Do any of you...

Sitemistic is right - sorry I could not answer in depth earlier.

The LVS (Light Value System) is the technical name for the scale on your camera. It matches the EV system (Evaluative Light).

Some meters (Gossen Digisix) read out not in shutter-speed/aperture values, but in EV numbers 0-18 or something along those lines.

As Sitemistic said, you take a light reading and transfer that number to your LVS setting on your camera. LVS cameras had their shutter speed and aperture values locked together - usually you'd have to do something special to unlock them. So you turn the two as if they were one - this allows you to select a range of shutters speeds with matching apertures - each correct for that EV number you chose.

This was a popular system in the 1950's, but not many people liked it in the long term and it fell out of favor. A list of cameras that used it would be huge.

Personally, I tend to like it. Others don't, and I understand them.
 
I use a Digisix and I like EV...because it gives me one number and I can associate that one number with a lighting condition, remembering what shutter speed/f-stop I can get away with there... faster and IMO makes more sense for low light hand-held than does fiddling with a meter's opinion of what combo I should use.

I think it fell out of favor because SLRs didn't work that way.
 
This is an interesting thread, and a good question.
I must admit that I thought that if I told you (anyone) that a particular scene I metered was at EV16, say, that you would know how bright that is.

But....my Gossen Digisix might give EV16 when the film speed is set to 1600 and EV14 when set to 400 (not surprisingly). So, it seems to me, that the EV number alone is not enough to describe a light value, wouldn't you need to know the film speed metered for?

Am I missing something here?
 
My Oly SP has an EV scale. I use it as a memorandum, knowing which combination of shutter/aperture gives that EV reading and then moving up or down acordingly.
 
fidget said:
This is an interesting thread, and a good question.
I must admit that I thought that if I told you (anyone) that a particular scene I metered was at EV16, say, that you would know how bright that is.

But....my Gossen Digisix might give EV16 when the film speed is set to 1600 and EV14 when set to 400 (not surprisingly). So, it seems to me, that the EV number alone is not enough to describe a light value, wouldn't you need to know the film speed metered for?

Am I missing something here?
Click to expand...

No, you are correct in your latter assumption - the EV value reading you get is relative to the film speed you have set on the meter - and hopefully the same speed you are rating the film in your camera.

You will find EV tables on the internet that list "sunny day = EV 15" in the same manner as the 'Sunny 16' rule, but this assumes ISO 100.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value

If you want a light reading that is absolute, meaning it is not relative to film or sensor speed, then you want 'lumens'. This is the base reference for the brightness of light, without regard to your film speed.

I do not think that Lumens are used in photography as a direct readout that I am aware of. Perhaps in cine, but I really don't know.

However, many early light meters did not have any way to set ISO in way that couple them with the meter reading. So, you would meter and receive a number which was based on some system used by that meter manufacturer. Then you would have to look up the shutter-speed and aperture combination based on your film speed on a table or a dial attached to the meter. But a reading of '6' on a GE selenium reflected light meter meant little unless you had the GE conversion table to turn it into something useful. It would mean nothing to a user of a different brand meter (there were conversion charts published, though).

So yes, your EV reading is relative to your film speed. But without knowing your film speed, you would not be able to set a correct exposure, so this makes sense - I hope.
 
Thanks for the explanation bmattock. It makes sense.
Back to the OP, my Voigtlander Vito B has a numbered scale and a mechanism which locks the aperture ring to the shutter speed ring so that they can be moved whilst keeping the same relative settings.
 
fidget said:
Thanks for the explanation bmattock. It makes sense.
Back to the OP, my Voigtlander Vito B has a numbered scale and a mechanism which locks the aperture ring to the shutter speed ring so that they can be moved whilst keeping the same relative settings.
Click to expand...

My Yashica Minister D worked more or less the same, with a "parent" ring (EV values?) to adjust the master number, and available combinations of shutter/aperture settings using a linked "child" ring. It made choosing apertures a cinch in the days before I even knew there was such a thing as "bokeh."

I need to take my "new" Minister D out for a shoot - won it late last year at that auction site and never used it. Maybe I will.
 
EV shots are for tourists. If you want to be more creative, it is better let the aperture to be the leader, or the speed dial. EV values are mathematical creatures
 
That well-known tourist camera, the Hasselblad 500C/M with its Zeiss lenses, offered an EV adjustment system. My Gossen meter includes an EV scale (at the bottom of the dial), and you can see that it indeed shows EV 16 for iso 100 and 125th/f16, as indicated by other posters above. On the Hasselblad lens the shutter speed ring and the aperture ring are synchronised - once set for a particular EV you can move them jointly to select the preferred aperture, or shutter speed - the other value remains in step. To adjust for a different EV, you need to depress a tab to slip the aperture ring relative to the shutter speed ring, and select a new EV or new combination of shutter speed and aperture. It's nice to have choices!
 

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lZr said:
EV shots are for tourists. If you want to be more creative, it is better let the aperture to be the leader, or the speed dial. EV values are mathematical creatures
Click to expand...
Eh? The pentax digital spot meter I used with 4x5 had LV readouts, the Minolta Spotmter F does EV (which numerically coincides with LV for ISO 100 - I prefer using LV as a matter of convenience). I bet a lot of tourists are really hung up on the zone system.

-A
 
I owned Walz Envoy 35 and Sawyers Mark IV (Topcon Primo Junior) cameras, Japanese cameras from the late 1950's.
Both models featured exposure control using the EV system - aperture and shutter speed dials are coupled together.
I found this arrangement was a real PITA to fight and made them slow to use, so I soon sold each of them.
It's a shame, as these are otherwise very nice cameras. Neither had a built-in exposure meter.

Chris
 
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EV is great for setting up lighting for a set shot. Getting the balance right for secondary and tertiary light. Even with the main as sun. Mainly using to set contrasts. Steps are clear and easy to read on my light meter.

For me it is faster, other wise you just have to remember your f-stops.
 
I have both a Minolta Hi-matic 7s and Hi-matic 9 that use the EV scale. The light meter gives the EV reading in the view finder and you select it on the lens. The lens has both the conventional settings and the EV scale. The Minolta allow you to vary the f-stop and shutter speed in order to get the appropriate EV as indicated by the meter. I find it as simple to use as the conventional method.

Ken
 
The Voigtlander Vitessas had LVS shutters like the hasselblad, I suspect it was a creation of Ziess. Using a typical lightmeter makes using this system slower, but using a meter like the digi-six makes it a breeze. When I was shooting with the 500C and the gossen meter, the limiting speed factor was the film. I spent most of my time reloading.

The nice thing about it -once you get used to it- is the flexibility, You can operate in aperture or shutter priority with ease.
 
Retina IIIC

Retina IIIC

This is an interesting thread. I've used SLRs, rangefinders, large format, TLRs, etc. I am now of the opinion that my Retina IIIC has the best exposure system, using EVs with a leaf shutter up front on the lens.

Once the EV number has been set, the combined aperture and shutter speed ring allows the operator to select whichever combination is prefered for the photographic effect desired; if one desires narrow DOF, then you turn the ring one way; if one desires a slow shutter speed then you turn the ring the other way. Best of all is that all possible combinations of shutter speed and aperture, for that EV number, are readily visible simultaneously on the operating ring.

Going back to an SLR, with either aperture or shutter priority, seems primitive, because with the Retina's EV system and leaf shutter you have available what I would term user priority: whatever effect the user desires is available at the turn of the lens control ring.

~Joe
 
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