Minolta VI meter

[kev]

I just bought this meter online and recived it. But I am not sure if

it is working. Does the LCD display light up? If not how do you

view the screen at night?? Is there a burron of something you can do

to light it up?

 

The Minolta 4 light up as well as the the Minolta F spot meter.

 

Also, how on earth to you read multiple flashe pops?

There was a switch on the side of the Minolta 4 but on this ones

geez. I think I may have wasted $400+ bucks.

 

The manual is crap!

 

Frustrated pleae advise.

 

Kev

[david_h._hartman]

I really doubt that you wasted $400.00+ bucks. This is a new product and there are probably very few owners as yet. You could try calling Minolta. I e-mailed Minolta and asked for a brochure and was told they don�t have one yet.

 

You might try this�

 

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPG_Faqs/Cpg_AskYourQuestion

[chuckk]

I'll buy it for $300!!

[stephen_ratzlaff]

but can no longer find the info. Probably went into the unarchived forum here at photo.net, but can't remember for sure where I posted this info.

 

Anyhow, to answer your questions.

 

1.) Backlight for the external LCD -> NO, there is no backlight. Only the internal spot meter display is lit (orange color). Yep, no backlight on the external LCD panel is really missed.

 

2.) The FM 6 doesn't have support for reading/calculating multiple flash readings. Too bad because this is a nice feature, but you can always work the math yourself.

 

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Also a couple of other things different between the new FM 6 and the FM 5:

 

 

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3.) No Auto mode like the FM 5. No great loss here as I never used the Auto mode on the FM 5 anyhow.

 

4.) Analyze (flash to ambient ratio) feature of FM 6 only has 4-5 segments (depending on how you interpret the user's manual) instead of 10 like the FM 5. Not really that big of a deal. Except the FM6 manual really doesn't explain this worth a crap. One place states there are 5 segments if you include the flash symbol, then the example shows the four segments and states each is roughly 25%, which basically contradicts what was stated prior with the percentages given to the flash symbol only then the flash symbol + 1 segment, two segments and so on.

 

5.) FM 6 will NOT accept the optional Booster II unit like the FM5. The only optional accessories are a longer sync cord and the optional flat diffusor (spelling???).

 

But all is not lost, the FM 6 spot meter does meter down to a lower EV than either the Sekonic L-508 or L-608. AND ... the Latitude function is really quite nice, and it's user configurable.

 

Overall, the only things I miss are the backlight of the external LCD display panel and the multi-pop capability.

 

Regards

[stephen_ratzlaff]

See here:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0054aB

 

BR

[david_carson]

Stephen,

 

Apparently, another change from V to VI is the V had an aperture priority mode, and

the VI does not (or, it doesn't say it has one on Minolta's web site).