At its release in 1988 the Minolta Flash Meter IV was the most advanced exposure meter available for measuring both flash and ambient light sources. A large LCD data panel shows complete exposure information in both analog and digital forms. A built in microcomputer and memory function make it easy to calculate exposure for highlights, shadows, or an average of two areas.

The meter features ambient light sensitivity of EV -2 to EV 19.5, and has measurements in tenths of a stop. It comes with the hemispherical diffuser pictured above, as well as a flat diffuser (for uni-directional measurement) and a reflected light attachment with a 40 degree angle of acceptance. Optional 5 and 10 degree viewfinders were available, enabling the meter to be used as a spot meter for ambient and flash metering.

Personally, I have found the Flashmeter IV a little difficult to master due to its complexity, but once a photographer is used to working with it the range of features available are excellent. It is sturdy and has an excellent reputation for reliability. It is a much better meter than the Minolta Auto Meter IV, and even has more advanced features than the current Auto Meter V. Finally, at around US$200 - $220 on ebay it is exceptional value.

I used it extensively until my recent trip to America when I purchased the new Flashmeter VI for its capacity to incorporate both spot and flashmetering in one unit.

The Minolta Auto Spot II Digital is a digital spotmeter that has a 1 degree angle of acceptance and a working range of EV 1 to EV 20. It provides outputs as both EV, or shutter / f stop values. The meter is very easy to use and my example is accurate at all EV levels. This is very impressive given it calculates EV to 1/10th stop. Naturally, when released this meter was the state of the art in spot meters, and was designed for professional use, so accuracy and reliability was paramount.

Given that none of the Minolta manual focus cameras that I use have a built in spot meter, I used the Auto Spot II Digital to help calculate critical exposures, or for black and white photography using the zone system. Now after my purchase of the Flashmeter VI with its built in spotmeter, this meter has gone on to assist another friend with his exposures.

The Minolta Flash Meter VI is Minolta's newest professional meter, and combines a flashmeter with a spotmeter in a single compact integrated unit. Features of the Flash Meter VI include:

All together the Flash Meter VI is an excellent choice for a manual minolta user, providing both spot metering capability plus daytime flash evaluation, two features that are missing from the Minolta manual focus SLR range.

The NPC Polaroid backs are prohibitively expensive new (US$925 for the back for a XD11) but are much less expensive second hand. As more professional photographers switch to digital, polaroid backs are becoming readily available, however naturally more for the Canon and Nikon systems. My back was actually for a Leica R4-R7, however given the fact that the R4 and XD11 have identical backs it fit perfectly on to my camera.

If you need immediate feedback on exposure then this is the way to get it, however at the price of the back (US$200 - $300) and the film (US$1 per frame) it is only for the very keen.