Metering Problems Again!

[Stu W]

Ok, I just exposed a roll of c41 process b&w film. The shots taken in bright sunlight came out fine. The last 8 or 10 shots were taken under a dismal sky. I metered with a Sekonic hand held meter and to me it felt underexposed but I trusted my instruments. Well they were all grossly underexposed.
Next step was to check the meter. I took out my cameras with built in meters and tested them all in low contrast situations. The highs and the lows of the different cameras were as much as 4 stops difference!. And the funny thing is no 2 agreed! Thank goodness I backed up the shots (my daughter on her way to her sweet 16) with a canon elph which seemed to have no problem. The cameras I used for a reference were a Pentax MX, a Pentax Me Super, Pentax PZ-10, and the Sekonic meter. Is a spot meter in order? Sorry about the long post. Stu

 

[ferider]

Incident, spot or a grey card. Up to a stop difference is normal, in my experience.

 

[RayPA]

Was the Sekonic an incident or reflective meter?

.

 

[Stu W]

Ray, the Sekonic is both, but I was using it as a reflective. In my testing I found that I had about a stop difference between incidence and reflective. Stu

 

[laptoprob]

Stu, start your investigation in full sunlight, if available. You can easily check all meters to sunny 16.
In case of less sunny weather, take 2 or 3 stops off: 8 or 5,6. Shady s,6 usually works too.

Keep us posted!

 

[Roger Hicks]

In my testing I found that I had about a stop difference between incidence and reflective. Stu

Dear Stu,

Which can differ considerably depending on the light and the subject; if there were a fixed relationship, no-one would need anything except incident metering.

Also checking a meter against 'sunny 16' is substantially meaningless -- sorry, Rob -- because exposure for negative (colour or mono) is keyed to shadows, while exposure for negative is keyed to highlights. The more the subject brightness range exceeds 5 stops, the more this matters.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[laptoprob]

When I advised checking against sunny 16 of shady 5,6 naturally you have to do it with a neutral subject for reflective metering. Like a 19% grey card. Then it isn't meaningless.
It's just an easy first check.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

As long as no two agree everything is as it should be. Back up important moments with two cameras. And, always bracket you shots on important photos. Whatever the meter reads shoot one over and one under.