Light meter question

[snark]

Back in the '70's I bought a Gossen Lunasix 3 light meter. I never had any confidence in it, and could guess the exposure settings more accurately. After a short time I dropped it in the gadget bag and forgot about it until I dug it out the other day. I replaced the batteries and here's what I get - in normal sunlight conditions on reflected light setting, the gauge needle buries itself and gives an exposure recommendation for 100 ISO of something like f11 at 1000/sec. It's spot on (f11 at 1/60) in incident mode. Obviously I should use the incident mode, but can anyone satisfy my curiosity as to why it acts like this?

 

[480sparky]

In reflected mode, it should be aimed at your subject... to measure the light reflected off it.

In incident mode, it should be aimed at the light source... to measure the incident light.

 

[christop]

Are you pointing the meter at something relatively bright in the reflected light mode? An exposure of f/11 at 1/1000 at ISO 100 is about a stop more than what the "sunny 16" rule would suggest (f/16 at f/100 at ISO 100, or f/11 at f/200 at ISO 100).

 

[TCampbell]

"reflected" mode assumes you've pointed it at a subject with a "middle gray" level of reflectivity.

Don't use a light meter in reflected mode. Your camera probably already has a light meter that does reflected mode (only - because cameras can't do incident metering) and is more convenient. I use my meter almost exclusively for incident light metering.

My own meter does have a reflected mode, but that's really a scope that I look through on the meter and it constrains the angle of the spot to just 1º -- so it's a tighter spot for doing a reflected light metering than my camera can do. Basically it's designed so that I can get a reflected light meter reading of a distant background while I meter the incident light for the foreground when I'm shooting a mixed light level environmental shot.

 

[snark]

Well, yes but the trouble is, and always has been with this gadget, that the needle pegs out in bright sunlight. The highest increment on the dial is 22 and the needle goes beyond that until it will go no further. I can turn a full 360 degrees and have the meter directed at the sun, away from it and toward all but the deepest shadow area, and still get a 22+ reading on the gauge. So I guess you can see what I mean when I say I can guess the exposure as accurately.

 

[snark]

Thanks, Tom. Thirty years I have been wondering whether it was me or the meter. It was me - just didn't know how to use it and now I do.

Neither of my medium format cameras have meters so I do the "by guess, by gosh" method and check it with a 35mm that is metered if I am really unsure. I haven't ever used this hand-held meter as a consequence, but now that I know what it can do that the TTL meters cannot, I will begin using it.