Incident metering falls apart if the subject is very dark or very light, such as a snow scene. The subject needs to be an average of ~18% reflectance with normal contrast for incident metering to work- but then most subjects fit this criteria.
The meter does not need to be up against the subject, the meter just needs to be illuminated by the same light. In a studio, where the light sources are close to the subject, that does mean the meter is close to the subject.
So true! Imagine my disappointment if I find myself on the edge of a canyon in a thunderstorm looking across at the opposite rim where Saquatch, Elvis, and Amelia Earhart are conversing with space aliens under a beautiful sunny blue sky -- and me with no spot meter! ;-)"Tempted to assume" can get you electrocuted by lightning when your side or the canyon is under inky black clouds, and the other side is still in brilliant sunlight.
But not a feature on any film cameras....
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It doesn't matter how far or close the studio light is to the subject. They could be either. The point is, you have to take the incident reading next to the subject to read the actual light falling on the subject. Any other place could be higher or lower in brightness. I'm sure that's what you meant.
I learned to meter under the redwoods. As one is wandering along the creek or trail, the amount of available light can change significantly in ten paces when it has to filter through a couple hundred feet of foliage (much more or much less). Deepest shadow values can also vary by a couple stops."Tempted to assume" can get you electrocuted by lightning when your side or the canyon is under inky black clouds, and the other side is still in brilliant sunlight.
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What about the Leica R with digital back. Of course the user would need to switch the digital back film back, on the other hand not sure if the digital back had a histogram.
A found in a box a 18% grey card and it made me think this:
Nowdays with digital cameras we can do almost everything but with film...things change.
A have a Nikon F100 and I shoot photos using the matrix mode. Until now, it works well for me but, can we improve the technical quality of the photos?
I tried spot metering using the 18% grey card and more than 50% of the takes are 1 stop under or overexposed if I use the matrix mode.
From your knowlegde and experience, does it matter? I mean the fidelity of color, grain, etc... Exposure affects the density of the color layers, so, it must be important, right?
A found in a box a 18% grey card and it made me think this:
Nowdays with digital cameras we can do almost everything but with film...things change.
A have a Nikon F100 and I shoot photos using the matrix mode. Until now, it works well for me but, can we improve the technical quality of the photos?
I tried spot metering using the 18% grey card and more than 50% of the takes are 1 stop under or overexposed if I use the matrix mode.
From your knowlegde and experience, does it matter? I mean the fidelity of color, grain, etc... Exposure affects the density of the color layers, so, it must be important, right?
That's unfortunate because the Histogram feature is really useful.
What about the Leica R with digital back. Of course the user would need to switch the digital back film back, on the other hand not sure if the digital back had a histogram.
from my experience, the Nikon matrix metering is extremely accurate. I doubt that the use of a gray card, in your case, will improve the technical quality of your images. I'd trust Nikon matrix metering in almost all cases.
A found in a box a 18% grey card and it made me think this:
Nowdays with digital cameras we can do almost everything but with film...things change.
A have a Nikon F100 and I shoot photos using the matrix mode. Until now, it works well for me but, can we improve the technical quality of the photos?
I tried spot metering using the 18% grey card and more than 50% of the takes are 1 stop under or overexposed if I use the matrix mode.
From your knowlegde and experience, does it matter? I mean the fidelity of color, grain, etc... Exposure affects the density of the color layers, so, it must be important, right?
unless you're filling the frame with the gray card, matrix metering will pretty much be guaranteed to be wrong. Maybe then, too.
Are you metering and then using the result manually, or shooting in auto-exposure mode? If the latter, don't worry about the gray card. If the former, you can use it as a bit of info but really it's just one bit. It's not a bible. What you get will depend on what you want from the. picture, in terms of tones, and manual exposure is a good way to get that. If you're shooting auto, the gray card is just a fiddly nuisance.
Not shown:Nikon F100 with spot metering selected. A gray card right next to a flower. The center is where the camera meters spot also where the grey card is. For the example, the photo uploaded.
Nikon F100 with spot metering selected. A gray card right next to a flower. The center is where the camera meters spot also where the grey card is. For the example, the photo uploaded.
I wanted to know the experience from people, what was the use and if really matter today with "new"color negative films.
Used correctly, a gray card is useful with a reflected-light meter.
https://www.kodak.com/content/products-brochures/KODAK-Gray-Card-R27-brochure.pdf
OK, in that case - I just use whatever metering system the camera has, use it sensibly and generally don't have any problems with exposure. If I use a camera without inbuilt meter, I use a handheld meter, either incident or spot. I never carry a grey card and I've never felt the need to do so. I don't think doing so would somehow improve the photos I make.
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It doesn't matter how far or close the studio light is to the subject. They could be either. The point is, you have to take the incident reading next to the subject to read the actual light falling on the subject. Any other place could be higher or lower in brightness. I'm sure that's what you meant.
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