Light Meters: Stupid = Better?

[joeyjoe]

Been playing a LOT with my new canonet. I finally got the meter adjusted to where it should be plenty accurate enough for print film. Gosh, I love Ilford XP2. Great stuff.

Anyway, I got to thinking about all these metering modes you can have now. Center-weighted, spot metered, matrix/array metering and such. I'm starting to think that supposed "stupid" meters are better. My logic is that these meters seem to be more predictable; backlit scene? Overexpose a stop or two, or meter off your hand + 1 stop. If you depend on matrix or other "smart" metering, then you don't know what the heck the thing is doing. Is it seeing the backlit scene? How many stops is it compensating? etc.. etc.. blah blah blah...

Anyone else feel the same way?

 

[aizan]

pretty much.

 

[wlewisiii]

A meter doesn't need to be smart. But it _does_ need to be consistant. I had major headaches because the old meters I had (selenium and slightly newer) weren't consistant. As a result I went out and bought a new VC Meter II (www.cameraquest.com/voivcmet2.htm). Fancy? Nope. Hyper sophisticated? Nope. Consistant? Yep. Does everything I need it to and I can use it with all of my meter-less cameras.

"The best is the enemy of good enough. "

William

 

[back alley]

i really like cameras with no meters at all.

but for any meter, in or out of the camera, it's a matter of getting to know it and how to use it for your style of shooting.

joe

 

[RObert Budding]

It depends what you're trying to do. I use a very simple Gossen SBC meter for "fast" shooting and for color shots. But now I'm learning the zone system and I need a spot meter. I'm getting by, for now, with my gossen, but it's a compromise. So it really depends what your needs are. For me, I don't need fancy matrix metering - unless I'm taking snapshots of my kids and I need too work super fast.

Robert

 

[Tim]

Fancy automated metering is the invention of the devil. UNLESS it tells you what it is doing and gives you the opportunity to override it.
Generally, I'd have to agree that you're better with straight centre-weighted (or something equivalent) which you know the pattern and consistency of and can compensate for (the brain is a pretty good computer, really)
The only times I've had consistent success with fancy metering is with some serious cameras (EOS 3 for instance) where it does tell you where it's metering, and allows you to compensate.
That said, I much prefer my Bessa / Leica M / CV Meter II straight centre weighted pattern - I Know just how it works!

tim

 

[DougK]

When I use an off-camera meter, I use a simple Gossen Scout incident meter. In-camera, I prefer either spot metering or center-weighted, easier for me to understand what the meter sees and know in which way it's lying to me.

 

[Pherdinand]

I will risk to be a traitor and say, if you want a good matrix-type meter get the minolta Dynax 7 film slr. It has a big screen on its back showing the meter results for each honey-cell he is considering. Really cool; it's like a multiple-spot-meter.

Otherwise, i agree with you 100%. Thinking combined with some experience goes a long way in using a meter.

 

[Stu :)]

My old EOS 5 has taken some 'lovely' out of focus, contra jours in it's time. Curse, swear- auto metering... yell, scream- iris eye-control auto focus...

I've been driving the Zorki without a light meter the last few days... it's quite liberating actually, perhaps it's our version of going without a bra. 😉

Stu 🙂