dcy,
You appear to be on the defensive. What many of us posted were pointing out cautions about very common assumptions that people can make in photography, which can often be proven to be wrong rather than universally true. Awareness that these are not always true...
- Sunny 16
- blue sky brightness follows Sunny 16
- cell phone meters are accurate (or even consistent with each other, once installed but used without calibration adjustment)
So that you have eyes wide open about the potential wrong conclusions in continued blind belief about the 'rules', not to accuse you of anything (thereby putting you on the defensive). That, and pointing out techniques to neutralize individual things that can mislead one.
Get a real camera and a reliable meter. Use the Pentax 17 as it was intended for kids to take snaps to post on the web.
Get a real camera and a reliable meter. Use the Pentax 17 as it was intended for kids to take snaps to post on the web.
Buying a used meter without a warranty is taking a chance.
If the meter doesn’t let you expose easily printed negatives, see if you can get your money back.
dcy,
You appear to be on the defensive.
I for one don't trust the phone but since the OP tested under sunny 16 condition and although the scene has influence the error was too large. That's why I thought about the flash and ambient mode.
Nice meter, and a great price. Congratulations!
One of the things to remember when testing/using handheld meters, especially when comparing readings between different meters, is that the specific angle of view and coverage pattern may not be the same. In fact, it's often an unknown. That's why sone folks suggest using a blank neutral wall or a gray card to do the testing... to mitigate that unknown. Another time-honored way to both test and use is to point the meter down a bit to exclude the sky. Generally that gives more consistent readings, albeit possibly a tiny bit skewed.
Enjoy the experience of learning a new photographic tool. BTW, when I looked at your first post, my initial reaction is that your phone's meter knows what it is measuring. Your light is very similar to mine.
I cannot test the same conditions anymore (sun has gone down) but I tested again on the hallway, and now the Gossen meter is just over 1 stop away from the camera's light meter. The Gossen meter says to shoot at F/8 and 1/15" for ISO 200, while the app on my phone says to shoot at F/8 and 1/6". Hopefully the 1.3 stop difference can be explained by the two meters weighing the scene differently.
Get a real camera and a reliable meter. Use the Pentax 17 as it was intended for kids to take snaps to post on the web.
It's about noon in New Mexico so I'm hoping the meter gets out for a lunch break so we can see if the meter works as it should or not.
As others have said, disparaging comments about my equipment aren't helpful. But let me also point out just how gratuitous the comment about my camera is. My camera was at home and was not involved in my attempt to diagnose my light meter.
If instead of owning a Pentax 17, I owned a large format camera, which doesn't even have a light meter, would you have written a similar comment?
Emphasis added - that is where we see you concluding that the cel phone app is a reliable standard of reference.
That is where caution is advisable, because the app may or may not be.
The same applies to the Gossen.
In each case, until some experience with them/testing tells you otherwise.
Hi Matt. Your point is understandable but a bit moot. EV 14 (200) is actually very reasonable for the scene depicted and measured. A decent negative is quite possible in that situation using that exposure recommendation.
Hopefully the 1.3 stop difference can be explained by the two meters weighing the scene differently.
Emphasis added - that is where we see you concluding that the cel phone app is a reliable standard of reference.
What I was thinking at the time I wrote this is that if you have two light meters of uncertain reliability and different origin, it is a good thing if they agree with each other. That would increase confidence in both. Failing at that, it is a good thing if the discrepancy is explained by them weighing the scene differently. That also would increase confidence in both and would help you interpret their results. If you knew that the difference can be explained because one is more center-weighted than the other, that would be a good thing, and better than not knowing why they don't agree.
This is very astute and the reason I suggested a single toned subject like "the roadway" to see if the meters agree without having to worry about how much sky or whatever field of view is used.
Emphasis added - that is where we see you concluding that the cel phone app is a reliable standard of reference.
That is where caution is advisable, because the app may or may not be.
The same applies to the Gossen.
In each case, until some experience with them/testing tells you otherwise.
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