Minolta Spotmeter F

[haris]

Hi,

How good is Minolta Spotmeter F? I am looking for spotmeter hoping to go into LF photography, but even without LF I am thinking about decent spotmeter, so any thoughts/advices will help. Minolta is currently most easy (and most affordable) handheld spotmeter for me to get, but if some Pentax or Seconic or Gossen come my way, I wouldn't say no .

Except quality of results, one of concerns are batteries, is it use batteries available currently in Europe? It would be really big obstacle for me to search for batteries in USA or rest of the world...

Thanks

 

[Kerik]

I've had one for years and it's worked flawlessly. It takes one AA battery which seems to last a long, long time.

 

[BobNewYork]

Like Kerik, (you're not looking well by the way Kerik) I've used a Minolta Spotmeter F for several years now. No problems. It's accurate, consistent and as Kerik says the AA battery last forever. I'd had a Soligor before that and I found it inconsistent over a range of brightness levels - worse, it was inconsistently inconsistent, (the worst kind!)

Bob

 

[craigclu]

I may be remembering wrong, but I believe there were some iterations of the Minolta spot meters that took less common batteries. Some years back, I had Spotmeter M's and F's. Perhaps it was one or the other of those model versions that used different batteries. You might want to double check before buying a particular unit. Mine were always extremely accurate. I sent one in each couple of years and then checked my other meters from that one when it was returned to me. I recall the notes from the techs stating that it didn't need adjustment.

 

[jimgalli]

I've had and used Pentax, Sekonik and Minolta spot meters. The minolta F is my keeper and if it breaks, I'll get another one. Quick.

 

[wildbill]

The minolta F is the only meter i know of that can be calibrated by the user via the adjustment screw under the battery compartment. To me, that's a selling point. It's a great meter and was/is the motion picture industry standard.
vinny

 

[TracyStorer]

I've had one for almost 20 years, I've found it useful in the studio as well as in the field, much easier viewing for me than the Sekonics which are also very good quality.

 

[haris]

Thank you all for answers

 

[Vanishing Point Ent.]

Konica - Minolta is GONE !

Maybe, you should look at the new Kenko. Kenko, took over Minolta's meters, when Konica - Minolta folded.