Light meters - do you need one?

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Forest_rain

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I was considering buying a spotmeter, but all of my cameras have working selenium meters in them. They all seem pretty accurate.

Question - a lot of people seem to invest in light meters, but are they necessary? I'd rather go the minimalist route if possible, but will it improve my photographs?

I'm thinking for portraits, a spot meter or ambient light meter might be useful for correct exposure on the face, but due to the nature of film exposure that has pretty high latitude for overexposure, will it even matter?

Also, the light meters I see are mostly "ambient" light meters on KEH. From what I understand, you need to move the meter onto your subject and meter from there. Is this correct? And built-in camera meters are "reflected" light meters.

So will an ambient or spot meter help me get better portraits depending on the lighting of the subject vs the lighting of the background? Or is it better to just use "experience" to expose properly and save the bulk of added equipment.
 
A properly exposed frame will always be easier to work with. With a spot meter aimed on a person's face, adjust the exposure up or down depending on their skin tone - a face is not normally middle gray. You could have the sitter hold up a gray card and spot meter that, then use that setting. With an incident light meter, use the exposure setting shown by the incident meter - since it will properly indicate the settings needed. Reflective light meters take some judgement, depending on the angle of view that is metered and the lighting of the scene. With a white person with gray hair and a white shirt on against a white wall, the reflective meter will probably make the exposure under exposed - the meter sees too much light, so indicates less is needed. With backlighting, such as a person in front of a sunset, open up about 1 1/2 stops. Once again, a properly exposed frame is much easier to work with when it comes time to print, or show on the computer.
 
With 40 years of using a spot meter I have never regretted the cost of them. I actually have three of the same model, two in reserve Incase of a breakdown.
They allow you to see the individual zones of light within a subject, an invaluable tool. They make you use your brain as well.
Some here would laugh at this statement but I have HONESTLY NEVER TAKEN AN EXPOSURE THAT WAS OUT in all my years using one. I use it for mainly BW medium format but even my colour work has been spot on. You just have to learn how to use it, like any other tool.
 
I own four SLR bodies, one Minolta, and three Konica. All have functioning meters, and the meters are accurate (at least within the +/- tolerances of the film used). I don't have any problem with the results I get when I let the camera select the proper exposure.

I also shoot three rangefinder cameras from the 1950s. None of them have anything assembling a light meter. When I shoot them (I actually prefer them to the SLRs) I will either meter with a cell phone app, or a Sekonic L-418. More often the phone, since it means one less thing to carry around.

With either meter, I generally get good exposures in my shots.

I attribute this to the quality of the meter, the wide range of latitude in the film I use, and the skills of the people at the Darkroom who develop and scan my images.

My personal skills are the least important element in the equation.
 
jmpgino said:
With 40 years of using a spot meter I have never regretted the cost of them. I actually have three of the same model, two in reserve Incase of a breakdown.
They allow you to see the individual zones of light within a subject, an invaluable tool. They make you use your brain as well.
Some here would laugh at this statement but I have HONESTLY NEVER TAKEN AN EXPOSURE THAT WAS OUT in all my years using one. I use it for mainly BW medium format but even my colour work has been spot on. You just have to learn how to use it, like any other tool.
Click to expand...


Interesting. If it helps me to learn more about light and exposure and forces you to use your brain, I might pick one up. Thanks for the input.
 
In my case it depends what camera I am shooting, more specifically what format. The way I shoot 35mm is usually in diverse contrast scenarios over a period of days or even weeks, so spot metering would be of less value to me because while I may be nailing my shadows every exposure, my highlights would be all over due to a single development time. This is why a lot of people overexposed and underdevelop with 35mm. It gives some leeway in the shadows (overexposure) and is more likely to keep the highlights from blocking up (underdevelop). Another option would be a 2 bath development to keep highlights in check. When I'm shooting 120, I typically shoot an entire roll in the same contrast range, so a spot meter gives me vastly superior control of both the exposure as well as measuring the highlight to determine the developing time (N, N+1, N-1, etc). One of the benefits of a modular system (hasselblad, mamiya rb, etc) for 120 is carrying the same film type in 3 backs and swapping backs according to the contrast range of the scene. I usually carry the 3 listed above. N, N-1, N+1. If I shot a full roll in a studio setting and could maintain the same contrast range, I could see the benefit of a spot meter as well though.
 
I had a Gossen Digisix, a Gossen Sixtomat and a Pentax spotmeter back when I shot film. To be frank I never used the spotmeter, and almost always relied on incident metering.
 
Light meters - do you need one?

Referring back to the original post, ambient meters are ones that measure the ambient light. They can be incident or reflected types. I think the shop listing will be to distinguish them from flash meters, which are used to measure flash exposures. Some models can do both. Several models can take either incident or reflected readings, and some also have spot reading capability. It is worth looking at the manufacturers spec for a particular model you are interested in to ensure it does what you require.
Alex
 
My favorite SLR to use is the Olympus OM4 with its spot meter system. You can select up to eight "spots" and it will average them. Or you can select one spot and mark it as the highlight/shadow. It's a very fun system. Surprised more cameras didn't implement something like that.

I use a Minolta handheld meter, but sometimes the slow down/extra gear isn't possible. It is very useful to have however.
 
All my Leica SLRs have spot metering (some like the SL2 no other choice) and my M5 does too. I always take a meter if out with an un-metered camera and generally use spot. Incident metering is fine, but I have the vagaries of centre weighted metering and prefer not to use it if I can use a spotmeter. It has significantly improved the quality of my negatives - your mileage may vary!
 
When I am using a camera with no built-in light meter or when I want to go the minimalist route, I do not use a light meter. I only use the Sunny 16 Guideline for ambient light or the Flash Guide Number when shooting flash.

When shooting flash, I normally use a flash meter.

When shooting ambient light, I normally use a reflective and/or incident light meter. My personal favorite is the Gossen Super Pilot light meter.

When I use the Zone System for accurate exposures, I prefer to use my Gossen Luna-Pro with a spot meter attachment.

When I need to rely on a light meter that requires no batteries, I use the Gossen Scout 2 selenium light meter.

I prefer battery operated light meters because they are more accurate and more sensitive to light than my selenium light meters.

I have tried cell phone light meters but have yet to find one that I like.


Light Meters by Narsuitus, on Flickr
 
I might pick up an incident meter for portraits, but I found that my smartphone has a "spot meter" using the lux light meter, if you touch the screen, it will tell you the reading for that part. Might be enough for me without having to carry a separate meter.
 
narsuitus said:
When I am using a camera with no built-in light meter or when I want to go the minimalist route, I do not use a light meter. I only use the Sunny 16 Guideline for ambient light or the Flash Guide Number when shooting flash.

When shooting flash, I normally use a flash meter.

When shooting ambient light, I normally use a reflective and/or incident light meter. My personal favorite is the Gossen Super Pilot light meter.

When I use the Zone System for accurate exposures, I prefer to use my Gossen Luna-Pro with a spot meter attachment.

When I need to rely on a light meter that requires no batteries, I use the Gossen Scout 2 selenium light meter.

I prefer battery operated light meters because they are more accurate and more sensitive to light than my selenium light meters.

I have tried cell phone light meters but have yet to find one that I like.


Light Meters by Narsuitus, on Flickr
Click to expand...

I like the little Sekonic meter on the lower right, but I wish that it would trap the needle.
 
I have several light meters but never use them. I use the app on my phone because my phone is always with me and it is easy to use.
 
When I worked with a large format camera I had to always use a spotmeter to be able to evaluate the cotrast range of the scene. Later on, when I used Leica M4 I had to have external meter, as the camera was meterless. It was a pain in the neck, especially when using the polarizer. With C0ntax G2 I'm mostly using now the meter is very accurate, and in tricky lighting conditions I just bracket.
 
I'd like to get your feedback on the 2 pictures attached. The picture of the woman has really good contrast between light/dark and highlights/shadow. The picture of the asian man has less contrast, but it could be due to the white sand reflecting light from below.


I think the male picture is a little bit overexposed, possibly. Is there anything that can be done to improve contrast? Should I spot meter for highlights or for shadows?
 

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