Minolta Spotmeter F An Accurate, Capable Spotmeter That's Affordable And Will Save On Film Costs 

I've been using a Pentax Digital Spot meter for many years and I love how simple it is to get perfect exposure in camera using negative or transparency film.

I have one and I love it. If it had a way to calibrate/set highlight and shadow button ranges instead of 2.3 and -2.7 stops (that generally work well for slide) it would be perfect. For B&W or color negs that is a bit narrow range (especially in highlights). I like getting a shadow/highlight point (or mid gray) and checking the latitude. You see the difference in viewfinder when you've set it. I like my Pentax digital spotmeter too, but it displays EV-values that need a bit of thinking (like oh, 14, that's +2 to my selected 12ev mid gray). Nothing beats the "analog computer" it has though, just see the rings for any exposure combination you want. As a still shooter, I tend to select aperture for needed depth and time is what it is. Yes, I do have a more modern Sekonic too but I prefer my Minolta or my Pentax. They are more intuitive I think. I still carry often my Sekonic to get incident reading when I like it or want it for a reference. I never have a surprise with anything important with spot meter, when I check them. Measures far away too unlike incident meters if you're into landscapes.

I've got the same meter, one of the best things I ever bought. Mainly place shaddow or key low value on Zone III, 2 stops under. Highlights are spot on with the (H) button. Once you place key value on say Zone III you can meter where other Zones fall in the scene. 2 stops from III is on Zone V 5 stops more Zone VIII and so on. Density (values) on film are predictable, each zone is represented by a Density (value) on the film. Absolutely no guess work.

If you do not use or need the ability to meter flash exposure, the earlier Spotmeter M is basically the same meter, usually found to be somewhat less expensive. The Minolta Spotmeter is probably the most accurate available. The Pentax Digital Spotmeter is more fussy to use, and it is notorious as being color blind to some colors. The "M" version uses a more expensive silver battery, whereas the later F (and the very lat of the M units) uses a standard AA.

The only shortcoming of the digital camera spot meter it does not measure flash , just ambient, so the spot meter F still has a room in the digital photography, and this is what landed me on your video. I am trying to get my head wrapped around the wealth of info of Dean Collins' chromazones and ratios and flash spot meter is center to learning those skills. Thank you for this video.

Good video and explanation of the meter and uses. These are great meters, and I was fortunate to get mine at a really good price a couple of years ago. It pairs micely with the Minolta Flash meter IV. Cheers!

I've been trying to find an affordable light meter to use with my Pen F when shooting film. I wouldn't say this one is that affordable. I typically just go with the sunny 16 rule or use my E-PL1 as a meter. However this is a great light meter and worth buying since it uses available batteries. Some of the older meters that use the mercury button cells it is hard to match the voltage with available batteries and you can be off a stop.

5 minutes in and now you tell us you are not going to explain how to use it

Thanks for the video. Can you share the manual? I was just able to come across a Spotmeter F recently, but I am afraid I got a dud. The manual would help me confirm.

I use a 758C for cine lighting