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Anyone using a free-standing expsure meter?

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
I would be interested to learn if anyone here uses a free-standing exposure meter for any of your work. If so, I would be interested in such details as:

• What kind of work is it, and in what situation?

• What caused you to choose to use a free-standing exposure meter? (Of course, that might include, "My Deardorff doesn't have inbuilt automatic exposure control".)

• What meter do you use?

• Is this reflected light or incident light metering (or even metering off the ground glass in a view camera)? If reflected light, is this "scene average" or "spot" or something else?

• How do you choose the exposure index to set into the meter?

Thanks.

Best regards,

Doug
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I would be interested to learn if anyone here uses a free-standing exposure meter for any of your work. If so, I would be interested in such details as:

• What kind of work is it, and in what situation?

Mostly for studio work with either digital cameras, (6D, Phase One IQ280, Sony A7r) or classical film with the Bronica 6x6, Chamonix 8x10

Also in the field with a spot attachment for mapping the lighting in large format photography according to the Zone system.

• What caused you to choose to use a free-standing exposure meter? (Of course, that might include, "My Deardorff doesn't have inbuilt automatic exposure control".)

To balance contribution of different sets of lights to each other. So the ratios of light from different sources to the front main light, for example, (and the total incident light on the subject), are as planned.

• What meter do you use?

  • Minolta IV mainly for all above purposes

  • Gossen - COLOR PRO, at times, to get the colors matching or not as needed with appropriate filters on different makes of studio lights or else to match color temp required by film.

  • BK Precision Model 615, to set flux uniformity of incident light from 2 light panels illuminating across a printed Imatest™ Target.

• Is this reflected light or incident light metering (or even metering off the ground glass in a view camera)? If reflected light, is this "scene average" or "spot" or something else?

The Minolta meter has a white dome attachment for incident light and a spot attachment for "Zone" work. So can be used any of those purposes. I haven't, as yet, obtained the attachment, "wand", to read the exposure off the ground glass - but that's something I keep promising myself, LOL!

• How do you choose the exposure index to set into the meter?

Set the meter to the ASA of the film used or the ISO of the digital camera setting


Well Doug, that's about it!

Asher
 
I would be interested to learn if anyone here uses a free-standing exposure meter for any of your work. If so, I would be interested in such details as:

• What kind of work is it, and in what situation?

• What meter do you use?

• What meter do you use?

Hi Doug,

I have a Seconic Multimaster L-408, mainly used when setting up flash (it's also a flashmeter and can be used to balance ambient and flash exposures), without having to add shutter clicks to my camera body. It also allows to check for lighting uniformity with repros. It's also weather proofed, so I can use it under adverse conditions while keeping the camera out of harms way.

• What caused you to choose to use a free-standing exposure meter? (Of course, that might include, "My Deardorff doesn't have inbuilt automatic exposure control".)

I have it for a long time already, since film days, and was used then as I would now often use Live View histogram metering or a testshot of a high contrast scene looking for 'blinkies'.

• Is this reflected light or incident light metering (or even metering off the ground glass in a view camera)? If reflected light, is this "scene average" or "spot" or something else?

Both incident (simulated flat, and half dome), and reflected (semi-spot with viewfinder for aiming), are available.

• How do you choose the exposure index to set into the meter?

Depends. Flash metering (incident mode) can be of the light-sources to set their exposure ratios, and at various positions in the scene itself (flash can be triggered remotely by cable, or by placing meter in the scene and manual popping of flash). Outdoors, e.g. measuring off of clouds to set the camera exposure at 3 stops brighter. Incident metering can be useful to keep track of overall condition changes, or reflected light metering of 'known' brightnesses in the scene. It can also help to measure the dynamic range of a scene for HDRI (to estimate the number of shots to bracket).

The meter itself is of course factory calibrated for average gray (I believe something like 12.5%), but is user adjustable in 1/3rd stops.

Nowadays I mostly use the camera metering for reflected light situations (+LCD histogram), and the handheld meter occasionally for incident metering or for mostly (studio) flash.

Cheers,
Bart
 
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