Have you hugged your lightmeter today?

O.K., we have great light sensors in our cameras and a chip that can do many thousands of calculations in a microsecond. So is your lightmeter just gathering dust or do you ever use it. If so when?

So what has happened to your meter? Does it even have batteries in it that work?

I'm using mine for my studio lighting (incident light and flash metering) and for large format film.

I have a funny feeling that most of the perfectly wonderful Sekonics, Gossens and Minolta IV meters are pretty damn lonely and neglected.

Asher

Most important tool in my arsenal.

Without the meter you can never acuratly measure/calculate what your background will do.
And with flash it's impossible to make a 100% exact exposure without one in the same time as you do with the meter.

Just measure the model with incident, the background with reflective and you know 100% what's going to happen.

BUT....
Very important, calibrate your meter.

Frank Doorhof said:

Just measure the model with incident, the background with reflective and you know 100% what's going to happen.

BUT....
Very important, calibrate your meter.

Click to expand...

I wonder if that is in the Minolta IV users manual? I'll have to dig it up! I know you can do it, LOL!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

I wonder if that is in the Minolta IV users manual? I'll have to dig it up! I know you can do it, LOL!

Click to expand...

You can with any lightmeter always use an ISO offset relative to your camera's ISO setting. A reflected light metering of a uniform surface should result in a histogram with a peak almost at the midpoint of the range. Of course, one can use a different positioning depending on the highlight clipping point preferences.

I like the Babelcolor White Target for such a calibration with incident light metering, since it produces a near perfect white reflection. Only specular highlights can be brighter than 100% reflection, and one can choose whether to clip them or not by adjusting exposure.

Bart

For studio stuff I use the viewing panel and retake if necessary. At events, I just don't have time to meter. I just say "coo - it's dark", dig out my flash and keep shooting. I have a Lenningrad 8 light meter and a Jessops flash meter. I never use either.

Frank Doorhof said:

Just measure the model with incident, the background with reflective and you know 100% what's going to happen.

Click to expand...

But how do you use those two readings to choose an exposure?

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

You can with any lightmeter always use an ISO offset relative to your camera's ISO setting.

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Indeed. This is in fact the concept of "exposure index", which we can simplistically think of as "what we tell the exposure meter the ISO sensitivity of the film/camera is".

That's really what the "ISO 'knob' " on the meter sets - exposure index - since we are not compelled to set it to the actual ISO sensitivity (assuming we know what that is anyway! - we don't on many digital cameras).

Best regards,

Doug

Hi, Asher,

Asher Kelman said:

So what has happened to your meter? Does it even have batteries in it that work?

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Yes, indeed (and that isn't easy). The meter is a Miranda Cadius (the original model, not the "II"). It was bought, used (likely about 1962), in a little photo shop in downtown Manhattan whose building was razed to make way for the World Trade Center .

You may recall that this was one of the first exposure meters to use a photoconductive (variable resistance), rather than photo-voltaic (generative), detector, using a cadmium sulfide element. The model name, Cadius, is a play on "cadmium sulfide".

I mostly use it to do comparisons between the metering systems of different cameras (I have no absolute calibration for it, I'm afraid). I also use it to measure incident illumination with regard to workplace lighting and the like.

Unlike its successor (the Cadius II), this model has nice tables that interpret the readings (both incident and reflected) in genuine photometric units, as well as the traditional "circular slide rule" to solve the exposure equation.

I have the apparent values of the calibration constants, "K" and "C", (reverse-engineered from the calculator) scratched into the table plate!

I also have photovoltaic exposure meters, which of course don't even use batteries (but not any of the well-known models).

Best regards,

Doug

@Doug,
Knowing that a reflective meter will give you an exposure for 18% gray it's simple calculating what you want the background to be.

If measure your model on f11 (incident) and the background with reflective on f11 you know the background will be 18% gray, or middletinted.
If you want the background to go brighter you raise the level of light on the background OR lower the level of light on your model.

It's simply controling the ratio.

Yes, I use them all the time. I always have my little Gossen Digisix in my pocket for field use, and because it has a handy clock on it (I haven't worn a watch in a few years), and when I need to measure strobes or use the 5-degree finder, I use a Minolta Flashmeter III. Most of my cameras don't have built in meters.

I'm just beginning to learn the joys of my Sekonic L-358. I got it, along with the PocketWizard module, when I bought my White Lightning strobes. But lately I've been using it in broad daylight for team and individual shoots, and it's been a big help.

(It's also served to make me realize that my 1DsMkII exposes about 1/3 stop differently than does my 1DMkIIN, at least according to their respective histograms.)

Nill
~~
www.toulme.net

I use the lightmeter (incident) to get in the ballpark then the histogram to fine tune. I also use the incident meter often when shooting outdoors, only use Av in very difficult lighting where I'm switching from light to shade every 2nd shot. I find an incident reading far more reliable outdoors, when you use TTL metering you are constantly adjusting for black/white in my trade (wedding) and constant exposure is very important, and far easier, both at the time and during post processing. What I do find strange is that using incident metering I need to set my meter to iso 50 for my 5D's iso 100. When I first found this out I went to the store and tested every meter there with every canon camera and they all agreed, for true exposure at iso 100 I need to set the meter at iso 50 and the same throughout the range. Not sure what's happening especially as most say that the canon sensors are 1/3 of a stop more sensitive not a stop under.

Calibrate your meter and there is no need to readjust.

Hi, Frank,

Frank Doorhof said:

Knowing that a reflective meter will give you an exposure for 18% gray . . .

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Well, if the meter is calibrated per the ISO standard, and the ISO sensitivity of the camera is reckoned in accordance with the ISO standard, then the exposure that will be indicated should give a photometric exposure of 12.8% of saturation, not 18%. But I know what you mean.

. . . it's simple calculating what you want the background to be.

If measure your model on f11 (incident) and the background with reflective on f11 you know the background will be 18% gray, or middletinted. If you want the background to go brighter you raise the level of light on the background OR lower the level of light on your model.

Click to expand...

Gotcha. I forgot we would be separately controlling the lighting on the subject and the background.

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug_Kerr said:

I forgot we would be separately controlling the lighting on the subject and the background.

Click to expand...

Hi Doug,

As if you would need defending, not really, it's due to being in a studio lighting mindset, or not. Studio lighting is about control, control of 'quality' of light. Size/distance determines (curved/slanted) surface gradients and depth fall-off. Frank obviously thinks in terms of lighting quality, and then some ...

Bart

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

As if you would need defending, not really, it's due to being in a studio lighting mindset, or not. Studio lighting is about control, control of 'quality' of light. Size/distance determines (curved/slanted) surface gradients and depth fall-off. Frank obviously thinks in terms of lighting quality, and then some ...

Click to expand...

Especially good with curved surfaces!

Best regards,

Doug

Using the Lightmeter, incident and reflected readings for outdoor model shoots.

Bart_van_der_Wolf said:

Hi Doug,

As if you would need defending, not really, it's due to being in a studio lighting mindset, or not. Studio lighting is about control, control of 'quality' of light. Size/distance determines (curved/slanted) surface gradients and depth fall-off. Frank obviously thinks in terms of lighting quality, and then some ...

Bart

Click to expand...

Yes, that's true.

Just for the sake of being complete, for those who might not have found this out, let's extend the use of the lightmeter to shoots at sunset, by the beach and in the forrest, where one does not want to end up with a dark background! First the reflective lightmeter is used to decide on the exposure that gives the mood and look one wants. After all, that's why one is there in the first place. (BTW, we must remember not to use a gray card reading for color correction and expect to keep the light temperature and golden look!* )

Reflected light readings are taken at various points of interest of the background. Test shots are performed to find a compromise setting that optimizes the scene. One has to choose ISO settings and a limited shutter speed (below the synch speed of the camera) so that the background picture will be as desired. These settings now are defined.

Now, to light the model, the output of the flash head then has to be adjusted so that using the f-stop already selected, one can expose the model to the brightness one desires. Perhaps one would just increase the illumination at the model by merely one stop. So if the background forrest required f5.6 then the flash output would have to give a measure incident light meter reading of f8.

If anyone does do atmospheric model shoots with flash in natural settings, that would be nice to see them and hear about your approach.

Asher

*Yes any grey card, diffusion disk or Parrot or dongle. You will just neutralize that golden light!

Hi,
Not just a studio mindset, you can also manipulate the light outside.
Just use a diffusion panel to lower the lightoutput on the model, thus raising the background, or use a reflector to raise the exposure on the model and darkening the background.

Hi, Asher,

Asher Kelman said:

(BTW, we must remember not to use a gray card reading for color correction and expect to keep the light temperature and golden look!* )

Click to expand...

An important point, and I appreciate your reminding us of it.

*Yes any grey card, diffusion disk or Parrot or dongle. You will just neutralize that golden light!

Click to expand...

Although if you use a Color Parrot/ColorRight in its mystical/magical "from the camera position mode" and the subject is dressed in blue, you might come out OK!

Best regards,

Doug