Minolta M Spot Meter?

[mikeklensch]

Greetings all,

I'm finally going to try and purchase a good used spot meter, and I have found a "Minolta M" that is priced within my budget. Do any of you have experience with this particular model, good or bad?

Many thanks,
Mike

 

[craigclu]

I used one for years and always found it accurate and agreeing with my other meters. I may be recalling incorrectly but there may have been two versions with one using a harder-to-find battery. I no longer have mine but perhaps someone with more current knowledge could add some info on the battery information? The only quirk that I recall is that it was a bit sensitive to small amounts of surface corrosion on the battery and contacts. I would occasionally scotch-brite the batteries and terminals to avoid this.

 

[glbeas]

I have two of them, find them to be pretty durable and love the fact that they use an AA battery.

 

[Lee L]

Mine takes a readily available 6V 544 battery, which is equivalent to 4 stacked SR44, MS76, or 357 batteries.

I find the meter to be very resistant to flare, reading only the 1 degree spot, and like it a lot. It reads in tenths of stops, and works well as a makeshift densitometer on a lightbox.

It also has built in shadow and highlight placement adjustments, two memories, and an averaging function for two readings.

I've had mine for 25 years and find it very reliable and useful.

Lee

 

[mikeklensch]

Thanks everyone for the replies,

Sounds like a decent meter. Of course if I had the money, I'd get a Pentax, but I'm hoping that this one is close in quality and accuracy.

Many thanks,
Mike

 

[Eric Rose]

Thanks everyone for the replies,

Sounds like a decent meter. Of course if I had the money, I'd get a Pentax, but I'm hoping that this one is close in quality and accuracy.

Many thanks,
Mike

Your not giving anything up by using the Minolta meter. I have one and prefer it to my Pentax meter.

 

[Chan Tran]

I bought one of the Spotmeter M in the early 80's and it was more expensive than the Pentax digital spotmeter then. I found it's very accurate and I feel that it's a bit more accurate than my new Flashmeter VI. I would recommend it highly.

 

[radiodav48]

Your not giving anything up by using the Minolta meter. I have one and prefer it to my Pentax meter.

The Minolta spotmeters are excellant, its all about seeing the potential in a subject and getting enough quality information, thats where the good use of the meter comes in Kurtz: "its judgement that defeats us"