Using an external meter by choice

[Paul Howell]

Minolta, 600, 800si, 7xi, 9xi, 7 and 9 all have matrix, center average, and spot, in most case matrix and average are within a 1/2 stop, spot metering depending on where you meter. As I shoot in Arizona with a very large number of clear days average metering does as well as matrix, I think sunny 16 will work as well in uniform lighting.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

You can get away more with Sunny 16 when you;re shooting BW negative film. Not so easy with chromes.

 

[Huss]

It works for me in magic hour. But I will admit, sometimes I missed the shot because setting up took too long. I was hoping to get a little more orange for this shot before the sun set.

Chestnut Point, Manasquan Reservoir by Alan Klein, on Flickr

Lovely pic.

 

[grat]

3.5% center spot would be too big for that image. Just imagine it on the pic. It would cover nearly the whole head. I wanted the forehead.

Your image is 828x559. 828 * 0.035 = 29. An ellipse 29 pixels across extends just slightly past her forehead, and fits easily on her cheek-- Not exactly how you "metered", but spot-metering off of her cheek would have provided an equivalent exposure-- certainly one that would still print well (I'm assuming this is a modern B&W emulsion with wide latitude and forgiving exposure).

But I'm not knocking built in meters. 90% of the time they are excellent and I use them.
Just need to know when to say when as most of the interesting pics for me have difficult lighting.

And in that, we agree-- a light meter is a tool, but you have to understand it to use it properly. The fact that you're able to judge exposures like this without a meter is the sort of thing that blows my mind, as nearly all my experience is on... sophisticated electronic systems.

 

[Craig]

In college we were trained in shooting sunny 16,

"Sunny 16" is not a universal thing. Where I live I have consistently metered bright mid-day sun about a stop less, and slides exposed at "sunny 11" are perfectly exposed. Other members have also made comments that effect, so sunny (f number) appears to be latitude dependent.

Sunny 16 works out to a light value of EV 15, I get EV 14 as full summer sun, less in the winter.

 

[Bill Burk]

The battery in my Rollei 35 died one day in the mountains. Slowly though. It was giving me stupid readings like 1/8 second f/16 in open shade for Velvia 50. Sunny 16 saved the day, because I refused to make that setting. Was a dumb picture anyway but still… knowing the rule can help

 

[Philippe-Georges]

Yes, the Weston patent was unique to Weston meters. What I don’t know is why Norwood’s patent doesn’t appear to have been tight enough to preclude everyone else from using hemisphere diffuser. I’m not sure that I ever researched that detail.

Here is Norwood's ancestor having a nice, large and detachable hemisphere diffuser...

For log this was my workhorse lightmeter I carried along when working with the Eclair ACL, then I used it for a while when I finally switched to still photography, later came the lunasix and then the Variosix F for working with flash.
The Spectra is still working within less than 1/3 stop compared to the more 'modern' lightmeters I have.

 

[Craig75]

"Sunny 16" is not a universal thing. Where I live I have consistently metered bright mid-day sun about a stop less, and slides exposed at "sunny 11" are perfectly exposed. Other members have also made comments that effect, so sunny (f number) appears to be latitude dependent.

Sunny 16 works out to a light value of EV 15, I get EV 14 as full summer sun, less in the winter.

You can see from hurter and Driffield's actinograph that time of day, time of year, and latitude all contribute.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

"Sunny 16" is not a universal thing. Where I live I have consistently metered bright mid-day sun about a stop less, and slides exposed at "sunny 11" are perfectly exposed. Other members have also made comments that effect, so sunny (f number) appears to be latitude dependent.

Sunny 16 works out to a light value of EV 15, I get EV 14 as full summer sun, less in the winter.

If you read the note in Kodak film boxes regarding Sunny 16, they say it's between the hours of 10am-2PM. Latitude would affect that as well as would elevation and season.

 

[Paul Howell]

You can see from hurter and Driffield's actinograph that time of day, time of year, and latitude all contribute.

I guess college in Southern California worked just fine for sunny16. My Kodak Master Photoguide 1959 gives direction with a daylight exposure computer for color and black and white, as well as directions for using of a ground glass back as extinction meter. Nothing about adjusting for time of year or latitude.

 

[BrianShaw]

I guess college in Southern California worked just fine for sunny16. My Kodak Master Photoguide 1959 gives direction with a daylight exposure computer for color and black and white, as well as directions for using of a ground glass back as extinction meter. Nothing about adjusting for time of year or latitude.

It depends on your criteria. The differences are not only well known and understood but real. . They are much more apparent when printing alternative processes (uv, primarily) than exposing panchromatic film (full spectrum).

You are correct, neither the Master Photoguide or Professional Photoguide goes into that level of detail to accomodate for sun intensity differences based on latitude or time of year/day. The 1977 Professional Photoguide discusses, in detail, metering corrections based on light direction as a function of subject type - scene vs close-up

Just for kicks, I just compared the recommendation from Kodak Master Photoguide, 1966 and 1988 versions) with meters. For today's conditions in LA, the Photoguide is 1 stop over. Good enough in some situations but I think I'll stick with using meters.

 

[cowanw]

This was an illuminating post
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/stability-of-sunny-16.116696/

 

[Sirius Glass]

"Sunny 16" is not a universal thing. Where I live I have consistently metered bright mid-day sun about a stop less, and slides exposed at "sunny 11" are perfectly exposed. Other members have also made comments that effect, so sunny (f number) appears to be latitude dependent.

Sunny 16 works out to a light value of EV 15, I get EV 14 as full summer sun, less in the winter.

Latitudes further from the equator than 30 degrees to near 40 degrees use Sunny 11 rather than Sunny 16.

 

[leicaboss]

If you read the note in Kodak film boxes regarding Sunny 16, they say it's between the hours of 10am-2PM. Latitude would affect that as well as would elevation and season.

This makes total sense to me considering "solar noon"

 

[Sirius Glass]

If you read the note in Kodak film boxes regarding Sunny 16, they say it's between the hours of 10am-2PM. Latitude would affect that as well as would elevation and season.

When all else fails, RTFM.