Experience in using Sinar Booster 1

I would appreciate if someone can share the experience in using Sinar

Booster 1 with a metering back. Specifically how can I factor the

maximum aperture of the lens used for metering to the exposure

reading obtained from the Minolta meter in the measurement.

With any of these booster units, you normally would calibrate the booster setting for each lens.

Thanks for information, David.

As I acquired the Sinar Booster without any instruction, please also advise how can I calibrate the booster unit with individual lenses. The Sinar Booster 1 is taking measurement in front of the ground glass.

I have a Minolta Booster II unit. I haven't used the Sinar Booster I, but I'd imagine the procedure should be pretty similar. You should write to Sinar in any case, and they should be able to send you a photocopy of the manual for a small fee.

 

The booster should have some sort of power setting that you adjust for each lens. Focus the lens at infinity and point the camera toward some neutral surface like a grey card in the near field (the surface need not be in focus). Take a reflective reading using the meter without the booster of the surface and write it down. Plug the booster in, and with the sensor in the center of the groundglass, take a reading of the same surface, adjusting the dial on the booster until the reading equals the normal reflective reading. If you can match them, you're calibrated and ready to go for that lens.

 

If you max out the booster without matching the reflective reading (likely if the lens has a small max aperture), first try reading a lighter surface or using a brighter light source, and if that fails, you just need to incorporate a correction factor manually into your procedure for that lens.

 

The Minolta booster reads from the groundglass, so it also needs to be recalibrated if you change the groundglass or add a fresnel, but since the Sinar reads in front of the groundglass, that should not be an issue.

 

Once you do this for each lens, you could either keep a list of booster settings for all your lenses, or you could put a label on each lensboard with the booster setting.

Thanks for the assistance.

Hi Patrick,

<p>

The Booster 1 is nothing more than a probe that holds the

metering cell at the bottom where it goes in front of the

groundglass. I'm not sure what you mean when you speak of

"factoring the maximum aperture of the lens...".

<p>

At the top of the probe there is a wire coming out of it with a male

end. This gets plugged into the meter. Once plugged in...you set

the film speed and other pertinent information into the meter.

Turn on the probe, press the metering button on the meter, and

you're off to the races.

<p>

I hope this helps...good luck!

<p>

Henry

<p>

PS: You don't have to worry about either filter factors or bellows

factors with these devices.

i have read the some photocopied instructions for using the booster1 with a minolta v and couldnt follow them at all....it was pretty badly written. I am acctually going to use a sekonic meter which seems to give the same results. It goes on about setting f5.6 on the meter as the control point but what it would be good to hear is somone to fully explain the logic of this booster and the logic behind the instructions as they are written. The sinar booster doesnt have a wheel as such to calibrate each lens and so i suppose this must be done at the meter instead. I was under the impression that film is film and the booster/meter should know how much light by iso must be delivered at the film plane to give a perfect exposure...and it would then be up to me to let some parts of the image ride up or down by a couple of stops....and use grads when needed to pull the image within limits??

<B>UPGRADING SINARSIX</b><br>

Upgrading from SinarSix to Sinar/Minolta booster1<BR>

Also a condensed manual for measuring ambient light and Flashlight with the Minolta IV<BR>

<P>

<a href="http://www.johndesq.com/pinhole/booster.htm">More on this    <img src="http://www.johndesq.com/pinhole/images/sinarsixboosterx.jpg" border=0></a>

<P>

From there you can go many directions for NorWood Director and descendants,

 

Regards,

JD