Light meter HELP

Ralphmyster

Ralphmyster

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Graham
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OK purchased a light meter seckonic 308s, I understand how it works and how to use it to get the reading. However i am going wrong somewhere,this is what i do
1.Meter is set to amibent with iso 100
2 Camera is set on manual
3 Take a reading

Lets just say it says f8 / 1/250 bingo thats the perfect exposure.
this is where it seems to be going wrong. Say i want f5.6 i use the down pointer to get to the F5.6 and it says 1/8, i thought this was perfect for this setting but when you half press the camera it may compensate 2 stops up or down why ? HELP :bonk:
thanks
 
sorry that was just example of what was happening here is exact setting.
meter reading
f32.3 shutter speed 15
at
f5.6 shutter speed 500
half press camera compensates 1 1/2 stops under why
 
Ralphmyster said:
sorry that was just example of what was happening here is exact setting.
meter reading
f32.3 shutter speed 15
at
f5.6 shutter speed 500
half press camera compensates 1 1/2 stops under why
Click to expand...

It should read f/5.6-3. That's correct.

Not sure what the camera has got to do with it. You're on manual.
 
The camera says 1 1/2 stops under because the meter reading on the camera differs from that on your hand-held meter and the 1 1/2 stops is the difference between what the camera thinks you should be shooting at and the settings you have entered manually.

Does the hand-held meter give the correct exposure when you take the pic?
 
thank you very much somelier ,with try shot try a few shots tomorrow.
 
Looked at the small number of test shots, I took seem ok. So really I guess from this the question is. In manual even though in the veiw finder the camera indicates any where from -2 to 2+ it does not actually make this adjustment to the image being taken.
 
If you're using a lightmeter you can simply disregard what the cameras meter is throwing at you. They both use totally different methods of metering.

If you're metering for ambient only, make sure you have the lightmeter pointing at the cameras lens not the light source. Measure the light then enter these details into the camera on manual mode.

You can then use you histogram on the camera to see if your image is properly exposed.

HTH
 
Thanks to all sorted, will check the histogram on some test shots. should say that in the tin i think LOL
 
The best example I can think of is to find a black piece of paper/t-shirt. fill the frame with it and ask the camera for an exposure reading. It will over expose in order to get its assumption of the world being an average of 18% grey. A light meter will look at the incident light and will give you an exposure that will give you a black t-shirt.

There are two good sites I found here and here.
 
Study the EV chart, realize that the range from white to black is only 5 stops with 18% gray in the middle.
 
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