My father recently bought a used but mint condition R8 and a couple of lenses. No manuals.

He's recently found a used light meter that he thought might be a good deal, but seeing as he has never used one before, asked me first. I gave him the standard run down on determining what kind of meter he might want by first figuring out what and how he expects to use it.

Anyway, in our e-mail exchanges, I said that any lightmeter he buys ought to have a flash component to read studio lights and flashes. Otherwise, the meter is not much different than the built in spot, central, matrix(or whatever it's called) of his R8 and his F100. (Yes I know the in-camera meters are reflective and not ambient, but to me there's not much difference. It's the studio flash use that is a bigger leap in functionality, I think.)

Then he responds that his R8 has a built in flash meter. I haven't found any literature on that. Anyone know any better? Thanks.

Also, I'm recommending to him the Minolta IV-F, which I've owned. I think in the used market, it's still good quality and reasonably priced compared to comparable Sekonics. Any advise on other models?

-- victor (danzfotog@yahoo.com), April 17, 2002

Answers

Yes, the R8 has a built-in flash meter. Select an aperture; turn the metering mode to "F" (flash); select spot metering on the lever near your thumb; and trigger the flash by fully depressing the sutter release button. The metering graph in the viewfinder will then display how far your selected aperture is from the aperture required for the flash as metered through the lens.

(I no longer have an R8, so I don't have the manual anymore, but that's how I remeber it working).

-- william carter (wmc@po.cwru.edu), April 17, 2002.

Call Leica NJ, they will send out a manual.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 17, 2002.

Set the aperture, set the dial to F, push down the depth of field preview lever then the fash will fire and you will be given the proper exposure info in the viewer. Get ready since the info is displayed for a short time.

Steve

-- Steve Belden (otterpond@adelphia.net), April 17, 2002.