View Camera TTL Meters

[Charles Mangano]

Do manufacturers other than Horseman make TTL meters for their flat-bed and/or m onorail cameras? How do the TTL meters compare to the handheld variety such as Sekonic, Pentax etc

[William Marderness]

Gossen makes a fiber optics probe attachment for some of their meters. I tried one, and it as annoying. You have to calibrate the meter for light lost through the ground glass. I would rather use a spot meter.

[N Dhananjay]

I've used a fibre optic probe with my Calculite. You will need to calibrate to your ground glass and you can't allow any light to enter through the back of the camera but I found it worked fine. Although you should probably check how the method suits you working style. I like it because it lets me carry a small, light meter which I can use as a combination of spot (it meters a 3mm circle where the probe is placed) and reflected/incident. The TTL bit is nice too since it eliminates calculting BE. Worth checking out to see if it 'works for you'. Goodluck. DJ

[Scott Walton]

I do recall Gossen makes a "film plane metering wand" that goes in it's own film holder but there again, I will have to agree with previous posts... spot meter is preferred. Cheers, Scott

[Pat Kearns]

Charles, I have seen a commercial photographer using a Minolta meter that has a an attachment similar to a wand and about the size of a pencil that is inserted like a film holder. The meter has a digital display and measures in tenth's of an f stop as well. The wand measures a small degree like a spot meter. I don't recall the particular model number but it worked like a charm. His polaroid test shots with it made me envious.

[David A. Goldfarb]

That's probably the Sinar Booster for the Minolta. Minolta also makes a Booster II that works with Flashmeters III-V and some of the Autometers. The Booster II also requires calibration to the groundglass and they recommend calibration for each lens. It comes with attachments for 35mm film plane readings, TTL readings through a prism, microscope readings, and can be used for reflected readings at low light levels.

[Bob Salomon]

Linhof has a Focu/Meter bellows in 2 1/4, 45, 57 and 810.

These have two 2x magnifiers and a rubber collar. If you unscrew one magnifier the collar accepts any microscope adapter for a light meter and allows you to meter the entire ground glass, any quarter of the ground glass or any spot about the size of a quarter any where on the ground glass.

It is very accurate and time proven having been available for many decades.

Note: The original version had only a single 2x magnifier

[Dean Lastoria]

I've often wondered about training the spot-meter on the GG. Has anyone tried this? I should experiment, but maybe someone knows why it might be a good/bad idea for getting the same results. Dean

[M.]

How well does the Horseman meter work?

[Charles Mangano]

Reflecting back on my original question, I can see where Bill Mitchell might think I may have some knowledge of the Horseman TTL meter. I have only seen the Horseman unit in their catalog. I would like to know how well ALL such TTL units for view cameras work including the Horseman and how well they compare to hand-held spotmeters. Thanks to everyone for your replies to date.

[Mike Devlin]

Minolta do a booster set for there flashmeter V which works very well on the GG, it also gives you a handheld meter to use

[Hisun Wong]

Does the Minolta Booster work with Fresnel Lens installed? or I have to remove the Fresnel lens before metering?

I like the idea of having spot metering capabilities plus incident metering in one device. I have Minolta Meter V and I have been thinking getting the booster or getting Pentax Digital Spot. But don't want to bring two meters.

Regards Hisun

[David A. Goldfarb]

I don't have a fresnel, but I don't see why the Minolta Booster II wouldn't work with the fresnel installed so long as you calibrate with the fresnel installed. Of course, if the fresnel has a clear spot in the middle, you'll want to calibrate separately for that spot, if you plan to take readings there.