How to do a meter check?

Bill58

Bill58

Native Texan
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Dec 8, 2004
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I've got three RF cameras that I suspect have meters that are not adjusted properly. I also have a Gossen Luna Pro that has been recently overhauled and re-calibrated. My question is there an optimum film speed, shutter speed and f-stop that I should compare all four at the same time/ place/ light condition or does any combination suffice?

Thanks,
Bill
 
I would think sunny 16 would be the best check. Film speed means nothing to the Luna Pro. That is a dial setting. On a camera, it shouldn't either, except that you would need to know where the sensor was aimed and weighted.

As you no doubt know, it is not uncommon nor considered a cause for worry, if light meters to disagree by 1 stop. It is just a thing to know and adjust for.

When you check sunny 16 readings, you also need to check negatives for density. That said, it is how you like your negatives.

Edit: again you probably know that with the Luna Pro (or any other combination meter), the reflective and incident readings will seldom agree.
 
I would LOVE to have some means of checking light meters that is in some way known to be accurate or traceable to a known standard. I have several cameras and one old light meter that all agree to a certain extent, but it still bothers me that there isn't something closer than "check it with a good meter" or "sunny 16" to verify the calibration.
 
I learned that my Sekonic L-208 tends to overexpose when I got my slides back from the lab. Now, when I set the ISO, I just adjust it to a tiny bit of underexposure and things have worked out well ever since. ;)
 
SolaresLarrave said:
I learned that my Sekonic L-208 tends to overexpose when I got my slides back from the lab. Now, when I set the ISO, I just adjust it to a tiny bit of underexposure and things have worked out well ever since. ;)
Click to expand...

Or can you be sure that your shutter speeds were not too slow?

I use a Sekonic 308B and a Sekonic 308S. Once every 2 or 3 years I will send one back to Sekonic for checking and calibrating. I will then check both against each other to make sure they register the same.
 
Use the Luna Pro and shoot some tests, i.e. bracket a homogeneous scene a few stops below and above the meter's reading. Use the result as a reference for the other meters.

What you like very much depends on the film you use. Up-to 1 stop difference between well calibrated meters is quite typical - Gossen's usually are lower, than for instance Quantum (or my Leicas).

So best is to calibrate the entire flow.

Best,

Roland.
 
Windscale said:
Or can you be sure that your shutter speeds were not too slow?

I use a Sekonic 308B and a Sekonic 308S. Once every 2 or 3 years I will send one back to Sekonic for checking and calibrating. I will then check both against each other to make sure they register the same.
Click to expand...

Nope, the shutterspeeds had been recently adjusted and the gear I used was a Mamiya TLR C200 with 80 and a 65mm lenses. All metering situations (grassy areas under trees, uniformly lit, a view of a lake, outdoor shots without shadows) were consistently overexposed. And I used Ektachrome ISO 200. These were typical sunny-16 situations.

However, once I made the "adjustment" everything came up fine.

I probably should have sent the meter back (I bought it new) to get it fixed under warranty, but heck, it's worked well for me so...

For my stuff with Leicas, I use the MR meters adjusted by George Milton. Great tools! :)
 
SolaresLarrave said:
.....

I probably should have sent the meter back (I bought it new) to get it fixed under warranty, but heck, it's worked well for me so... :)
Click to expand...

If I were you I will send the meter back to Sekonic as it is still under warranty. It's not a good idea to have to do mental arithmetic everytime a reading is taken! Their service at my part of the world is excellent. I have used my 308B for some 20 years now. The 308S was only bought last couple of years. I depend very much on my meters, especially with incident light readings, as I am not good at exposure once matters got beyond sunny 16.
 
Shoot lots of pics.

If they're consistently over- or under-, adjust appropriately.

Or, take a meter that always gives you good exposures, and check other meters against that. Even then, there's not much you can rely on, if they have different acceptance angles, or are incident and reflected.

It's all astonishingly casual. In the words of Garry Coward-Williams, until a year ir so editor of Amateur Photographer magazine, it's amazing the way that so many people get good exposures, even though their meters don't agree.

Cheers,

R.
 
If you need a stable target to compare meters make a solid white JPG file the same pixel resolution as your monitor. Taking readings near the center of screen will alert you to any major differences. Not much good for absolute calibration, but OK for comparison with a known accurate meter.

My Sekonic 308s and Minolta F spotmeter read within 0.2 of a stop from each other using this method.... Close enough for my needs.

Glenn
 
The meter warranty expired already. I use it very little now. Oddly enough, I'm getting a lot more use out of the Leica MR meters that are out of production.

Thanks anyway! :)
 
Sekonic's service is very good and not expensive. Get in calibrated properly. You won't regret this. Once this has been done it will probably not need the same thing done for many years to come.
 
So, and I agree, WHY DO we meter

So, and I agree, WHY DO we meter

Roger Hicks said:
It's all astonishingly casual. In the words of Garry Coward-Williams, until a year ir so editor of Amateur Photographer magazine, it's amazing the way that so many people get good exposures, even though their meters don't agree.
Click to expand...

I agree on this one...
I have a bunch of meters, plus cameras. On the meters, Gossen Luna Pro, Luna Pro SBC, Luna Pro F, Minolta IIIF, Minolta II, Seconic L-428 and a bunch of smaller units, and watching battery correctness and freshness, they all register 2-3 stops variance on the same setting and lighting using reflected.

Why do we even bother with meters. All the pictures seem to come out well exposed. Seems that I should have spent my time really tabbing down all the aspects of Sunny 16 and quit wasting my time on meters.

They're all going up on eBay. I can do better with guessing and Sunny 16 as a base.

The irony of all this is that the meter companies have made a fortune on a very non-exact product, and we keep lining up to buy. Now apply that comment to the digital camera market. Suckers, us all!!!
 
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