I had this burried in a dead thread.

[Ron Evers]

So I decided to move it to a new thread so it would have a better chance of being viewed.


I think it is to bad most folk never learned the exposure triangle by using a light meter. A light meter makes it so easy to understand. I will present an example here.

First you would set the ASA/ISO speed (white triangle below centre) on the meter, in this case 100 & then take a light reading of the subject. The meter would then tell you which combination of shutter speed & aperture would properly expose the subject. In the photo below you see the shutter speeds (time) in the black ring & the corresponding f stops in the white ring below. So, in the case of this reading any of the following exposures would equal the same result.
60/f16
125/f11
250/f8
500/f5.6

If the meter had been set @ ASA/ISO 200 the readings would be:

125/f16
250/f11
500/8
& so on.

I hope some folk will find this helpful.

 

[RjL]

Thanks. This reall makes using a light meter less intimdating.

 

[NateS]

Heard about them, but I've never actually seen a light meter or had it's use explained. Big thank you and this actually makes using an older film, full manual camera much less intimidating.

 

[ababysean]

I used one of these in my one and only photography class in 1996. It was for a manual camera.
I always wondered why they are not more popular now because they are cheap, I was an 18 college kid and I remember thinking, wow that is affordable, but I dont remember how much it cost exactly.
I guess the meter in your lens is designed to do the same thing exept to actually learn numbers and settings, when TTL metering it is sort of hard because do you really look at the numbers or just the meter?

 

[clanthar]

First you would set the ASA/ISO speed (white triangle below centre) on the meter, in this case 100 & then take a light reading of the subject. The meter would then tell you which combination of shutter speed & aperture would properly expose the subject.

Or, back in the day when setting an exposure was really easy, you'd take that meter reading and then look at the black triangle (EV) just below the ISO window and simply transfer that number to the camera. In Ron's example the meter is indicating EV 14 (correct exposure for Kodachrome on a sunny day -- RIP). A good camera was equipped with an EV lock. You set the EV number indicated by the meter and the shutter speeds/f-stops would lock together so that physically changing one changed the other -- correct exposure physically "locked" onto the camera. And since the exposure had been determined with an incident meter reading, it was more accurate than anything Nikon, Canon, etc. have been able to come up with to this day.

Thanks Ron -- I still have my Minolta Autometer IV -- been thinking of selling it though.

Joe

 

[pgriz]

Thanks, Ron, for resuscitating the topic. Tis a shame that more don't work with light-meters. When I plan to do some shooting, I take an incident light meter reading in the light (sun or other), and in the shade. This gives me a basic idea of the exposure. My camera's set to spot-meter mode, so I'd check the lightest/darkest areas (that is, where I still want some detail), and based on those readings and the incident readings, I'd know what settings to use. With this approach, dark areas stay dark (but with detail), and light areas stay light (but also with detail). There is also less variation in exposure between shots in the same general area, as the exposure is set somewhat independently of what the camera's pointing at.

In photographic terms, the lightmeter is an opportunity to "engage brain before opening mouth".

 

[bluetibby1]

Wow I want to use one now. I gotta get one so I can learn. Thanks Ron!
Blue

 

[wtdeane]

I think this is the stuff ALL new photography students should learn. After all, this is physics we are talking about.


Cheers!

 

[JAFO28]

Thats pretty cool, I have one similar to that, it was with my fathers old Argus C3 that I inherited.