The Minolta Auto Meter Debacle

Captain Mainwaring · Jul 18, 2021

Earthlings and other gentlebeings, I am in a bit of a quandary here. I happened to have purchased a Minolta Auto Meter on what passes for eBay in Serbia—been meaning to get one in a while. So it arrived, I happily opened the Butkus manual, and instantly noticed something was off. If you open the manual in question (or if you have one of those meters at your disposal), you’ll notice the scale where you set the film’s photosensitivity. It stands to perfect reason that there should be one there, after all. What baffles me is that the one I got hasn’t got one, as you can see on the picture attached. It runs the battery checks, the pointer rotates in what could be a completely arbitrary manner for all I know, but, obviously, I have no frame of reference, and no way of interpreting these readings. Does anyone have any idea what the matter could be? It’s not like someone’s cannibalized that part and replaced it with something else. Everything looks factory-made and functional. Only I cannot set the film speed for the life of me. The seller just shut up and wouldn’t answer my inquiries. Have I just been conned out of 25 dollars in local currency, or is there something obvious I am somehow failing to see?

wiltw · Jul 18, 2021

There is a photo of the Minolta Autometer II on the web, and it is similar to your photo -- except the web photo shows another 2 windows at 12 o'clock for ASA and at 6 o'clock for DIN.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casualcameracollector/5402902236

And the blank area called into question only shows one position with "+10"

Your meter actually looks closer to the Minolta Autometer Professional, but that has ASA and DIN windows, too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/171646172420

"The Minolta Autometer was different from other light meters of it's time because it used a servo to move the scale. You just pressed the button and took the reading. It had two ranges - if you were on the wrong range for an accurate reading a red light would point you to the right range. You turned the outer ring of the dial to set the range. The high range moved an extremely dense filter in front of the sensor."
The blank area has a Cine scale on it.

Here is the ownner manual
https://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/minolta_autometer_prof.pdf

No mention anywhere on web, nor photos, of a meter such as yours, without ASA and DIN windows.
There was a photo of the back, and it has a label naming the meter model....have you looked there?

I bet the seller was just as uninformed as you are, and simply was not mature enough to admit that!

pentaxuser · Jul 18, 2021

Captain Mainwaring said:
The seller just shut up and wouldn’t answer my inquiries.

View attachment 280565

Just out of curiosity, can you say in what way the seller just suddenly shut up? Did he just put the phone down or what. It seems you have a straightforward question to which presumably as a user he must have been able to give a straightforward answer but apparently chose not to

Thanks

pentaxuser

Pieter12 · Jul 18, 2021

Looks like the outer ring with the ASA/DIN scale is missing.

Captain Mainwaring · Jul 18, 2021

wiltw said:
There is a photo of the Minolta Autometer II on the web, and it is similar to your photo -- except the web photo shows another 2 windows at 12 o'clock for ASA and at 6 o'clock for DIN.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/casualcameracollector/5402902236

And the blank area called into question only shows one position with "+10"

Your meter actually looks closer to the Minolta Autometer Professional, but that has ASA and DIN windows, too.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/171646172420

My point exactly. Where the hell are the ASA and DIN windows? And it doesn't look like someone's sawed them off or something. The meter doesn't look as though it's been messed with. And, yes, of course I checked the manual first.

Bazza D · Jul 18, 2021

The black plastic ring for setting the ISO/DIN is missing. It will give you EV values that you can use but kind of defeats the purpose of the meter. You could possibly use another light meter and marker and try to mark out where the ISO/DIN numbers should be. Maybe using a bit of tape or something where the ISO/DIN ring should be. But probably best thing for that meter; if it is accurate, would be to find a broken donor meter for the correct ring that should be there.

Captain Mainwaring · Jul 18, 2021

pentaxuser said:
Just out of curiosity, can you say in what way the seller just suddenly shut up? Did he just put the phone down or what. It seems you have a straightforward question to which presumably as a user he must have been able to give a straightforward answer but apparently chose not to

Thanks

pentaxuser

Well, I said "excuse me, but I've gone through a bunch of manuals I found online, and the meter's supposed to have an ASA/DIN ring." Worst of all, I'd already left positive feedback since the thing arrived and it looked functional, and I didn't take a look at the manual until much later. I asked him twice what the deal was and whether he'd used it himself—to no avail.

Captain Mainwaring · Jul 18, 2021

Bazza D said:
The black plastic ring for setting the ISO/DIN is missing. It will give you EV values that you can use but kind of defeats the purpose of the meter. You could possibly use another light meter and marker and try to mark out where the ISO/DIN numbers should be. Maybe using a bit of tape or something where the ISO/DIN ring should be. But probably best thing for that meter; if it is accurate, would be to find a broken donor meter for the correct ring that should be there.

Yeah, but I'm puzzled. What the hell could one possibly do to the ring?

Captain Mainwaring · Jul 18, 2021

Yeah, I see where it's lost now. Well, apparently, I can still use their report system to register a complaint if I don't get a reply.

pentaxuser · Jul 18, 2021

My sympathies and thanks for the reply. It certainly suggests to me that you were the victim of a scam and whoever the scammer is needs to be held accountable. I cannot see other explanation. Even if he never used it or any other light meter so was ignorant of the need for a film speed dial and may have been a victim himself, then when you explained it to him an honest person holds his hands up and returns your money.

pentaxuser

wiltw · Jul 19, 2021

Captain Mainwaring said:
Well, I said "excuse me, but I've gone through a bunch of manuals I found online, and the meter's supposed to have an ASA/DIN ring." Worst of all, I'd already left positive feedback since the thing arrived and it looked functional, and I didn't take a look at the manual until much later. I asked him twice what the deal was and whether he'd used it himself—to no avail.

go back and change your feedback

Pieter12 · Jul 19, 2021

pentaxuser said:
My sympathies and thanks for the reply. It certainly suggests to me that you were the victim of a scam and whoever the scammer is needs to be held accountable. I cannot see other explanation. Even if he never used it or any other light meter so was ignorant of the need for a film speed dial and may have been a victim himself, then when you explained it to him an honest person holds his hands up and returns your money.

pentaxuser

Could very well be an individual who buys items at estate sales, swap meets, flea markets, etc. to resell without much knowledge of what they have, just going by the market to price the item.

MyBad · Dec 25, 2021

Captain Mainwaring,
I have one without a part number but the ID on the back is simply "Auto Meter professional". I have had this one sence the early 70s, just have not used it in a while. It has the missing ring described in this post. I would be happy to sell mine to you for parts. It measures incident and reflected light and includes the attachments to do so. This meter works but is in dire need of calibration. Also have pdf of the manual. Let me know if this will help.

The Minolta Auto Meter Debacle

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