Help with Minolta Spotmeter

[beckzito]

Hi guys,

I am trying to understand the behaviour of my digital minolta spotmeter f in this regard:

If a measure my scene looking for a mid grey zone i get a certain exposure, lets say f4 at 1/500th.
Then, if i click on the S button(for shadows), according to the manual, the minolta should give me preference for the shadows letting eventually highlights to wash-out.
So, why after i press S the meter changes to f8 at 1/500th ? Shouldnt the shadows preference give a exposure with lower f stop, hence more light?

Anyone? Many thanks.

 

[shimokita]

Just to be on the same page, are you doing the "Shadow Readings" as per page 31-32 of the Minolta Spotmeter F user manual

http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/minolta_spotmeter_f-1.pdf

 

[beckzito]

Just to be on the same page, are you doing the "Shadow Readings" as per page 31-32 of the Minolta Spotmeter F user manual

http://www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/minolta_spotmeter_f-1.pdf

Yes i am.
Look at Minolta example, afte pressing S f/stop changed from 1.4 to 4.
Maybe it is my fault but it seems to be quite the oposite of how it should :bang:

 

[shimokita]

The example is correct...

Remember that a single meter reading will expose the measured area as if it was 18% gray

Thus the first reading at f/1.4 would would result in an exposue of the shadow area being 18% gray (too bright).

The second action (pressing the "S" button) will make the shadow area darker by 2.7 stops which is the correct approach.

On the other hand you may not want -2.7 stops compensation.

The other approach is to average the highlight and shadow. You could try that on a scene and compare the results.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The way it works is you point the meter at something you want rendered black, then press the Shadow button. The exposure it indicates will make the thing you metered look black in the photo.

The highlight button works like that for white objects. Take a reading of something white, press the highlight button and you'll get an exposure that makes it look white.

Minolta had this feature on several of their meters, like the Flash Meter IV. The spotmeter built in to the Olympus OM-4 and OM-4Ti 35mm SLRs had highlight-shadow buttons also that did the same thing.

 

[beckzito]

Ok thanks to both of you.
So, for the time being i will use the average button, after two readings of diferent zones from the scene.
Should i just simply memorize these two readings and press A at the end or i must click S and H prior to.memorize each? Cause the average result will vary depending on this decison.

 

[a.noctilux]

In the Spotmeter F, to use "A", you must "M"emorize the two readings before pushing "A" for Average of the two memorized readings.

Let's say, the first reading is f/4 then the second is f/16, pushing "A", the reading must be f/8, the mean of the two.