Please help with light meter questions

[Buckster]

It's something YOU need to learn through experience.
Idahophoto, I highly doubt his meter is malfunctioning in any way.
It's user error.

Probably, but I'm not sure. For most basic scenes the in camera matrix mode should do a fair job as long as there is no problematic things in the scene. Keep it simple and compare it to another camera if you can. You can use a grey card to help out as other have suggested but there rather pricey and should not be needed. Then again if it help you get better exposures it well worth it.

Let's boil down what you just said, "a gray card is pricey, so buy a Sekonic L358 instead."

I'm with the others. This is user error/learning curve on the part of the OP. He should read the manual, try different settings in various situations to get really comfortable with understanding what's going on with metering, adjust as needed to underexpose or overexpose depending on the circumstances just like using a handheld meter, then apply the techniques learned as part of his workflow.

 

[Early]

Well if someone has a good read on metering then i can make sure what i am doing is correct.

What are you doing, and in what way is it not working out?

What metering mode are you using, and what are you metering on?


Knowing where to meter is probably the most important part...

Bump this!

I don't know the 5D metering system, but I was thinking you might have inadvertently changed a factory setting without knowing it.

 

[Idahophoto]

It's something YOU need to learn through experience.
Idahophoto, I highly doubt his meter is malfunctioning in any way.
It's user error.

Probably, but I'm not sure. For most basic scenes the in camera matrix mode should do a fair job as long as there is no problematic things in the scene. Keep it simple and compare it to another camera if you can. You can use a grey card to help out as other have suggested but there rather pricey and should not be needed. Then again if it help you get better exposures it well worth it.

Let's boil down what you just said, "a gray card is pricey, so buy a Sekonic L358 instead."

I'm with the others. This is user error/learning curve on the part of the OP. He should read the manual, try different settings in various situations to get really comfortable with understanding what's going on with metering, adjust as needed to underexpose or overexpose depending on the circumstances just like using a handheld meter, then apply the techniques learned as part of his workflow.

The grey card is pricey as they wear out usually fairly fast. I really like the Lastolite [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Lastolite-LL-LR2050-20-Inch-Ezybalance/dp/B0009QZDLG/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282491520&sr=8-8]Amazon.com: Lastolite LL LR2050 20-Inch Ezybalance Card (Grey/White):…[/ame]
card as they last longer. The Selonic light meter is of course going to cost more but is a better long term investment as you will get the most accurate exposures and they seem to last forever.

 

[KmH]

You do have 2 other alternatives:

1. use a hand held light meter.
2. get a camera that requires less skill to operate.

What about a 3rd alternative???

3. learn how to use the technical aspects of your camera by practicing and reading the manual.

Sure.

IIRC he's had the camera and the manual for over a year now and had a 30D before that.

 

[Buckster]

Probably, but I'm not sure. For most basic scenes the in camera matrix mode should do a fair job as long as there is no problematic things in the scene. Keep it simple and compare it to another camera if you can. You can use a grey card to help out as other have suggested but there rather pricey and should not be needed. Then again if it help you get better exposures it well worth it.

Let's boil down what you just said, "a gray card is pricey, so buy a Sekonic L358 instead."

I'm with the others. This is user error/learning curve on the part of the OP. He should read the manual, try different settings in various situations to get really comfortable with understanding what's going on with metering, adjust as needed to underexpose or overexpose depending on the circumstances just like using a handheld meter, then apply the techniques learned as part of his workflow.

The grey card is pricey as they wear out usually fairly fast. I really like the Lastolite [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Lastolite-LL-LR2050-20-Inch-Ezybalance/dp/B0009QZDLG/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1282491520&sr=8-8"]Amazon.com: Lastolite LL LR2050 20-Inch Ezybalance Card (Grey/White):…[/ame]
card as they last longer. The Selonic light meter is of course going to cost more but is a better long term investment as you will get the most accurate exposures and they seem to last forever.

Modern grey cards are usually plastic or fabric, and don't wear out fast enough to offest the cost of a Sekonic meter.

Other than using the meter's incident metering ability, which is not always practical or even possible, and certainly not spontaneous, prove that it's more accurate than the meter in the 5D; enough to make any difference at all, especially if shooting RAW.

Oh, and by the way, I use a Sekonic L-558R, but only find it necessary when working with film where I can't review the results instantly, so don't think I don't have a working knowledge of their abilities and applications, nor that I've got anything against external light meters or Sekonic. I'm just being practical and keeping it real here.

 

[pgriz]

As has been mentioned many times by various posters, the camera meter measures reflected light and assumes that, averaged out, the scene should be at 18% grey and sets the exposure accordingly. This means that if you take a picture of a black cat (and it takes up most of the image), the camera will adjust the exposure so that the cat will be 18% grey (ie, overexposed). If you shot a white sheet of paper, the camera would underexpose getting the same 18% grey value.

However, if you meter the incident light, then white things stay white, black things stay black, and so on. Since the sun's light output is pretty constant (and life on spaceship Earth would be very difficult if it wasn't), the issue is whether the light that falls on a subject is diminished (by shade, cloud, haze, etc.) or increased (reflected light added to existing light). In the days before lightmeters were common, people would set their exposure according to the guidlines on the film box. One convenient rule was the Sunny 16 rule, which said that on sunny days (ie, strong shadows), shooting at f/16, you set the shutter speed closest to the ISO rating. Say you were using ISO 100 film, you'd want to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/125 (125 is closest to 100). Shooting on a bright sunny day and on sand or snow, you get additional light reflected, so increase the shutter speed by 1 stop (ie, 1/250). Going the other way, sunny with weak shadows is 1 stop more (1/60), bright cloudy (but no shadows) would be another stop (1/30), and open shade is another stop (1/15). By the way, read Fred Parker's "Ultimate Exposure Computer" article http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...4579-please-help-light-meter-questions-2.html. He discusses this in much better detail, and gives a table showing exposure values which allow you to know (without the lightmeter) what exposure a typical scene will need.

In the Zone system, you have eleven zones, with zone 0 being totally black, and zone X being totally white (DPanswers: Digital Zone System Tutorial is one good explanation). Excluding the end zones, you have eight zones with useful detail, with zone V being the midpoint (18% grey). By coincidence, my digital camera has a dynamic range of about 8 as well, so in my situation one stop up or down is equivalent to one zone up or down. The zone system tries to set the exposure (and film processing, but that's not relevent for us with digital cameras) so that as much of the target scene will fit into the relatively limited range that the camera can capture. (By way of comparision the average human eye has a dynamic range of 15 or more). Therefore by adjusting the exposure (manually), you can truly control the exposure so that most things in the scene are well exposed, with useful detail.

Practically, if you have confidence in your light meter, you put your camera on spot-meter mode and read the exposure values from the darkest and brightest parts of the scene where you want detail, and if the difference in values is eight stops or more, then you just can't squeeze the scene into the camera without losing some highlights or dark detail. Then you have to decide which is more important to you, and bias your exposure accordingly.

If you don't have a reliable light-meter, use the guidelines for manual exposure, and the chances are pretty good that you'll have good exposures.

 

[gsgary]

metering off a piece of grass lit the same as your subject will give you a good base setting

 

[Buckster]

metering off a piece of grass lit the same as your subject will give you a good base setting

I read somewhere that metering off your hand works pretty well in a pinch too.

 

[gsgary]

metering off a piece of grass lit the same as your subject will give you a good base setting

I read somewhere that metering off your hand works pretty well in a pinch too.

I use the technique when i'm using a light meter shooting film on a rangefinder with no meter, i also use it with my digital