VinceC
Veteran
I just recently bought a small handheld incident meter to replace one that broke about seven or eight years ago. I shoot only meterless cameras and relied on experience over the past half-dozen years. I didn't miss any shots for exposure reasons -- using mainly 400-speed negative film. But I do find I'm a little quicker now that I have a meter again and don't have to do so much calculation in my head.
For color slides (or digital shot on M) I'd very much want to use an accurate meter. I started using meterless cameras close to 20 years ago and did find it liberating not to be "chasing" the needle or diodes.
I think that difficult light is difficult light, regardless of whether you're using a meter or calculating based on experience. That part of photographic craftsmanship that depends on learning and mastering skills includes learning to judge different light conditions. Nearly all the metering advances in camera technology the past 30 years have been based on helping a TTL meter read light as accurately as a handheld incident meter or the sunny-16 rule.
For learning to judge light yourself, it's useful to realize that, with 400-speed film, there are only 14 total f/stop-shutter-speed combinations that fall into the handholdable range of 1/8th second at f/1.4 to 1000 @ f/16. With Sunny-16, I used two mental anchors, not one. Sunny-16 (and it's corrolary, Winter Gloom 4, which is a typical overcast day) plus indoors f/4, which is a brightly lit indoor office or "Rembrandt" light from a north-facing window, at a shutter speed of 1/60. The indoor-4 rule is very helpful for things llike dark forests, where you can learn to judge whether it seems to be as bright as a well-lit room.
For color slides (or digital shot on M) I'd very much want to use an accurate meter. I started using meterless cameras close to 20 years ago and did find it liberating not to be "chasing" the needle or diodes.
I think that difficult light is difficult light, regardless of whether you're using a meter or calculating based on experience. That part of photographic craftsmanship that depends on learning and mastering skills includes learning to judge different light conditions. Nearly all the metering advances in camera technology the past 30 years have been based on helping a TTL meter read light as accurately as a handheld incident meter or the sunny-16 rule.
For learning to judge light yourself, it's useful to realize that, with 400-speed film, there are only 14 total f/stop-shutter-speed combinations that fall into the handholdable range of 1/8th second at f/1.4 to 1000 @ f/16. With Sunny-16, I used two mental anchors, not one. Sunny-16 (and it's corrolary, Winter Gloom 4, which is a typical overcast day) plus indoors f/4, which is a brightly lit indoor office or "Rembrandt" light from a north-facing window, at a shutter speed of 1/60. The indoor-4 rule is very helpful for things llike dark forests, where you can learn to judge whether it seems to be as bright as a well-lit room.
