flash meter recommendation?

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get, and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

I know that with all the collective knowledge on this site, that maybe someone could give me some input! Yes I have done several searches, but I would still like to have a recommendation on the flash meter as I am simply not having any experience with one, as of yet. I'm sure that I will figure it out like everything else...Thanks,
R...

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

I don't know anything about the Minolta V, but I use the Minolta IV. I am not an expert either, but I really like the meter. It is easy to use for ambient and flash readings. I have used it to check the lighting ratios in a master/slave flash setup. I don't think you can go wrong with Minolta or any of the other top brands. As for using a meter with digital, it works just like film so that is no problem.

I can't comment on studio lights as I am just now looking into that too. I am considering starting with a light stand and umbrella with a flash attachment. I have 2 550 EXs so I can slave the main light into an umbrella from an on camera fill.

Greg

I can't offer you an opinion based upon much experience but here's what little experience I have... I just bought an Alien Bees system with two 800s and one 400. For a flash meter I bought a Sekonic L358. Like many others have suggested, I also found that the L358 underexposes by about 2/3rds of a stop but it's not big deal as you can easily apply a bias or calibrate it yourself. The meter is very easy to use. I paid $219.00 for it from B&H plus another $25.00 to get the wireless transmitter (normally a $99.00 add on, I don't have the equipment to utilize the transmitter but I'm sure I will eventually and at that price I couldn't pass it up).

Do some searches for Alien Bees (you'll find TONs of stuff... BTW their customer service is absolutely stellar) and Sekonic and that should give you some more options to check out.

Cheers, Joe

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting.

Click to expand...

"Best" is tricky. The Minolta V, and its predecessor, the IV, are very solid, reliable, robust, accurate, and flexible meters. Neither is inherently "better" than Sekonic's 508 or 608, depending on your own needs. (If you want to spot meter, or even do a quick reflectance check, the Sekonics are "better", in that those functions are built-in, and you don't have to switch accessories.)

But....

Both top-end meters will do far more than most professional photographes need, and if you don't need the functions, you can save more than half the price by getting a different, perfectly reliable, robust, solid, and accurate meter: the Sekonic 358 or 308B, or the Minolta Autometer IV. (I'm sure there are others; those are the ones I've used myself--I own an Autometer IV, as I prefered the display to that of the 308, and the 358 wasn't available at that time. Now, I might go with the Autometer or 358, depending on when you asked me.)

What functions do you need? I pretty much only use the basic incident metering or reflective (via a 'disc swap'), even though it'll do more.

trigger for my AlienBees & Pocket Wizard setup & it works real well.

-John

You might want to check the reviews of meters at SmartShooter.com

http://www.shootsmarter.com/fmcompare.html

I use a Minolta Flashmeter V, it suits my needs, whether it is best depends on your needs/wants. I use a separate Minolta Spotmeter F for reflected spotmetering for flash or ambient.

I use Minolta meters because I was employed by them servicing their meters I know their meters quirks and service issues, their meters work for me. Before I was employed by them I used an old Gossen analog meter. I use whatever brand that works for me.

If you want a Minolta meter with spotmetering built-in check out the new Minolta Flashmeter VI. I was waiting for Minolta to come out with a meter that had built-in spotmetering like the Sekonics, and now that I am no longer employed by them they come out with one.

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

I agree with Kevin. I used a 308B to measure a 2:1 ratio for this photo.

http://www.pbase.com/image/15347960

My setup is a Vivitar 285HV on the right with a mini-softbox and Quantrary on the left using a 20/80 bounce.

For just getting measurements, the 308B is a good unit. The 358B has the ability to mix available lighting with flash lighting. This is not a feature I would use often so I saved some $$$.

Take care,

Kevin Connery said:

....
Both top-end meters will do far more than most professional
photographes need, and if you don't need the functions, you can
save more than half the price by getting a different, perfectly
reliable, robust, solid, and accurate meter: the Sekonic 358 or
308B, or the Minolta Autometer IV. (I'm sure there are others;
those are the ones I've used myself--I own an Autometer IV, as I
prefered the display to that of the 308, and the 358 wasn't
available at that time. Now, I might go with the Autometer or 358,
depending on when you asked me.)

What functions do you need? I pretty much only use the basic
incident metering or reflective (via a 'disc swap'), even though
it'll do more.

Click to expand...

--
TonyK

Does the Minolta Flashmeter VI contain all the functions that the Flashmeter V previously has? Cause I read somewhere that the flashmeter VI is more of a spot meter. Thanks for answering my queries.

Regards
Ivan

Tphoto said:

I use Minolta meters because I was employed by them servicing their
meters I know their meters quirks and service issues, their meters
work for me. Before I was employed by them I used an old Gossen
analog meter. I use whatever brand that works for me.

If you want a Minolta meter with spotmetering built-in check out
the new Minolta Flashmeter VI. I was waiting for Minolta to come
out with a meter that had built-in spotmetering like the Sekonics,
and now that I am no longer employed by them they come out with one.

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

The spotmetering capability is an added feature, it is not merely a spotmeter. This is Minolta's first meter in the "Flashmeter" series to incorporate built-in spotmetering capabilites. As with all Minolta meters higher/newer models add new features.

You can read about the Flashmeter VI youself at the URL below.

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPGProducts?cname=exp&fname=exp_exp&Mname=Flash_Meter_VI

uniqueid said:

Regards
Ivan

Tphoto said:

I use Minolta meters because I was employed by them servicing their
meters I know their meters quirks and service issues, their meters
work for me. Before I was employed by them I used an old Gossen
analog meter. I use whatever brand that works for me.

If you want a Minolta meter with spotmetering built-in check out
the new Minolta Flashmeter VI. I was waiting for Minolta to come
out with a meter that had built-in spotmetering like the Sekonics,
and now that I am no longer employed by them they come out with one.

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Thanks for answering to my queries. However when I compare the measuring modes of both flashmeters, I notice that the flash meter VI has only the following measuring methods:

AMBI mode: Ambient light measurement
CORD mode: Flash light measurement with sync cord
NON.C mode: Flash light measurement without sync cord (for incident light only)

Whereas the flash meter V has more measuring modes:

AUTO: For automatic distinction of ambient and flash light measurements with or without sync cord.
AMBI: For shutter priority ambient light measurement.
AMBI F/No.: For aperture priority ambient light measurement.
FLASH: For flash measurement with or without sync cord.
FLASH MULTI: For cumulative flash measurements.

If we compare the two, we notice that the flash meter V has more measuring mode features. My question is whether the flash meter VI has the above measuring modes that the flash meter V has? Thanks.

Regards

Tphoto said:

You can read about the Flashmeter VI youself at the URL below.

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPGProducts?cname=exp&fname=exp_exp&Mname=Flash_Meter_VI

uniqueid said:

Regards
Ivan

Tphoto said:

I use Minolta meters because I was employed by them servicing their
meters I know their meters quirks and service issues, their meters
work for me. Before I was employed by them I used an old Gossen
analog meter. I use whatever brand that works for me.

If you want a Minolta meter with spotmetering built-in check out
the new Minolta Flashmeter VI. I was waiting for Minolta to come
out with a meter that had built-in spotmetering like the Sekonics,
and now that I am no longer employed by them they come out with one.

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

Well,

I ended up getting the minolta autometer V F. My local shop proffesional recommended it, and it seems to work really nice! And decided to scrap the Novatron setup and ended up getting a Norman P4000X powerpack. Got a deal that I couldn't refuse! And am getting 4 or 5 LH2400 heads. That should be more than enough to do whatever I could dream of doing, now or in the future, ( or for quite a while anyway!). Now to get it all working in harmony.

I also picked up an Interfit Colorflash 150 monolight last week that seems to work quite well. I'll be experimenting with that and my 550EX till the Norman stuff arrives. I'm chomping at the bit!!!! I'll post some pictures soon...Thanks for all the help.
Randy
--
10D, 16-35 2.8, 28-70 2.8, 80-200 2.8, 100 2.8 Macro, etc...

Since I no longer work at Minolta I can't comment on the exact modes/features of the Flashmeter VI, I have never actually played with one nor have I seen an actual brochure, or owner's manual, I can't make any more comment till I do, I don't necessarily trust the accuracy of information on the web.

Regarding the "Auto" feature of the Flashmeter V, I am not surprised if they discontinued it. Though it provided auto sensing of ambi, flash with cord, flash without cord, it didn't always work, there were some situations where it wouldn't read flash in Auto mode and the circuits were modified at least twice in mid-production. I own a Flashmeter V and so far haven't experienced this malfunction in Auto mode, perhaps I am not in situation where it occurs.

uniqueid said:

AMBI mode: Ambient light measurement
CORD mode: Flash light measurement with sync cord
NON.C mode: Flash light measurement without sync cord (for incident
light only)

Whereas the flash meter V has more measuring modes:

AUTO: For automatic distinction of ambient and flash light
measurements with or without sync cord.
AMBI: For shutter priority ambient light measurement.
AMBI F/No.: For aperture priority ambient light measurement.
FLASH: For flash measurement with or without sync cord.
FLASH MULTI: For cumulative flash measurements.

If we compare the two, we notice that the flash meter V has more
measuring mode features. My question is whether the flash meter VI
has the above measuring modes that the flash meter V has? Thanks.

Regards

Tphoto said:

You can read about the Flashmeter VI youself at the URL below.

http://www.minoltausa.com/eprise/main/MinoltaUSA/MUSAContent/CPG/CPGProducts?cname=exp&fname=exp_exp&Mname=Flash_Meter_VI

uniqueid said:

Regards
Ivan

Tphoto said:

I use Minolta meters because I was employed by them servicing their
meters I know their meters quirks and service issues, their meters
work for me. Before I was employed by them I used an old Gossen
analog meter. I use whatever brand that works for me.

If you want a Minolta meter with spotmetering built-in check out
the new Minolta Flashmeter VI. I was waiting for Minolta to come
out with a meter that had built-in spotmetering like the Sekonics,
and now that I am no longer employed by them they come out with one.

randy saville said:

Would you say that the Minolta V is the best meter that I can get,
and that it will work fine for digital? I appreciate all input as I
am new to using meters and flash lighting. I think that I'm going
to go with a Novatron 400 kit for my lighting for now. The
reasoning is that it's a simple set up, and all the bulbs and
replacement parts are readily available at my local camera store. I
was wanting to go with some of the more exotic stuff, but in all
reality, I think for now until I really get to know lighting, I'll
go with these, and that they will probably be more than sufficient!

I appreciate all input and advice. I've been shooting digital for
about 9 years. Graduated from the P&S digital to dslr when I got my
D60 about a year ago. I recently sold that and got the 10D when
they first came out, and have been more than happy with that. I
love doing portrait photography and am looking forward to working
with more than halogen work lights! Like I said, I really
appreciate your input. Thanks in advance!
Randy

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Tphoto
(see profile for equipment)

I have two Alien Bees stobes (one 800 and one 1600)

I bought a Sekonic L-358 over the counter at B&H after doing a side by side comparison with a comprably priced Minolta.

I picked the Sekonic and the B&H salesman said they sell more of them than the Minolta.

It's seemingly simple package hides a lot of capability. $219 @ B&H and almost all other good camera dealers on the web such as Adorama and Samy's.

I'm very pleased with it. Also love the Alien Bees units. They work great, are easy to move and setup and their service is OUTSTANDING!
Tell Lori in sales I sent you.
--
Mike Flood