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Minolta Spot Meter M (Can't find 1/50s mode)


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Hi there,

I just purchased a Minolta spotmeter M (AA battery version) and I can't seem to find the 1/50s metering mode on it. In the manual it states I need to decrease the time/shutter speed past 30min to get to the 1/50s, but my meter it doesn't seem to do this... I noticed the manual that I was reading was for the 6v battery version and not my aa battery one (I can't find a manual for an AA one). Would anyone happen to know how to get to the 1/50s mode on an AA battery version or whether or not the AA battery version does not support this mode?

 

- Cheers 

- H

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4 minutes ago, Dirk DeJonghe said:

I have a Minolta F Spotmeter. If I go down in exposure times past 1m, 2m, 4m, 8m, 16m, 30minutes, I get 50 (1/50 of a second, also useable for 1/48). 

See that's what mine doesn't seem to be doing... Is yours the one with the 6v battery?

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49 minutes ago, Dirk DeJonghe said:

You can use the 1/60 setting, you will be overexposing by about 1/3 of a stop, not harmful at all.

 

Think I will have to. If I was shooting 25fps, how much would I be overexposing then?

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IMG_20200407_0003.jpg

 

Hello Hugo and Dirk!

Hugo, you said: "On my Minolta M Spotmeter when I get to 30m and press the decrease key again, nothing happens..".

That's correct, nothing will happen on the Minolta M meter. The model M was the 1st version, and in my opinion the better of the 2 models (the F being the 2nd) for Cine work at the time it was introduced. Yet, the model F was faster to make settings adjustments and figuring the Cine measurements. (seems the model F went to 11)

The model M does take one AA battery, 1.5 volt.

Here's how to set the meter for Cine measurement...

IMG_20200407_0004.jpg

It turned out that the model M was better at reading discontinuous light than the improved model F.  So, for me, the model M is more accurate when reading the old TV monitors, projected film on screens and subjects under HMI lights.

I used both models.

Another thing to think about when using your spotmeter on sets with multiple light sources, you need to shade the meter's lens from stray light. As these meters became popular, small cottage industries popped up making nice slip-on aluminum snoots for the meter......

IMG-9993.jpg

IMG_9995.jpg

One had to have a snoot to look cool among the crew members.

Charlie

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1 hour ago, Charlie Peich said:

IMG_20200407_0003.jpg

 

Hello Hugo and Dirk!

Hugo, you said: "On my Minolta M Spotmeter when I get to 30m and press the decrease key again, nothing happens..".

That's correct, nothing will happen on the Minolta M meter. The model M was the 1st version, and in my opinion the better of the 2 models (the F being the 2nd) for Cine work at the time it was introduced. Yet, the model F was faster to make settings adjustments and figuring the Cine measurements. (seems the model F went to 11)

The model M does take one AA battery, 1.5 volt.

Here's how to set the meter for Cine measurement...

IMG_20200407_0004.jpg

It turned out that the model M was better at reading discontinuous light than the improved model F.  So, for me, the model M is more accurate when reading the old TV monitors, projected film on screens and subjects under HMI lights.

I used both models.

Another thing to think about when using your spotmeter on sets with multiple light sources, you need to shade the meter's lens from stray light. As these meters became popular, small cottage industries popped up making nice slip-on aluminum snoots for the meter......

IMG-9993.jpg

IMG_9995.jpg

One had to have a snoot to look cool among the crew members.

Charlie

Hello Charlie,

The thing is though, there is a another version of the M that takes a 6v battery (and has a mesure lock where the on/off button is) that does say it can measure 1/50s after 30m in the manual, which, is why i'm confused as to why your's and mine both don't measure 1/50s. 

Cool snoot! Would you also happen to know how much compensation i'd need if I shot 25fps?

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Hugo......

Does your meter look like the one in the photo from a catalog? It does say the Auto Meter takes a 6volt battery. Also, it says there were 2 models,  analog and digital.

The spot meter I had before the Minoltas was a Pentax analog meter.

Could you post a pic of your meter??

Charlie

IMG-20200407-0006.jpg

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Greetings Hugo!

Thank you for posting the pic of your Minolta M and the link to an instruction manual for a Minolta M (n). This helps me solve the confusion of the 6 volt battery, the meter lock switch and the Cine speed of 1/50 at the end of the shutter speed scale.

Minolta came out with the model M (n), or version 1 that still had a 6 volt battery. I was not aware of of this version of the M. When I acquired my M, it was the 2nd upgraded version of the M, and had the 1.5 volt AA battery. From your pic, this is the version/model you have. 

I've copied a couple of pages from my Minolta M instruction manual. Compare these to the same pages in the on-line manual for the Minolta M (n) that you posted a link for....... (the page numbers on my pages match the same pages for the M (n) pages)

 

IMG_20200408_0008.jpg

 

IMG-20200408-0005.jpg

 

On page 4 of the manual for the 2nd version of the M (the ones we have), you'll see it does not mention the Cine speed of 1/50 at all.

Then look at the on-line manual for page 4.

IMG-20200408-0014.jpg

 

The 'Meter Lock' switch was nothing more than an on/off switch as is on our meters.

The Minolta F reinstated that Cine function, apparently enough people complained.

IMG_20200408_0009.jpg

 

 

So why did Minolta make those changes to the Minolta M meter?? Read the very last sentence on page 19 of the English language manual or the on-line manual you provided.

Charlie

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Thank you for this Charlie. I'm sure they just made those changes so people would buy the more expensive F meter.

Would you happen to know that the conversion sum or how much compensation i'd need from 1/60s to 25fps @1/50s?

 

Hugo

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I also have the Spotmeter M. Years ago, I recalibrated it using the dial inside the battery compartment so that an 18% gray reading at 1/60 matched my incident meter at 1/50. Obviously, this made it inaccurate at any other shutter speeds, but as I only use it for cine work, it didn’t matter.

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On 4/10/2020 at 10:50 AM, Stuart Brereton said:

I also have the Spotmeter M. Years ago, I recalibrated it using the dial inside the battery compartment so that an 18% gray reading at 1/60 matched my incident meter at 1/50. Obviously, this made it inaccurate at any other shutter speeds, but as I only use it for cine work, it didn’t matter.

This is a great idea Stuart, thank you for this. 

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