Spot metering?

[chip j]

Do I need it w/lenses from 20mm to 200mm & TTL metering?

 

[wiltw]

Evaluative all-zone metering works quite well in a lot of cases. But there are situations when a camera with spotmeter helps to precisely measure the brightness of a particular small area of a scene (or multiple small areas) so that one can evaluate the scene to determine how one wants to 'place' one's exposure to best capture a challenging situation.
So it is 'necessary'? Yes, sometimes.

My first two SLRs, launched 40-50 years ago, both lack spot metering capability. Every other metering body that I own, launched in the last 30 years, have spotmetering capability. I have a handheld spotmeter for work with a 4x5 monorail that has no meter.

 

[chip j]

I just bought an old Soligor 1* spot meter because it was cute, mint, and cheap, but I don't really know what I'm going to do w/it. Maybe it'll be good for table-top photos? None of my manual Nikons have spot metering (maybe my N90s does, but I don't like auto-focus).

 

[chriscrawfordphoto]

I wrote a tutorial on how to use a handheld spotmeter. It is geared toward digital users, but what I say in it applies also to transparency film. I'm currently working on a series of metering tutorials for black and white film, including one for spotmeters, but it'll be a couple weeks before I have them done. I'm shooting example images right now and waiting for B&H to get a new bottle of fixer to me so I can process them.

Here's the tutorial for Digital and Slide Film:
http://crawfordphotoschool.com/shooting-techniques/metering-reflected-digital-1.php

Your N90s does indeed have spotmetering, but the spot is not as small as the one in your handheld spotmeter unless you're shooting with a long lens.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

You will find spot metering essential if you are a devotee of Ansel Adams' Zone System.

I use it all the time with B&W landscapes.

 

[BMbikerider]

I actually like using a spot meter but find that it can be a bit of a fiddle at times. Possibly the most sophisticated spot meter I have used is the Minolta Spotmeter or the Spotmeter F. The only difference being that the F version can meter flash. I think there are various Gossen spotmeters that can also do this. They have the facility of taking up to (I think) 5 individual readings then averaging them out. You can then decide if you want to give an overall average of the scene or bias it towards highlights or shadows.

The main reason I don't use one now is the bulk of having to carry one when I am out walking where that may be an issue. I suppose using the camera spotmeter can be used but it does not (Usually) have the averaging facility.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

My F5 has a spot metering function I use occasionally. Usually when I want shadow details as a priority.

 

[Chan Tran]

My F5 has a spot metering function I use occasionally. Usually when I want shadow details as a priority.

The F5 has spot metering but somehow I never used it. Whenever I want to do spot metering I use a hand held meter.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The most situations a spot meter is not necessary. If the subject brightness range [SBR] is great or the subject is very different from its surroundings [dark subject surrounded by a bright background (doing a portrait and showing the surrounding snow) or a bright subject with a dark background] which an average or matrix reading would not be accurate, then a spot meter is needed. I get around this two ways: I can take a TTL reading with a zoom lens with only the subject in the field of view or on some cameras I can set the TTL to only read at a single chosen meter location.

 

[Paul Howell]

Minolta 9000 has spot metering with a high light and shadow settings. For the time, Miranda EE had spot metering, around 10 to 12 percent, not a true 1%.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Spot metering is mastery of the most difficult scenes and is not particularly well done by on-board camera spot meters, be they additive, subtractive, mean or average weighted.
I would leave a camera's spot meter out of the equation and learn to use a multispot meter independently to do much, much better than any on-board meter can achieve, and that is with any lens.

 

[narsuitus]

I usually use matrix metering, average metering, or center-weighted metering patterns. However, when I am shooting live stage work, I prefer to use a spot metering pattern.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Spot metering is mastery of the most difficult scenes and is not particularly well done by on-board camera spot meters, be they additive, subtractive, mean or average weighted.
I would leave a camera's spot meter out of the equation and learn to use a multispot meter independently to do much, much better than any on-board meter can achieve, and that is with any lens.

I disagree. I can set my Nikon F100 to spot meter mode which shows me in the view finder where the spot meter cell is located. Furthermore I can put my zoom lens to 300mm and have a much small area measured that can be done with any hand held multispot meter.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Furthermore I can put my zoom lens to 300mm and have a much small area measured that can be done with any hand held multispot meter.

It is the fine-tuning of a spot meter that can make a difference with the outcome.
I once considered the OM 4's spot meter as the bees knees. But it is not. Nor is the one on my venerated EOS 1N.
The ability to measure many cells, shift one or several relative to others and change between mean-weighted or averaging, and additive/subtractive with overlay, are but a few tweaks.

A measurement below 1 degrees is inconsequential (with any meter), while a measurement above 5 degrees leads to errors through overlap and adjacent tones. Photographers though have their own preferences for either angle of measurement.

I have just had a thought based on some discussion in other fora that the use of a longer lens does not change the angle of a spot meter. I think this was on Photo.net some time ago.

 

[Paul Howell]

I use to use 1 degree spot meter when shooting 4X5 and MF, now I use a Sigma digital body as a meter, when using a zoom at 200 or 300 it is a 1 degree spot of the handheld metering. But saying that the only time I use the in camera spot meter function is for backlighted subjects. In most cases average metering works well, better than matrix with in my Minoltas tend to underexpose the for ground, what is odd is that when I was shooting Sigma SA 7 and 8 matrix did a much job than average which is why I use a SD9 as a meter.

 

[OlyMan]

Spot meters I can work with. Center-average I can work with. The meters I distrust the most are the complex matrix meters with a million points. Sure if you intend to never question their suggested exposure, they're fine. But when you're shooting a complicated scene - their primary purpose - how can you know they've interpreted the scene the way you want? How can you possibly know whether additional ± compensation is required? The limitations of a center-weighted meter are predictable, and you'll learn its foibles on a particular camera within two rolls. A matrix meter is either 100% in tune with your vision as a photographer, meaning you can trust it implicitly always, or you and it are singing from different hymn-sheets. Again you'll discover which one of those is true within about two rolls as well lol.

 

[Jim Jones]

Long ago I bought a Pentax spot meter, but found the meter in Nikon F and Nikkormats adequate for almost all photography. As others have noted, a spot meter (or substitute) is sometimes essential. It depends on the photographer's choice of technique. Learning to use any metering system well is more important than the type of metering.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Spot meters I can work with. Center-average I can work with. The meters I distrust the most are the complex matrix meters with a million points. Sure if you intend to never question their suggested exposure, they're fine. But when you're shooting a complicated scene - their primary purpose - how can you know they've interpreted the scene the way you want? How can you possibly know whether additional ± compensation is required? The limitations of a center-weighted meter are predictable, and you'll learn its foibles on a particular camera within two rolls. A matrix meter is either 100% in tune with your vision as a photographer, meaning you can trust it implicitly always, or you and it are singing from different hymn-sheets. Again you'll discover which one of those is true within about two rolls as well lol.

There are matrix meters and there are matrix meters. I have found the matrix meters on my Nikons cameras to be very accurate especially if I take the reading to NOT include the sky. The sky is quite capable taking care of its self. If the sky gets burned out, I fix that in the darkroom.

 

[wiltw]

If you rely upon matrix metering, you can get this shot of an 18% gray card which is overwhelmed by the brightness of the sky and the gray card underexposed...

But if you spotmeter the 18% gray card, you get the shot exposed like this, showing the card at its inherent brightness...

 

[jim10219]

There are matrix meters and there are matrix meters. I have found the matrix meters on my Nikons cameras to be very accurate especially if I take the reading to NOT include the sky. The sky is quite capable taking care of its self. If the sky gets burned out, I fix that in the darkroom.

I've found this to be the case with most cameras I own, even ones without complex metering systems. If the scene has some areas that you know will throw the meter off, just take a reading off a nearby area with similar light that doesn't have those issues and use that. Getting to know your cameras makes a lot more sense to me than carrying around a bunch of external meters.

So I say, "no". You don't need a spot meter. Having said that, I own a spot meter and I use it all the time with my 4x5 camera. But I don't think I've ever used it for 35mm work. The spot meter will give you the most accurate reading of the light on a scene. But it's also one of the slowest methods out there. And unless you're shooting large format where the process is slow anyway and the film is expensive, you'll likely find better methods for you that work well enough and waste a whole lot less time. And for those few situations where your current metering methods might fail you, bracket those shots. 35mm film is cheap.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've found this to be the case with most cameras I own, even ones without complex metering systems. If the scene has some areas that you know will throw the meter off, just take a reading off a nearby area with similar light that doesn't have those issues and use that. Getting to know your cameras makes a lot more sense to me than carrying around a bunch of external meters.

So I say, "no". You don't need a spot meter. Having said that, I own a spot meter and I use it all the time with my 4x5 camera. But I don't think I've ever used it for 35mm work. The spot meter will give you the most accurate reading of the light on a scene. But it's also one of the slowest methods out there. And unless you're shooting large format where the process is slow anyway and the film is expensive, you'll likely find better methods for you that work well enough and waste a whole lot less time. And for those few situations where your current metering methods might fail you, bracket those shots. 35mm film is cheap.

I have a Gossen Luna Pro SBC spot meter with a 15 degree and 7.5 degree attachment. The advantage of this meter is that it provides EVs, allows using the Zone System, has filter compensation, incident meter and reads low light levels.

 

[Paul Manuell]

I do a lot of model photography - that's photos of humans, not of toy cars, trains etc. - and use spot metering all the time, taking readings from the models' faces. As long as that part's exposed correctly, the rest can take care of itself. The only time I use evaluative, matrix or whatever it might be called on my camera is on the very rare landscape shots I take.

 

[Alan Gales]

Do I need it w/lenses from 20mm to 200mm & TTL metering?

For many years I shot Kodachrome slide film with a 35mm Contax. I had lenses from 25mm to 180mm. I used the center/bottom weighted meter in the camera. Yes, there were occasions when I wished I had a spot meter. When it got real tricky I would just bracket two or three exposures.

I now use a spot meter with my large format, medium format and 35mm Stereo Realist cameras. None have their own built in meters. A spot meter is really nice to have if you don't mind carrying around an extra meter besides what's in your camera. You can get by without it if you don't mind bracketing your exposures.

 

[chip j]

35mm film is CHEAP?? Certainly not for me, plus the added hassle of developing more film if you bracket..This Spring I hope to be using an Exakta XV on a light but sturdy tripod w/ Komura 135mm & 200mm pre-set lenses. That's all I care to carry and I want the best quality I can get. (I did have a full Mamiya 6 system but did't like it--too much parallex).

 

[Alan Gales]

35mm film is CHEAP?? Certainly not for me, plus the added hassle of developing more film if you bracket..This Spring I hope to be using an Exakta XV on a light but sturdy tripod w/ Komura 135mm & 200mm pre-set lenses. That's all I care to carry and I want the best quality I can get. (I did have a full Mamiya 6 system but did't like it--too much parallex).

I'm sorry. I reread my post and it seems I wasn't clear and I gave you the wrong impression. I didn't bracket often. I would only do it when I encountered a really tricky lighting situation and the shot was really important to me.