Light meter

whojammyflip

Subscriber
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Messages
186
Location
Wellesbourne, UK
Format
35mm
I like the Gossen meters. Good quality silicon blue sensors in something like the Lunasix or the Sixtomat.

You can take the average of the two readings, incident and reflected to bias an incident reading for the reflectivity of the subject. At the end of the day, the camera is only going to take one exposure, the important thing is that its not too short.

Just in case you havent thought about this, before thinking about spot meters vs incident etc, have you thought about testing your processing. Get a simple incident meter if not, take an incident reading and photograph a patch of grass, zones 1 through to 9, (ie 4 stops under to 4 stops over) and add a frame for lens cap on. Process. Look at the negatives. If the step between frames is not correct, the processing time and temp are wrong. If the zone 1 is either too dark or has no detail, the film rating is wrong for the specific meter/lens combination you have used. I think a meter is secondary to this, as suggested above, only one shutter speed and aperture combination is going to be used. You just need to make sure its within 3 stops faster than that required for the shadow detail you want to record. In a normal scene, its likely that an incident reading is going to accomplish this.

Another nice feature of a Sixtomat is that you can take a continuous reading, waving the meter around a bit, and it will record the Subject Brightness Range. This ensures you get shadow detail into the negative.

However, unsuitable processing for the film in question will render all consideration of meter irrelevant.
 

andrewf

Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2010
Messages
51
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Format
Multi Format

I think practice is the key here. Thanks for the info!
 

Regular Rod

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
665
Location
Derbyshire
Format
Medium Format



Pentax or Honeywell Pentax Spotmeter V and predecessors are very easy to use, even in very low light, accurate and not expensive if you shop around and are prepared to use one that is not in mint condition. The other thing to do is read up on the Zone System and its variants. There is a plethora of resources on the Internet... This is but one fine example http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/zone_system.shtml


RR
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
70
Location
San Diego, C
Format
Medium Format
I use the iPhone app about half the time for medium format. I have an L-358 I use and the iPhone meter calibrates so well against it that I get annoyed (until it's time to fire a flash). I also have a Soligor Digital Spot Sensor that was very affordable. I'd love the Pentax for aesthetic/ergonomic/shallow reasons someday, but the Soligor has been good so far.
 

jerrybro

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2005
Messages
395
Location
Philippines
Format
Large Format Pan
I've got a couple of Luna Pro SBC's with the 7/15 degree attachments and a 1/5/10 degree spot head. The spot head stays on a meter in the large format trunk, for medium format I use whatever is appropriate for the scene I'm shooting. Incident, reflected, or the tighter 7/15 degree "spot" head. I've been tempted to get a newer spot meter just to have a smaller one, then I think of the size of the trunk all the LF gear is lugged about in. If I was a backpacker it would be a different story though.
 

Paul Glover

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
74
Location
Salem, VA
Format
Multi Format
I have a Gossen Luna Pro F and the 7/15 degree attachment which I use with my medium format TLR. For tripod work in daylight I usually use the 7 degree finder to grab a few quick readings of different areas. The rest of the time, I just use the default 30 degree reflective metering and sometimes incident. They all work well enough for me.
 

rince

Member
Joined
May 11, 2011
Messages
219
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
There are so many different light meters out there and I feel it takes a little time to get used to either one and learn it's quirks. I use a Soligor Spotsensor II and love it. It sure is not as convenient as a Pentax, but I still like it. It get's tricky to use in the dark though.
 
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