Hey do any of you guys use a minolta m meter? Could you scan and e-mail me the manual? I bought a used one, but no manual and since this is my first spot meter I'd sure like to get it figured out, so when the film arrives I can go out and give it a try. Any help is much appreciated. I've been playing with it a while everyday, hoping knowledge by trial or osmosis will happen, but... May be you could explain the buttons. A / s/ h are choices at the top. Also f no. and Ev I know f no. but Ev = what? Which to I choose and why? Then asa/ time which do I choose and why? How do they work together? I know you guys all know all this stuff, but don't take that knowledge for granted, we newbies( maybe I shouldn't put all newbies in that group, sorry) are struggling. Ten years from now I'll be laughing at my ignorance. I hope. I know my posts have been truley ignorant but I'm reallydoing the best I can with not a lot of folks around here to help. Thanks.

-- Jules Hancock (jules@cal-net.net), November 29, 2000

Answers

I use the Spotmeter F, but it looks like the F and M models have somethings in common.

The minolta spotmeter has the ability to calculate your exposure for the "H"ighlights, "S"hadows or the "A"verage. Those are the buttons at the top. To use this feature you first read the shadow region, press "M"emory, then read the highlight. Then press either H,S or A depending on the importance of the exposure. The EV is the Exposure index scale which is an alternative way of measuring your light. The ASA/Time is used to set the film speed. It must be on the "Time" setting when making the reading, otherwise you get an "error" signal.

-- William Levitt (light-zone@operamail.com), November 30, 2000.

The highlight and shadow buttons work as you've just been told, but sadly they are not programmable so you're stuck with what Minolta thinks the bias should be for a highlight or shadow reading. For general b&w negative work the bias is dramatically wrong and will result in underexposure. It's simplest to read your subject values in direct f/stops and "place" your actual lens settings accordingly. How low to place a shadow and how high to place a highlight is something you'll have to work out for yourself by making pictures and printing them. You can ignore the EV mode unless you have a camera or lens that allows direct setting of these values (older Hasselblad and some Rollie come to mind). ASA/time: you set the meter to the speed of the film you are using (something else you'll have to discover for yourself, the manufacturer's rating will almost always be wrong) with the meter in ASA mode, then switch to 'time' mode to take actual readings.---Carl

-- Carl Weese (cweese@earthlink.net), November 30, 2000.

I have quite a bit of photography experience but I found this meter very confusing to operate when I first bought it. I absolutely couldn't have figured it out without a manual. Unfortunately I sold mine so I no longer have a manual. If you don't obtain one by your request here, I'd urge you to contact Minolta and obtain one from them (or from John Craig, a dealer in used manuals). I think the time and frustration saved will be well worth the modest cost of a manual. Perhaps someone else can post John Craig's URL, I don't have it handy.

-- Brian Ellis (bellis60@earthlink.net), December 04, 2000.

Hi,

I was wondering if the Spotmeter M wouldn't be too old compared to the F version ?

Do you think it can be still accurate ?

I may have one for $ 275.00, do you think it's a good deal ?

Thanx

-- Bruce Barelly (barelly@club-internet.fr), May 07, 2001.