2000 series hasselblads, as they possess a focal plane shutter, and for high sunlight, this is useful as it saves having to use filters to block out the light.

[@jasonb9890]

Oh- and congratulations on dropping the weight- you look great!

[@brianreid5607]

Thanks for taking the time to make this video, I recently purchased the F type from Japan

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Brian You are very welcome. Don't you find that so much useful photographic kit is stuck in Japan which adds about a third to the price for us? Dave

[@brianreid5607]

@@DaveJSmith couldn’t agree more.. I was shocked that items have arrived within 3 days ! Touch wood, everything I have purchased has been “MINT” as described.

[@DaveJSmith]

@@brianreid5607 Usually I have had good experiences but bought a pentax 67 which was definitely not as described and arrived with two major issues, of course I wasn't able to properly test it for some weeks and so missed the return deadline. The sellers tried to make good, but in the end I sold it on (describing the issues thoroughly) and will probably not buy older cameras again.

[@endnami]

Your videos explaining gear is so in depth and great. Thank you so much!

[@DaveJSmith]

Hello and welcome to the chanel, you are very welcome, I am just glad that these videos are of help to people Dave

[@g_young_h]

Huge thanks for the video! Such a great community that KZbin is.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Grant, You are very welcome, glad that it was of some help. Let me know if there is anything that needs clarification Best wishes Dave

[@NickTheSpontaneous]

Does the meter possess the ability to set an aperture value manually and calculate shutter speed from there?

[@fotolookconde]

Dave Smith Photography thanks for the excellent video. I have a Minolta Autometer lV which can be converted on a spot meter and measure a 8 degree angle with an adapter. Do you think that is possible to have almost similar results comparing with a spot meter like yours? Thanks

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Luis Many thanks for your kind comments, always much appreciated. I think that an 8 degree spot is quite wide, but will give you a better result than just incident metering. If you can choose your main areas of tone to be large enough then you should get pretty similar results, it is just a little more limiting when finding the tones to meter from. It will also give you ractice and experience with the process. Best Dave

[@klofisch]

I got one Minolta Auto-Spot 1°. A pretty nice device....Just a little bit heavy:)

[@bodudas8346]

thank you, wonderful informative tutorial. Exactly what I need...

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Bo You are very welcome, I am glad that it was of some help Dave

[@brentdrafts2290]

I like your trip "trip-tic" at your desk.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Brent, Me too! Dave

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Again Brent, Sorry, did you mean the image on the wall? If so it is a 5x5 tile of a 60"x40" print made on A4 pages on my Epson 3800 ... cheap way of getting such an enormous print. The image is Holmavik harbour taken in Iceland Dave

[@zacharyallenregensburger1365]

Super helpful thanks so much!

[@DaveJSmith]

You are most welcome

[@khanscombe619]

Can the Flashmeter V measure reflective flash?

[@kenfox9626]

I have a decades old M model, put new battery in and it displays 0 ev and 100 asa. I can up/down the asa, but when I try and take reading, it stays stuck on 0 ev, and F no./ev button has no effect. Any thoughts?

[@kenfox9626]

Oops, forgot that you have to switch to time to take a reading. Been a long time since I used it. Works now. Thanks anyway.

[@DaveJSmith]

@@kenfox9626 No problem, glad it worked out ... not much to go wrong with these Dave

[@Spreadthep0sitive]

This is great. Thank you.

[@MichaelCarter]

Hi Dave, I have the F meter, which takes one aa battery.

[@alexforestier1722]

Hey man, great video, quick question. to get the average reading what are the steps? Do you have to press the "H", get reading of the highlights and then press Memory (or whats the order of steps?) of course same order with the Shadows, I just want to know step by step. Thank you

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Alex Many thanks for stopping by the channel. I don't really use the meter in quite that way, I am not looking for an average (otherwise just use a standard meter) rather I am looking at where the major tones in the intended image fall and then deciding where to put the the exposure to preserve highlights. Usually I find that senes are well within the latitude of the film, but if not this method would tell you whether you would need to compensate in development. I hope that that helps, let me know if you need more detail Dave

[@kingscarab]

First off thank you for the Video. However I am confused as to why you would open up exposure to preserve highlight. Wouldn´t you want to close it down to not have the highlights blown out? I feel like I am thinking mistakenly here. But if it is f8 it is obviously darker than f4 or something. however if I go down to f4 wouldn´t the highlights blow out? Also why when you have an ambient reading and want to go for more highlightdetails in your shot would the meter give you a lower aperture value? I am sorry but somehow I can not wrap my Head around this meter :D

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Niklas Firstly, welcome to the channel. It is indeed quite confusing, however it is important to remember that the reading that you get on any lightmeter is one that is intended to give a mid tone (zone 5 in the aone system of exposure) and if you are metering something which is white (such as my white cupboard doors or the wedding dress or snow) using the meters values will actually underexpose your white highlight by about two stops (zone 7 is the point at which both texture and detail are preserved, zone 8 only texture is preserved zone 9 texture is lost an zone 10 is unrecoverable shadow) so counter that and ensure that your white object is white but still has detail and texture you add two more stops. With digital cameras we can avoid these issues by taking a shot where we have metered from a grey card for example which will give an exposure to correctly render the mid grey value and so your highlights will be right. However, in large format photography we usually want more control over where we place various tones in the zone system I hope that that has clarified things a little. Let me now if you need more detail Dave

[@davidmcfarland3940]

Very useful explanation Thanks

[@DanielMelzerPhotography]

Great Video! Really interesting gear

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Daniel, Many thanks for taking the time, it is much appreciated. I suspect for many Photographers in the digital age the humble lightmeter is rather defunct, but still essential kit for large format shooters! Dave

[@TechLair]

Does it have a aperture priority mode or only shutter priority?

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Techlair I am currently in China and don't have a spot meter to hand. I believe that it is aperture priority only Dave

[@giovanni_a67]

Hi, it is actually shutter priority only. I find it easier to use it in EV mode, so I do not have to fiddle with the shutter speeds to find the aperture that I want (I am a newbie, still finding my way through the zone system)

[@TechLair]

I got it and enjoying using it. It's dead simple

[@giovanni_a67]

Me too. I bought mine last year after watching Dave's video

[@DaveJSmith]

HI TechLair It really is, like a lot of things in Photography, there is a lot of mystique around the spot meter, but they are really pretty straigtforward. I also don't think that you need all that functionality that you get with the latest models! Dave

[@hubgielissen6312]

Interesting, but the explanation would be better if Dave would show the display more often when he is going through all the various steps.

[@DaveJSmith]

Yes, fair point

[@1911geek]

ASA: In photography, ASA and ISO are both measurements of film speed, or sensitivity to light. ASA is a scale created by the American Standards Association, but it is no longer widely used. Now, most film is labeled by ISO, which was created in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization.

[@DaveJSmith]

Correct, many thanks for your input

[@longlee1100]

Hi, I have bought the minolta spotmeter f after viewing this video. But mine came in with rattling sound toward the front element of the meter. Is that normal ??????

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi There I am glad that this helped, but no a rattling is not at all normal. I would send it back even if it is apparently working something is wrong Dave

[@Co_ja_Ci_bede_mowil]

Hi, are you doing medium format workshops? 2 to 1? Fuji GX680 Iii.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Arkadiusz I am just in the process of building my new studio and workshop so will be offering workshops in B&W, Large Format, Palladium and Carbon Printing and Wet Plate Collodion in the very near future! Dave

[@petertaranscorsese2900]

Dave Smith Photography Hi Dave, any news on the Palladium Workshops? - where abouts are you in the UK? - Cheers - Peter.

[@melvinch]

It's a shame it can only average two spot readings. The Sekonic one can average up to five .

[@DaveJSmith]

HI Melvin Sure, but to be hinest I do any calculations in my head as I go, so I never use the memory function at all Dave

[@brentdrafts2290]

Been looking at the GX680 for awhile, just not sure compared to my Mamiya Super 23 for a 67/69 negative.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Brent Only difference would be the movements that you get with the Fuji ... it is a huge beast of a camera though! I have since changed mine for a Wista 45VX with a 612 rfh back (also a beast of a camera!!) Dave

[@JHuntPhotography0]

Thank you for such a great video. No I know how to use my meter.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Jhunt You are most welcome, I am glad that the videos are of use to people. Best wishes Dave

[@aussiegoosebumps]

Still own and use one.

[@DaveJSmith]

Hi Robert I don't honestly know how people manage without one!! Dave

[@aussiegoosebumps]

I originally learnt, from Ansel Adams books to use one in the early 80's. Even met the great man at Yosemite in 1979. Didn't know who he was at the time.

[@DaveJSmith]

That is very cool!!