FrankS
Registered User
This topic has been in the back of my mind this morning and I'm going to try to present it in words.
Much has been said about the liberating experience of using a hand held light meter as opposed to the camera's built-in meter, and I totally agree with that. Photogs who have never used an external meter often use their cameras' meters incorrectly, assuming that each time they frame a new image, the aperture or shutter speed dial needs to be adjsuted so that the camera's meter is satisfied. They end up fiddling for 30 sec. or so before each exposure, CHASING THE NEEDLE OF THE METER. By not understanding the nature of reflected light reading, they are often rewarded with incorrect exposures for their trouble. (when the frame contains an unequal mix of light and dark elements especially near the center where the light metering pattern is commonly more sensitive.)
Once you break away from that, and using a handheld meter is a great way of doing so, you will probably realize the problem with this practice. Using (especially an incident type) hand held meter, one begins to better understand the nature of light and the concept of light metering.
Once this understanding is reached and one can use a camera's built in meter correctly without chasing the needle, a built-in meter is more convenient than a separate hand held meter IMO. A hand held meter is an extra object to carry and manipulate. A very small meter that lips onto the camer's hotshoe is a pretty good alternative to both a hand held meter and a built in meter because it allows you to adjust the camera's setting without raising the camera to your eye to see the built in meter. The problem with these meters however, is that even though they are fairly small they do add bulk and they occupy the hotshoe which may be needed for an accessory finder.
Anyway, having used hand held meters extensively, I believe that I can now use a camera's built-in meter effectively and prefer such cameras. My M6 cannot be beat!
(No, my M2, M3, and IIa are not for sale.)
Much has been said about the liberating experience of using a hand held light meter as opposed to the camera's built-in meter, and I totally agree with that. Photogs who have never used an external meter often use their cameras' meters incorrectly, assuming that each time they frame a new image, the aperture or shutter speed dial needs to be adjsuted so that the camera's meter is satisfied. They end up fiddling for 30 sec. or so before each exposure, CHASING THE NEEDLE OF THE METER. By not understanding the nature of reflected light reading, they are often rewarded with incorrect exposures for their trouble. (when the frame contains an unequal mix of light and dark elements especially near the center where the light metering pattern is commonly more sensitive.)
Once you break away from that, and using a handheld meter is a great way of doing so, you will probably realize the problem with this practice. Using (especially an incident type) hand held meter, one begins to better understand the nature of light and the concept of light metering.
Once this understanding is reached and one can use a camera's built in meter correctly without chasing the needle, a built-in meter is more convenient than a separate hand held meter IMO. A hand held meter is an extra object to carry and manipulate. A very small meter that lips onto the camer's hotshoe is a pretty good alternative to both a hand held meter and a built in meter because it allows you to adjust the camera's setting without raising the camera to your eye to see the built in meter. The problem with these meters however, is that even though they are fairly small they do add bulk and they occupy the hotshoe which may be needed for an accessory finder.
Anyway, having used hand held meters extensively, I believe that I can now use a camera's built-in meter effectively and prefer such cameras. My M6 cannot be beat!
(No, my M2, M3, and IIa are not for sale.)
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