Light Meters... Noob Questions

InaGlo

InaGlo

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Glo
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Im looking to learn a little about light meters as Im considering purchasing one.
Are they easy to use?
Will a noob be able to understand the basics from the literature that comes with one?

I remember being told that a meter that reads both incident as well as reflected light is the way to go, but thats pretty much the only understanding I have about them. :D

Does anyone have any useful links that could learn me a little more.
Ta!
 
Get one that reads incident and reflected light Glo. If it does flash too that would be a nice bonus. Digital ones are more convenient as they hold the reading, but none digital ones are just as accurate and usually quite a bit cheaper.

Like any form of metering you need to use a bit of grey matter in interpreting the reading and estimating the tonal values of your subject. For instance an incident light meter measures light from the subject position with the meter pointing back to the lens, so it measures incident light (light falling upon the subject). All that diffuser dome really does though is mix all the tones the meter is receiving down to the equivalent of metering on an 18% grey card. In other words it will give you perfect results for photographing 18% grey cards. :D For most 'average scenes' it will probably give very good results without any interference from you.

If however your main subject is appreciably darker or lighter than 18% grey, then you'd need to adjust exposure accordingly from that very accurate starting point.

Definitely get one - use it, play with it, compare the results from your camera meter, and you'll soon have a far better understanding of basic exposure problems. ;)
 
Thanks for the replies peeps. :thumbs:

Its for studio work that Im interested in one but in all honesty Ive never even looked at one properly... well when theyre put in your face you dont get much chance do you :lol:

Ive read that some peeps rely on in-camera metering with digital even for portraiture, then Ive read/heard other peeps say a light meter is a necessity.
Ive now come round to the idea that it might be worth spending a few quid on one.
Ill go check out the review, ta! :D
 
Check out the used stuff at Ffordes Glo.

Ffordes

I got mine from there and it was used but mint.

I couldn't in all honesty say a meter is essential. The systems in modern cameras are pretty good, but they will let you down now and again unless you know when those occasions are likely to be - you cant afford to slavishly rely on them all the time, and there are tricky situations when a hand held meter is just so handy.
 
CT said:
Check out the used stuff at Ffordes Glo.

Ffordes

I got mine from there and it was used but mint.

I couldn't in all honesty say a meter is essential. The systems in modern cameras are pretty good, but they will let you down now and again unless you know when those occasions are likely to be - you cant afford to slavishly rely on them all the time, and there are tricky situations when a hand held meter is just so handy.
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This looks a bargain for £20, only ambient but for £20 what can you ask for ? worth it you think?
 
OOOh thanks peeps ... Ill go take a look. :thumbs:

Earlier I ordered my monopod from WE ... and my finger kept hovering over the Sekonic L558... but being my usual indecisive self both that & the Lee filter starter kit were shelved for another day.
Thought it best to do a bit of research before I shell out anyway.
 
That meter's definitely a snip at 20 quid Ray. The only thing is it doesn't appear to be capable of incident light readings - only reflective. Look for a white cone which usually slides or clips into place over the sensor.

It looks like an older version of the Weston Master, but there are more recent versions that do incident readings as well.
 
I have the Sekonic L558 Glo - fantastic meter, but not cheap!
 
CT said:
That meter's definitely a snip at 20 quid Ray. The only thing is it doesn't appear to be capable of incident light readings - only reflective. Look for a white cone which usually slides or clips into place over the sensor.

It looks like an older version of the Weston Master, but there are more recent versions that do incident readings as well.
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Noob question...incident light reading is the light falling on the sensor ? reflective is what's coming away from it right?

So to read a reading for light falling on a model's face, you would normally want incident correct ? Where reflective sounds like the same as E-TTL. :bonk:
 
No Ray - incident light reading is reading the light falling on (incident upon) the subject as opposed to reflective readings which measure the light reflected from the subject. All the available metering systems in modern DSLRs are basically reflected light readings.

To take an incident light reading with a hand held meter, you'd walk over to the subject position and take your reading from there, pointing the meter back at the camera, or to be more accurate - right down the lens axis. :) The white cone would be slid or clipped in place on the meter to enable incident reading. When the cone is slid away, or removed, it's just a light sensitive cell which is used for reflected readings. The actual method of switching from incident to reflective reading varies from one meter to another
 
Sorry if it's a bit confusing mate but the whole purpose of that domed white diffuser is that to a degree it receives light all around it - a sort of 3D receiver. If you position it at the side of a model's head then it's also receiving light from all around in much the same way as her/his head is receiving light from all directions.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Noob question...incident light reading is the light falling on the sensor ? reflective is what's coming away from it right?
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Your camera doesn't measure light falling on the sensor - (the shutter is closed remember?) it measures light from the image on the focusing screen. It's quite accurate because when you press the shutter and the mirror goes up it will be the same light levels which hit the sensor (when the shutter opens)

Don't get confused - whilst it's true that the meter measures reflected light from the focusing screen, it's actually light reflected from the scene/subject which is falling on the focusing screen and it's that which is actually being measured.
 
so..........which one do you use more, say under natural light coming through from a window ?
 
Raymond Lin said:
so..........which one do you use more, say under natural light coming through from a window ?
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I tend to like using the incident method, but you can use either method as long as you understand the basic principle behind light metering.

The reflective method has it's advantages in being able to move in close and take readings from two or more parts of the subject to work out a mean difference. A meter which has a spot metering facility (preferably 1 degree) is also a huge advantage in taking readings from very small areas which are sometimes inaccessible, eg, distant mountains or the other side of the river.
 
good luck inaglo i wait in antisipation as i will be after one of these very soon ...
 
Well, it looks like this is my week to disagree with folk around here. I think that using a light meter with a digital SLR is totally pointless. I love my light meter, it's nice little sekonic with spot metering but I never use it for digi stuff as it does nothing but slow down the shoot.

It's a great way to place tones where you want them, or to put that another way, decide what you might lose to highlights or shadow. It's still far quicker and just as accurate to work off the histogram. As long as you have the camera set to display a histogram that resembles the raw file, not just the current JPEG settings.

If you think about how long it takes to get a reading and translate that to the camera and then compare that with how long it takes to fire a frame and check the histogram/highlight alert. It's much easier to use the info in the camera.

It's still nice to have a meter and it's a nice enough way to work but it's by no means an essential bit of kit.
 
dazzajl said:
It's still nice to have a meter and it's a nice enough way to work but it's by no means an essential bit of kit.
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Well I think I did say that Daz. :D

Do you not agree though though that using a separate meter makes you think about what you're doing rather than slavishly relying on the camera meter, and for that reason alone it's a great learning aid?

I do agree with you about the histogram btw. ;)
 
Do you not agree though though that using a separate meter makes you think about what you're doing rather than slavishly relying on the camera meter, and for that reason alone it's a great learning aid?
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I do, of course. :)

I think that taking an appoach that slows down the shooting process is great for helping us understand better what's involved and from that loads can be learnt. If you need to improved your understanding of exposure, it's a great way to learn.

Will using a seperate meter in itself improve your images? I don't think so.

As for relying on the camera meter, I never really use that either, same problem as the hand held. By the time I've stopped to have a passing thought about how far out the scene is from mid grey, I could have worked out what I think it is, shot the frame and adjusted if needed.

That's actually a good learning excercise for anyone looking to get to grips more with exposure. Go out with a camera and just have a guess at exposing different types of shots. It really doesn't take long to get pretty good at it. When you know roughly what most exposures should be, it also means you know instantly when your ISO isn't set where you think it is.
 
LOL. I agree with all that of course, but there's a chicken and egg situation here. Your approach now is based on years of experience and a lot of it will have been gained from your film experience with a separate meter. ;)
 
I got a Weston Euro master with my RB67, it's great! I'd want a flash meter for studio work, though :)
 
Your approach now is based on years of experience and a lot of it will have been gained from your film experience with a separate meter.
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well that's got to be partly true but to be honest, working with film I wouldn't have been brave enough to guess exposures (outside of a controled studio environment) when getting paid depended on the results. working with digi stuff has turned my workflow on it's head somewhat and by taking out the time spent metering, I have more to spend on my favourite bit of the process.......... faffing with the set. :D
 
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