New To 4x5 Photography - Spotmeter Suggestions

[GregY]

I have 3 hand held meters: Gossen LunaSix 3, Pentax spot and Minolta Autometer IIIF. Oddly, since it is the newest and has a digital readout, the Minolta reads about a stop higher than the other 2, or the in-camera meters in my Nikons. No idea why, and I don't know if it is calabratable.

I was disappointed, I bought the Minolta to be a modern, accurate meter that took widely available batteries, and it appears way out of calibration. Maybe it was dropped before I bought it?

The Gossen reads the same for incident and reflective off a grey card, the Minolta does not.

Craig the likely outcome of dropping the meter it breaks and no longer works. In the big picture it's not uncommon for meters to read a stop apart. I don't know the Minolta Autometer.....but apparently there's a screw under the battery compartment cover.... or ask someone at The Camera Store or Gary at LensmedicYYC to calibrate it for you.

 

[Chan Tran]

I have 3 hand held meters: Gossen LunaSix 3, Pentax spot and Minolta Autometer IIIF. Oddly, since it is the newest and has a digital readout, the Minolta reads about a stop higher than the other 2, or the in-camera meters in my Nikons. No idea why, and I don't know if it is calabratable.

I was disappointed, I bought the Minolta to be a modern, accurate meter that took widely available batteries, and it appears way out of calibration. Maybe it was dropped before I bought it?

The Gossen reads the same for incident and reflective off a grey card, the Minolta does not.

Meter should not be 1 stop apart. Check in the back of the meter and see if someone adjusted it from zero. Although the adjustment is there to adjust, meters should be very close with the adjustment at 0.

 

[Donald Qualls]

I bought the Minolta to be a modern, accurate meter that took widely available batteries, and it appears way out of calibration.

Is it an analog meter (with a moving needle) or digital? Analog meter movements can be adjusted by changing the tension of the hair spring as well as (usually) by adjusting a tiny potentiometer (one adjusts the zero, the other the meter rate).

 

[Chan Tran]

Is it an analog meter (with a moving needle) or digital? Analog meter movements can be adjusted by changing the tension of the hair spring as well as (usually) by adjusting a tiny potentiometer (one adjusts the zero, the other the meter rate).

it's digital. In fact Minolta made very few meters with the needle. The only ones I know are the original flashmeter and the view meter 9. Even the first autometer which wasn't digital had a motorized dial instead of a needle.

 

[Craig]

I didn't have a manual for the meter, so thanks for the suggestion of the calibration adjustment. I assumed ( that nasty word!) they were factory calibrated and non-adjustable.

I have gone outside and adjusted it so it agrees with my other meters that I know give good results. Thanks everyone!

 

[GregY]

I didn't have a manual for the meter, so thanks for the suggestion of the calibration adjustment. I assumed ( that nasty word!) they were factory calibrated and non-adjustable.

I have gone outside and adjusted it so it agrees with my other meters that I know give good results. Thanks everyone!

Great!

 

[Donald Qualls]

I have gone outside and adjusted it so it agrees with my other meters that I know give good results. Thanks everyone!

Now, does it still agree in lower lighting levels (such as indoors)?

 

[Craig]

I have not tested that. I'll mainly be using it in sun and perhaps cloudy days for landscapes, so that range was more important.

 

[Chan Tran]

I have not tested that. I'll mainly be using it in sun and perhaps cloudy days for landscapes, so that range was more important.

By the way now where the adjustment is at? -1?

 

[Craig]

The adjustment is where the image shows it in the manual. I think it had been adjusted previously.

 

[Chan Tran]

The adjustment is where the image shows it in the manual. I think it had been adjusted previously.

Oh you meant it's now at the 0 center? That's good news. I have several Minolta meters of different models and age yet they all agree with each other.

 

[Craig]

Oh you meant it's now at the 0 center?

Yes, the adjuster points at 12 o clock now

 

[hardly any color]

The only thing people like the Pentax because it has the dial.

Yes, but having owned one i like minoltas much better

 

[Chan Tran]

Yes, but having owned one i like minoltas much better

Yes I did buy the Minolta Spotmeter M in the early 80's for $300 instead of the Pentax Digital Spotmeter for $270 or the Spotmeter V for only $149. But today the resale value of either Pentax is higher than the Minolta. And I agree I like the Minolta much better.

 

[GregY]

Yes I did buy the Minolta Spotmeter M in the early 80's for $300 instead of the Pentax Digital Spotmeter for $270 or the Spotmeter V for only $149. But today the resale value of either Pentax is higher than the Minolta. And I agree I like the Minolta much better.

It's all a matter of personal preference......for every one who prefers A there's someone who prefers B.....

 

[Donald Qualls]

It's all a matter of personal preference......for every one who prefers A there's someone who prefers B.....

I believe this is a universal truth.

 

[Chan Tran]

It's all a matter of personal preference......for every one who prefers A there's someone who prefers B.....

Among Zonies I do not think it's a 1:1 ratio. It's more like 3:1. For every Zonies who likes Minolta I think there 3 who like Pentax. Why the price higher? The demand is higher.

 

[GregY]

Among Zonies I do not think it's a 1:1 ratio. It's more like 3:1. For every Zonies who likes Minolta I think there 3 who like Pentax. Why the price higher? The demand is higher.

Chan... Does it matter? It's just a tool. Objectively it doesn't matter if you like the Minolta and i like the Pentax. Either is an acceptable tool to measure light. Someone in 2025 looking to buy a spotmeter will come across any number of choices.....any one of which will work....which was the OP's original question.

 

[Chan Tran]

Chan... Does it matter? It's just a tool. Objectively it doesn't matter if you like the Minolta and i like the Pentax. Either is an acceptable tool to measure light. Someone in 2025 looking to buy a spotmeter will come across any number of choices.....any one of which will work....which was the OP's original question.


View attachment 397763

People like different things but I figure the dial sells (and it's the dial itself is the selling point) so I am thinking of why not making the dial and sell it?

 

[GregY]

People like different things but I figure the dial sells (and it's the dial itself is the selling point) so I am thinking of why not making the dial and sell it?

There were/are a selection of Zone System labels for various meters....

 

[Chan Tran]

There were/are a selection of Zone System labels for various meters....

You can't put a zone labels on the Minolta Spotmeter M (or F) nor you can put it on the Gossen Ultra Spot or Starlite or Sekonic L858D etc... Because they don't have a dial to put the labels on.

 

[GregY]

You can't put a zone labels on the Minolta Spotmeter M (or F) nor you can put it on the Gossen Ultra Spot or Starlite or Sekonic L858D etc... Because they don't have a dial to put the labels on.

I didn't say you could.... but you inferred "so I am thinking of why not making the dial and sell it?
The visual layout of the Zone System is simple.....for those who can't do the math in their heads.....you could simply stick the label on the meter to help those figure out how many stops different zone lll or zone Vll might be. It doesn't have to be on a dial.

 

[Chan Tran]

I didn't say you could.... but you inferred "so I am thinking of why not making the dial and sell it?
The visual layout of the Zone System is simple.....for those who can't do the math in their heads.....you could simply stick the label on the meter to help those figure out how many stops different zone lll or zone Vll might be. It doesn't have to be on a dial.
View attachment 397774

By the dial I mean This

All of the meters I mentioned can display the LV number so you make a dial just like that with the zone scale replacing the IRE scale. Now you can use any of the other meters take a measurement and get the readout in LV (EV @ ISO100) then you can set that value on the dial.

 

[abruzzi]

By the dial I mean This
View attachment 397775

All of the meters I mentioned can display the LV number so you make a dial just like that with the zone scale replacing the IRE scale. Now you can use any of the other meters take a measurement and get the readout in LV (EV @ ISO100) then you can set that value on the dial.

I know i'm in the minority, but I've always hated dials like that. They are so visually confusing. Give me a digital readout any day of the week and let me do the math in my head--that much easier than trying to read numbers off those dials. (I'll also say that in 35mm land, I've hades the cameras that had a needle that swings up and down pointing at a dozen different shutter speeds. I prefer the needle that swings between (+) and (-) or just a digital readout like the Nikon FA or F3. Maybe I'm more mathmatically literate than spacially literate...)

 

[Chan Tran]

I know i'm in the minority, but I've always hated dials like that. They are so visually confusing. Give me a digital readout any day of the week and let me do the math in my head--that much easier than trying to read numbers off those dials. (I'll also say that in 35mm land, I've hades the cameras that had a needle that swings up and down pointing at a dozen different shutter speeds. I prefer the needle that swings between (+) and (-) or just a digital readout like the Nikon FA or F3. Maybe I'm more mathmatically literate than spacially literate...)

I don't say which way is better but what I am saying is that the dial sells. More people like the dial and that what drives the price of the Pentax meters up.