back to film

i shoot 1.14 1/60 indoors, then oudoors using sunny 16. Mostly 5.6 in the UK. 11 and 16 on holiday, then adjust with the shutter speed. Ilford Pan 400 or Tri-X 400 film and Diafine rounds my guestimates into usable negatives, helped by auto-exposure on the scanner and tweaks in Aperture - and I get a kick out of the process.

I have lightmeters on my iphone but don't use them every time. Maybe once to get a starting point, then step up and down with the clouds. Take the meter off the top of your M3, you'll feel liberated.

very best,
alex
 
Carry your meter around when you are not shooting, and make a game of testing yourself. Pick a particular ISO and shutter speed (for me its 400 and 1/125 for outdoors, 1/30 indoors) and see if you can judge the aperture. I am generally a good judge outdoors, less successful with low light. I am speaking here of taking an ambient reading.

That said, for really good results, you need to follow the example of people like Chris Crawford and meter carefully. Spot metering makes sense, if you remember that the meter is reporting the setting you need to reproduce a gray card density. I try to do that on occasion, especially when in low light and high contrast situations. I need a lot more practice. ;-(

Randy
 
When I took a beginning photography class years ago, we spent a night in a studio setting with a lightmeter. I bought one immeadiatly.

Eventually the work flow is quicker than meterinng in camera.

Even when I shot weddings, I'd use one.

Currently using an M7 for self enjoyment and it's a fabulous camera.

Still use the lightmeter about half the time.

You can get pretty close over time with experience and sense light changes. It's part of the fun for me...

I choose to use a Sekonic 358 and plan to get one with a spot meter (758... I think)

I just love the tool, especially when dabbling in off camera flash with pocket wizards etc...
 
A lot of good advice.
I want to add something.
Expose a roll of film on different subjects in sun, backlit, shade,
indoors near a window,by artificial light and flash.
Use a few different ISO. Film 400 ISO.Expose as 100,200,400,650,800,1200You could skip some in between numbers..
Develop and scan.Compare your results.See differences?
Right go ahead and shoot without a meter giving guesses to the f16 rule.
Enjoy photography.If it wasn't easy, I wouldn't be doing it.
 
This is one of the best short explanations that I have seen. I would just add 1/50th indoors, at f/1.4


I have a method I call my 'one step jive'. I load a roll of ISO400 film, dial in 1/250s and f/8 as my base exposure values. Shooting out in daylight if the weather is sunny(ish) I click the shutter speed one step up to 1/500s and when I'm in shadows one step down to 1/125s. One step up, one step down. It works well enough for me.
__________________
Mablo
 
btgc said:
After one year of guesstimating exposures you will read your post and smile.
Click to expand...

+1

Even when I started with film seven years ago, I was immediately taken by the simplicity of using Sunny-16 offset system.
For daylight usage, it's fast, and you'll get better with practice.

But I still carry a little Gossen Digisix for when I am shooting in deep shadows, or at dusk, evening.

Other than that, when you find a subject or scene that you really like, bracket your exposure. You'd be glad to have the choice of negatives in the darkroom.
 
There's no doubt that you can learn to meter with your eyes after a lot of experience. I shoot a lot of E6 at night when my meters don't work. With experience I have learned to guess the exposures and it works pretty well for me.

Because there is more tonal range available in daylight photography I find it useful to use a meter. It's not essential, I could just guess and rely on the latitude of my film, however I get better results when I use a meter.

I've only been taking photos for a wee bit over a year. Metering has been one of the most difficult things to master during this time. This reminds me of making sushi rice-- anyone can make rice, but it takes years to master it. It takes a long time to master metering, even with a device.
 
shadowfox said:
+1

Even when I started with film seven years ago, I was immediately taken by the simplicity of using Sunny-16 offset system.
For daylight usage, it's fast, and you'll get better with practice.

But I still carry a little Gossen Digisix for when I am shooting in deep shadows, or at dusk, evening.

Other than that, when you find a subject or scene that you really like, bracket your exposure. You'd be glad to have the choice of negatives in the darkroom.
Click to expand...

+1

I shoot meterless Leicas, but carry a digisix. When I'm going out for a day of shooting I take a meter reading in open light and one in shade, and then use Sunny 16 from there. I use the digisix same as Will.
 
You have two good options:
1) sell the M3 and get the M7
2) go out, take the incident light metering, set your camera values, and continue shooting as long as you are in the same light, when you change the light you take another reading and you repeat the process
Overall, the results will be better, if you shoot a film like Tri X rated at EI 250, as this will give you enormous latitude anyway.
If you shoot 3 rolls of film every day for a year, and check your readings with the light meter, you will become a human light meter, and will no longer need to use one.
 
teleparallel said:
...I think at the time of Cartier-Bresson, they did not carry meters, so if he can, you can.
Click to expand...

Hi,

He was interested in photography from the mid 30's and seriously into it from the 40's.

I've meters (photo-electric) in the collection from 1933 and 1936 and see no reason why he wouldn't use one either.

BTW, what you photograph has a lot to do with how much you need a meter. Ditto for the film.

BTW2, right up until Ortho went off the market film and plates could be developed in a darkroom with the safe-light on. So you stopped development when the neg's looked right. Not quite the same as getting the exposure right the first time but if you were doing a roll of twelve you'd see the results within hours and could easilyremember what you did and that's a great way of learning.

Regards, David
 
I developed something I call ZoneSimple, which you can find details about on my web site, that allows you to shoot B&W conventional silver halide films on a sunny day without using a meter ever again. The benifits are extended tonal range, enhanced shadow and highlight detail, as well as the ability to shoot wide open with very fast lenses in bright sun. Its very easy to follow and is more like a cooking recipe than the science project most approaches to the Zone System present. It involves using a lowered ISO, 2 to 4 stops, a corresponding shortened development time, and the sunny 16 rule. There a free pages you can download.
 
With negative film, it is certainly possible to do it. I use a Gossen Digisix, and the EV readings (at my standard speed of 400) are all I need now, do not bother with transferring the readout to the f-stop/shutterspeed scale. I made it a habit to judge the light first, then check with the meter, and most of the time I am very, very close to the meter reading.

BUT: there are days, there is light where you THINK you have got it sorted, and it turns out it is a whole two stops brighter than you figured it was. Once I have calibrated myself to that reading, I am fine the rest of the day. This goes extra for travelling, new countries etc...

If all lightmeters somehow disappeared from the planet, it would not have a crippling effect on my photography. But I am sure happy that I can consult a lightmeter, it certainly helps ;-)

Greetings, Ljós
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom