How many people use spot meters versus incident/reflected?

How many people use spot meters versus incident/reflected?

  • Spot Meter

    Votes: 47 16.1%

  • Incident/Reflected handheld

    Votes: 210 71.9%

  • incident/reflected camera mounted

    Votes: 41 14.0%

  • no meter - just guess

    Votes: 49 16.8%
  • Total voters
    292
I use all three types: The spot when the cam is on a tripod and there is lots of contrast, the incident-metering, when the subject is too far from 18% reflection and reflected-light measurements with a bigger angle for anything else.

For the rangefinder-cam its almost exclusvely type 3 (reflected, broad angle) .

Stefan
 
Any kind of meter can give great results if used properly, or lousy ones if used poorly. I use all three types, depending upon what I'm doing and what meter I have with me- although I am just as likely to guess my exposure as not, especially when using small format. I probably use incident metering the most, but I generally go to spot metering with landscape work or in weird or contrasty light. I pretty much only use in-camera meters in AE mode on cameras that have this, since it's pretty convenient- otherwise, I prefer a hand-held meter.

I positively hate clip-on meters. I know many folks like them, but I think they ruin a camera's ergonomics, and provide wide area reflective metering, which is far and away my least favorite method of metering- I'd much rather use an incident meter. Ten or fifteen years ago, I was traveling in England when my in-camera meter (the only one I had) died. So I went into a shop and bought an old Russian selenium cell meter for about five pounds. It's the dreaded wide-area reflective type, but it worked just fine, and still does. These days I only carry when it when I'm feeling nostalgic- though once or twice it's come in handy when I've run out of batteries.
 
I mostly use a Gossen Digisix with its dome...over and over I've compared to my Minolta Flashmeter
(in non-flash mode), also with its dome, and a pair of CLA-d Canon F1...always virtually identical. When using the Canons I meter the back of my hand most often.

IMO one wants to learn to previsualize. I should be able to accurately guess the exposure over there if I know what it is over here...and, for that matter, I should be able to WALK over there, like a humanoid.
 
...also...the Digisix is almost perfect, way better than anything else I've seen for pocket use...but it wants to give me extra information, like the time, and it wants to wake me up in the morning (must figure out how to shut the damn alarm) and show the temp in my pocket, my choice C or F. Thank goodness it isn't into politics or barometric pressure. Too much monkey business. I like that it weighs nothing and is too light to be damaged if dropped. It burns batts, but they're easy to find and cheap (Radio Shack)...never leave home without a spare, then reset the ei...
 
JTK said:
...but it wants to give me extra information, like the time, and it wants to wake me up in the morning (must figure out how to shut the damn alarm) and show the temp in my pocket, my choice C or F. Thank goodness it isn't into politics or barometric pressure. Too much monkey business...
Click to expand...

Just too funny. But true and I agree with you.

Kenny
 
I don't use any metering except when I shoot my R7. I have a Pentax spot meter that's too big so I never carry it with me. If I had a handheld meter I would more certainly use it...

Regards,

Boris
 
It depends if I am using a Leica M2 or my MP. I usually use an incedent hand held meter unless the camera has a meter. Sometimes if lighting is tricky and I want to save detail in shadows I will get in close for couple of reflected light reading on something specific hoping to also keep hightlight detail. I got into this habit back when I was shooting a lot of color landscapes with a ISO 50 or 100 Velvia or Ektachrome VS. Although then I was using a spot meter. - Jim
 
I use whatever is on the camera if it's center weighted or spot, otherwise incident for snapshots and 1% spot for when I want to be 100% sure or in difficult lighting.

Spontaneous shots aside, I never leave it entirely up to guesswork even when I'm fairly confident. Film is too expensive these days to blow a shot every now and then just out of laziness.
Then again, that's just the practical side of me trying in vain to make up for all the money I spend on gear 😀
 
For many years I used a reflective, with my hand as the "grey card". Then I discovered incident the hard way, when four rolls of Kodachrome, for something important, went badly wrong. Now I use incident for film and various modes on my digitals, depending on what I'm trying to capture and how I feel at the time!

😀
 
Just started using a Weston Ranger 9 with my non-metered cameras...the meter along with a Zone System scale on it is making B&W shooting so much easier...and the results speak for themselves...
 
Using a digital spotmeter has not failed me in 30 years of photography. It allows me to calibrate the exposure from multiple readings.
 
I used to have a spotmeter that looked like a bansai'ed ray gun. too damn big to lug around. but what it taught me was to guestimate an extra
zone or two beyond what my center-weighted meter told me (e.g., a bit darker in the shadows than the center-weighted told me, and same for the highlights).
so i ditched the spot meter and use the in-camera CW'ed averaging meter, and now learning to use the Gossen DigiSix.
 
How many actually know what they're doing? How many recognize the simple fact that with practice, you can get good exposures with just about any form of metering, however unsuitable (think incident for B+W with long brightness ranges)? And how many are saved by the inherent latitude of negative films, especially for overexposure?

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
How many actually know what they're doing? How many recognize the simple fact that with practice, you can get good exposures with just about any form of metering, however unsuitable (think incident for B+W with long brightness ranges)? And how many are saved by the inherent latitude of negative films, especially for overexposure?

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

... and how many are aware of the latitude of negative film to overexposure and consciously choose to use it that way?
 
I have the semi-spot attachment for my Gossen Lunasix F, but I have rarely used it. In my view, if you meter enough spots, you have basically performed a manual averaging metering.

I use incident metering for almost everything, if I use a handheld meter. I still shoot a lot of slides, so that's how I've gotten into the habit. I meter for the highlights, and I almost always carry a flash to fill in the shadows - to get them into the film's range.

I have been familiar with my Nikon F3's meter pattern for 25 years, so I can rely upon it almost without fail. Lately, I have migrated to using a Nikon F2 with DP-11 prism, and the slides look fine also. People may pooh-pooh the center weighted metering on these cameras, but for the large majority of photographic situations, they work just fine. With the F3 in auto mode, I can keep up with fast moving subjects, or mottled lighting.

I'm still learning the meter pattern on my Leica M7. It seems to be a big spot pattern. It needs more exposure lock than what I've needed to use with my Nikon F3. For a fill flash lover, the TTL modes of the F3 and M7 are great.
 
I'm a big fan of incident metering and use it whenever I can, and it makes sense. Incident metering *usually* makes sense, but not always. I use handheld incident meters for 35mm up to 8x10.

I also have one of those little shoe-mount CV meters, so if I'm travelling light, that's what gets used.

A little bit of intelligent thought behind ANY meter reading is always a fine idea.
 
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