How to use an incident meter?

[bogelgelbo]

Hi guys,

I recently acquired an incident meter (sekonic studio deluxe) to reduce the number of bad exposure in my rolls. Since i never use an handheld meter before, anybody can tell me how to use the meter. For starter, my question will be:

Where should I point the meter?

I'm sure more will come up later after seeing your replies.

Thanks before,

Bogs

 

[Nokton48]

Stand where your subject will be, in the same light, and line it up directly with the camera lens . Use that setting. I was out using my Minolta Autometer II today (outside) as it is a cold rainy dismal day. Can't really use Sunny 16, so I use an incident meter. This type of meter tends to be an extremely easy and accurate way to make excellent exposures, I have found. I expect you will like it.

The Sekonic is an excellent meter and has a good reputation.

 

[dfoo]

When you incident meter you should point the meter at the lens (or at least where the lens will be when you take the picture), not at the principal light source.

 

[Landshark]

Incident meters work fine indoors and out. The Studio Deluxe has a selenium cell and isn't especially sensitive in low light and useless with flash.
To say it's not a good all purpose meter is not correct. In some peoples opinion maybe not but, many, many people over the years have used it as a general purpose meter with excellent results....You have to keep in mind that back in the day Spectra
was the meter of choice in the movie industry and it's really nothing but another version of the Studio Deluxe.
Anyway to use the meter, the dome should be pointed at the camera generally from the subject but as long as the dome is in the same light as the subject it will be OK.

 

[rlouzan]

Complicated answer!!!
Way to many factors involved:

*B&W, color neg, slide film (film latitude)
*Backlight, seascapes
*Reflectors
*Light Transmission problems
...😱

 

[bogelgelbo]

Ok, thanks for the replies. I think I basically know how to work with the meter. Testing should be done before though to really understand how it works for me. I understand though that incident meter is not really an all purpose meter, I though it will be just enough for my needs.

To answer Rlouzan question, now I will use it for my street works with Black & White films only. For now I don't use any reflectors and I don't understand what it means with "Light Transmission problems".

 

[robklurfield]

The Sekonic Studio Deluxe CAN be used as both an incident and a reflective meter. You simply pop on the lumigrid disk attachment (the one with holes in it). If you don't have one, Sekonic sells them for something like $10-15. The meter works quite well in reflective mode this way. It's not going to give the narrow reading of a spot meter, but with practice and compariing your results to your methods, you can get pretty good at using it as reflective meter. Go to Sekonic.com if you need the lumigrid.

Have fun. Take lots of pix.

 

[-doomed-]

Look on Rogers website as he and his wife Frances have a great module on using meters of varying types, i've found it useful when with regard to operating my sekonic.
The old sekonic manual also gives some pointers on what to do when you can't physically get an incident reading. Given the wide latitude of black and white or color films I've used it according to sekonics reccomendations and managed to get great exposures.

 

[xxloverxx]

Since the others have already said the basics, I've got a tip - if you're shooting on a very reflective floor, use your hand to block the bottom bit of the dome from metering the reflected light.

Don't point the dome at the sky, hold it rather awkwardly so it's vertical (I have a Studio Deluxe too)

Oh and don't lose the high slide! I nearly did myself once - luckily a waitress found it and asked if it was mine.

 

[rlouzan]

http://arkietechs.blogspot.com/2009/05/f-stops-vs-t-stops.html

Ok, thanks for the replies. I think I basically know how to work with the meter. Testing should be done before though to really understand how it works for me. I understand though that incident meter is not really an all purpose meter, I though it will be just enough for my needs.

To answer Rlouzan question, now I will use it for my street works with Black & White films only. For now I don't use any reflectors and I don't understand what it means with "Light Transmission problems".

 

[Roger Hicks]

The first link below is probably more use, but they may both be useful. Thanks, -doomed-, for the plug!

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo neg.html

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo slide.html

Cheers,

R.

 

[oftheherd]

With the two links provided by Mr. Hicks, and the advice of others, you have all the advice you need. Now you just need to experiment to find what works to your tastes.

I do have to disagree with Nikonshwebmaster (normally a very scary thing to do). I purchased the Sekonic L28c2 some 33 years ago. It is an excellent and versatile meter once you get used to using it. It never gave me a bad exposure. It can be used for reflective readings as well as contrast readings. To be truthful though, I never found it to be a good reflective meter, always prefering it as an incident meter. It really shines there. It is not a spot meter of course. I think most people don't use spot that often. At least I don't.

I have two other meters: a Gossen Luna Pro and a Luna Pro SBC. For me, I find the Luna Pro better at incident, and the SBC better at reflective. Both are superior to the Sekonic in very low light. You will be surprised at how low a light it can read however. Just be aware that like most non-SBC meters, it has some memory. In very low light, you should take several readings and go with the last. Neither is as good at incident as the Sekonic. The SBC might be better with the Gossen accessory dome, but since I don't have one, I can't really say.

Of course, all the above is what works for me with the meters I have. Your mileage will almost certainly vary. Meters often disagree with each other, development techniques vary, and as Mr. Hicks points out, tastes vary.

Experiment and enjoy that good meter.

 

[Harold Gough]

With my Weston V model, I believe you are meant to point it slightly upwards (of the horizon).

Of course, you can't always stand in the position of the subject. for a distant landscape stand in similar light to that illumating the subject area framed and point the meter in the usual way, towards the camera.

You should get the same exposure indicated from an incident light meter as from a spotmeter reading off an 80% reflectance target which is appropriately lit. The incident reading overcomes the need to find such a target or to read of something else and apply a correction factor.

I find that incident readings are the most accurate and realiable, as even a spotmeter reading of a grey card varies with the angle of the card relative to the light source and the meter.

 

[oscroft]

I often use incident metering when I'm out shooting B&W, and as I often shoot around the city in varying lighting, I tend to use it to give me a feel for the various exposures that surround me rather than for individual shots.

So I'll walk around the scene, stand in bright and dull spots, point the meter in different directions, and thus get a feel for the range of exposures. I'll then set my camera somewhere in the middle, and adjust it from shot to shot without going back to the meter (knowing that "over there in the shadows is plus three stops" etc).

And then I'll only meter again when I move to a different scene, or if the light changes.

 

[bogelgelbo]

Wow I don't notice that this thread is alive since I last post here. BTW I did a test using a method recommended in the manual book and advices given here and here are a few from the test:

I usually use meterless camera and sunny 16 to guesstimates. Usually there are a lot of missed exposures from a single roll. From these test roll only a few are missed (usually since I dont transfer the number I get from the meter to the camera). So I'm quite happy with the purchase. I have to agree that it is not sensitive enough in low light condition, but for now its good enough for me.

Thanks for the links and keeping the thread alive.

 

[ilsligen]

Cool, I actually called them and they gave me a pretty good rate on the phones, I wanted to sell.