minolta flash meter

Hi members .I aquired a minolta flash meter 3 any info would be of help.What camera does this fit or mount on.Looks like it does to things.Light meter digital light meter and a flash.Does not have a model number on it.On the front it has on left side a slide for f no and exin,and at the bottom left side on the front it has a on off switch.On the right side it has time for seting the film speed and below that it has yourb asa settings.Also has a port at bottom front centre and has a white ball and a swival head with a port on its side also.has a side mode and a push button above the time and asa settings.Also if you turn the white ball it comes off and it looks like looking into a camera lens so I think the white ball its a flash defuser.Maybe.Anyways can some body that has one of these in lighten me on its use and funtion.Thaks in advance donnyman.:mad2:

It's a handheld flash meter. It's a very useful metering tool. It doesn't mount to a camera, though. It operates completely separately from the camera. The white ball is a diffuser for taking incidental light readings. You use it for flash metering or for natural light. Unlike the meter in a camera, which reads reflected light, the incidental meter reads direct light. So you hold the meter up in the light - like right in front of your subject - get your reading, adjust your camera, and shoot away. Incidental readings are more accurate than reflected since they measure the actual light, instead of light reflected off of all kinds of colors and surfaces.

Handheld light meters are very important for studio work where you need to take flash readings. And as I said, incidental meters are more accurate than reflected meters. And spot meters are very useful when you need to get accurate readings on very small areas of an image. Spot meters are most commonly used by photographers who are using the Zone Method. Digital cameras, with LCD displays and histograms, have made handheld meters less necessary than they used to be. I have one because I used to do a lot of flash photography with a 35mm SLR and I found the incidental meter helped me make better exposures when I was shooting slide film. But I haven't used it for a couple of years now. My camera's histogram tells me all I need to know now.

Let me know if you have more questions. It's a neat thing to have. But whether it will actually be of value to you depends on how you shoot and what kind of equipment you use.

Hi John.I have used the meter and have set the lens on the f2 nikon and the pentex spotmatic to see if the pictures turn out better,and yes I do find a better difference in the picture quality.Thanks again for your reply Happy shootin. Donny.