How Do You Meter When Using 120 Roll Film

[R.Gould]

I just use my Weston with the incident-reading light cone attached.

Either I do as Mr Datsun does above with my Weston or I'll take a reading off my hang and open up one stop

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Can you please just explain what the bar reads are telling you in the sample image

Six spot meter points of the scene, the seventh being the average. Left side of scale is shadow, right side is highlights. Clip points are visible showing the mean range for Velvia 50. As you can see, both shadow and highlights are fairly evenly spaced on the sample (three each way) with a mid-tone auto-set by the meter on the last reading in the transition zone between bright foliage and shadow (this was a rainforest scene).

 

[DREW WILEY]

Carry one roll film back for low to moderate contrast scenes, a different back for higher contrast subjects. Otherwise you have to either compromise
the degree of development, or prioritize for the preponderance of lighting conditions on any given roll.

 

[mr.datsun]

Either I do as Mr Datsun does above with my Weston or I'll take a reading off my hang and open up one stop

Yes, and that was also my technique with my old AE1, using the camera meter.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Metering for B&W negative materials isn't nearly as complicated as many might lead you to believe. Really, the only thing you need to be sure of is getting enough exposure for the amount of shadow detail you want. There are many ways to get this; it depends on the meter you have, the time you have to meter and your approach. Nevertheless the goal is the same: adequate exposure.

Spot metering all the values and then deciding on a development scheme implies that you are using sheet film and have tested all the different development times you use. I do this, but I certainly wouldn't meter like this for roll film.

If shoot roll film and have no in camera meter and use a fancy-dancy meter like the L758D, you might be tempted to do a lot of averaging, comparing with incident, etc., but really, you just need to get the shadow values on the film. A spot reading of an important shadow value and intelligent placement of it in Zone II, III or IV according to your plan for that value is all you really need. You don't even need to meter a high value since you will likely develop the whole roll at your normal development time anyway.

Or, if your personality tends toward incident metering, you could just take an incident reading of the light (or similar light) falling on the subject and use that. You only have to compensate a bit for really contrasty situations. Incident plus a stop more exposure for contrasty situations, regular reading for normal and flat subjects.

In both the above scenarios you simply deal with contrast at the printing stage.

You'll be better off with one the above methods that with more complicated methods, especially starting out.

Best,

Doremus

 

[nosmok]

I'm with jnanian. I stopped carrying a light meter, go with "sunny 11-1/2", adjust according to amount of sunlight I think there is. I find losing the meter really hasn't impacted the number of "keepers" I get, and it's one less thing to lug around and have to get out. Shooting indoors in dim light I have to remember to open up ~2 stops form my first estimate. Once I get to shooting 8x10 regularly i'll probably be more careful .

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

wrong