Spot meter - how to

[Aurora]

I have a Minolta F spot meter and a Gossen Luna Pro incident meter.
I am slightly confused.

Let´s´take a couple of scenarios.

I am in a landscape. It´s sunny with lots of shadows. Some shades I don´t care for, but some I do. So if I have the possibility to creep under or in the shade I could take an incident reading and have 2 -3 stops less. That would give adequate texture for the shadows, placing it on Zone III or II.
With the spot meter I could spot read the shade - which would make that Zone V (this is the bit I am confused about), then I do the same, it makes that zone V so I need to close down 2-3 stops. I could also have it on a different ISO, first finding out what EI that film is.
On the Minolta spot meter there is an S button, for shadow. Could I just click on that one - spot metering in the shade and it would give me the correct reading? It seems like that from my understanding of the meter.
Doing the same for the highlights, calculate the SBR which is high EV minus low EV plus 5, no? Then I decide on what development it needs.

Now I´m in the landscape again, it´s snowy, cloudy and quite miserable.
I find the Shadow and highlight. Or in such a case, it´s quite safe to do an incident reading? As the brightness range is not going to be that huge. Of course if I want it to have more contrast I would need to calculate the SBR and give N+ dev. Although sometimes I like the photographs to look a bit "eastern european"…

A portrait in soft light, no harsh shadows- I could take an incident reading and leave it like that.
I also (and this is quite handy often) take a spot meter of the face. If the person is not snow white - I open up one stop, no?
I know it´s better to take a spot meter reading of the whole frame and decide the shadow in comparison to the face and highlights.
Sometimes there is no time for that, so it´s handy with a spot meter reading of the face. Another way is to take an incident reading.

A portrait with lots harsh light. How do you measure a face in such a situation?
Thanks in advance

 

[Roger Hicks]

From http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/meters and metering.html about 3/4 of the way down:

The mere fact that spot meters are supplied with a mid-tone index at all, presumably in response to public demand, is why we firmly believe that the vast majority of spot meters are bought and used by people who do not really know what they are doing. Anyone who tries to read a mid-tone is wasting his or her time. A spot meter guarantees good shadow detail if you read the shadows. If you read the brightest highlight in which you want texture and detail, it also tells you the subject brightness range. This can be very valuable if you are shooting sheet film and process each sheet individually to control contrast. But if you are just using it to measure mid-tones, then quite honestly, you are being saved by the latitude of the neg/pos system: you'd be better off with another meter, and a better understanding of what you are doing.

There are countless ways to use a spot meter but an old Hollywood trick is to take a reading of the star's face and use that to determine exposure from one shot to another. Caucasian skin is a light mid-tone, around I.R.E. 4: I.R.E. (it's in the linked piece) is a lot easier to understand, and a lot less jargon-ridden, than the Zone System. Dark skin will be a dark mid-tone, maybe as low as I.R.E. 2 for really, really dark skin (effectively black), but more likely about 2.5-3.

For landscapes, use I.R.E. 1 for the darkest shadows in which you want texture and detail.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

R.

 

[rlouzan]

What film format are you using? Unless you have interchangeable film backs/holders, or expose a whole roll of 35mm film, N+ dev. is out of the question.

I recommend you use Fred Picker's zone system:

http://teejaw.com/fred-pickers-zone-vi-workshop/
http://www.amazon.com/Zone-VI-Workshop-Fred-Picker/dp/0817405747

 

[Aurora]

Roger -
Yes I don´t really know what I am doing with the spot meter, but I am trying to learn.
BTW- I just bought your books, but still have to receive them.

One question I.R.E. 5 is a mid tone, right? So if I measure the face, which is northern european it would be about one stop I need to open? And each number is corresponding to half a stop.
So from the reading, which I assume is I.R.E. 5 - if I spot the face, it´s half a stop (if it´s normal caucassian skin), if in a landscape I meter the shadow and assume it´s I.R.E. 1 - which is 2 2/3 stops below.
Sorry, but is a light mid-tone not lighter than the average gray, so it would be six and not four?
In the case of the photo, I guess he is slightly darker, so it makes sense for it to be 4, but someone from northern europe in winter is more likely to be 6 - am I correct?

You write on your module: "Using an incident meter for metering negatives will almost certainly lead to a loss of shadow detail, unless the SBR is very short. The solution? Easy. Give an extra stop - or set the film speed on the meter at half its real value."
but if you already set the ISO at 80 for an FP4+ film, as you know that´s your EI (in regards of your technique and development), do you still set the ISO even lower?
IRE 10 - 2 1/3 stop above
So IRE 5 - is what the meter says
IRE 1 - 2 2/3 stops down

 

[Aurora]

rlouzan -
I use both medium format and 35mm.
For medium format it´s fairly easy to go through a whole roll. For 35 not so and I don´t have two cameras.

 

[BLKRCAT]

There's lots of info out there but nothing simply explained.

I learned how to use a spot meter with my m5 after many rolls of imperfect exposure.

First off I wrapped my head around the zone system. Then I took it into practice. I shot rolls metering for snow putting snow in zone 7, shot rolls with shadows in zone 3, and landed on putting shadows in zone 4.

I develop as per kodaks recommendations and for development and ease of scalability putting shadows in zone 4 works 90% of the time. Anything else with an understanding of the zone system and how your meter works should be fine too with some thought and adjustment.

Learn the zone system and understand what your meter is telling you, that what it's metering is trying to make 18% grey, and you should be off to the races.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . Learn the zone system and understand what your meter is telling you, that what it's metering is trying to make 18% grey, and you should be off to the races.

Not if you are using a spot meter properly.

Cheers,

R.

 

[BLKRCAT]

How so roger? It's my understanding that if you meter shadows the meter will try to make the shadows middle grey overexposing highlights, likewise if you meter for highlights the meter will make them middle grey under exposing your scene.

I'm not talking about any sort of technique but what the meter is trying to tell you when you evaluate a scene. The meter is trying to make whatever it is pointed at 18% grey. It's up to the shooter to use that information to compensate and evaluate the scene from there.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . .
BTW- I just bought your books, but still have to receive them.

One question I.R.E. 5 is a mid tone, right? So if I measure the face, which is northern european it would be about one stop I need to open? And each number is corresponding to half a stop.
So from the reading, which I assume is I.R.E. 5 - if I spot the face, it´s half a stop (if it´s normal caucassian skin), if in a landscape I meter the shadow and assume it´s I.R.E. 1 - which is 2 2/3 stops below.
Sorry, but is a light mid-tone not lighter than the average gray, so it would be six and not four?
In the case of the photo, I guess he is slightly darker, so it makes sense for it to be 4, but someone from northern europe in winter is more likely to be 6 - am I correct?

You write on your module: "Using an incident meter for metering negatives will almost certainly lead to a loss of shadow detail, unless the SBR is very short. The solution? Easy. Give an extra stop - or set the film speed on the meter at half its real value."
but if you already set the ISO at 80 for an FP4+ film,B
IRE 10 - 2 1/3 stop above
So IRE 5 - is what the meter says
IRE 1 - 2 2/3 stops down

First sentence: thank'ee kindly.

First highlight: No, I.R.E. 5 is not a visual mid tone, because perception is logarithmic, not linear. This is why it is much easier to tell two very light tones apart than to tell two very dark tones apart.

Second highlight: I.R.E. scales cannot easily be equated to stops because they are linear, not logarithmic.

Third highlight: ISOs and EIs don't matter as much as how you meter and what you choose to meter. Use I.R.E. 1 (or any reliable shadow index) and you'll ALWAYS have adequate shadow detail at the right EI -- but the EI may be different from the optimum for an incident light reading. I normally find that with standard development I can use the full ISO speed if I use a spot meter properly, i.e. reading the shadows in landscapes (I.R.E. 1) or a cheek highlight in portraits (I.R.E. 3-4 depending on the skin tone, 3 for dark, 4 for light). but with incident metering I normally rate films at about half their true ISO in order to get full shadow detail.

The great thing about I.R.E. is that you're not reliant on the Zone System, which as compared with real sensitometry (which long antedates the Zone System) is needlessly overcomplicated in some areas and needlessly oversimplified in others.

The Minolta F doesn't have an IRE scale -- sorry, I'd forgotten, it's been years since I had one -- and I'm not sure what their "highlight" and "shadow" biases are, so for Caucasian skins start out giving maybe 2/3 stop more exposure than a cheek highlight reading with the mid-tone index would indicate. Take a reading from a really dark skin tone -- an old Sri Lankan friend comes to mind -- and you may need to give 1/3 stop less than the mid-tone indicates.

Quite honestly for portraiture I'd stick with incident: remember, the old name for incident reading is the "artificial highlight". I normally use spot meters only to ensure adequate detail in the shadows (use IRE 1 or in your case the Shadow Index) or to check overall brightness range. For landscapes, start out with the full ISO speed and drop it in 1/3 stop steps only if you find that the shadow index isn't giving you the shadow detail. If you have plenty of shadow detail, you can afford to increase the EI in 1/3 stop steps.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

How so roger? It's my understanding that if you meter shadows the meter will try to make the shadows middle grey overexposing highlights, likewise if you meter for highlights the meter will make them middle grey under exposing your scene.

I'm not talking about any sort of technique but what the meter is trying to tell you when you evaluate a scene. The meter is trying to make whatever it is pointed at 18% grey. It's up to the shooter to use that information to compensate and evaluate the scene from there.

No, it's not. To begin with, broad area meters are normally calibrated for for an average reflectance 13-14% grey, not 18%, and second, a spot meter is not a broad-area meter designed for average reflectance. It has two main uses and two subsidiary uses.

The first main use is to give adequate shadow detail with negative films. This is nothing to do with an 18% grey. It's the minimum amount of light needed to get any texture or detail on the film. For this you use IRE 1 or a shadow index.

The second main use is to avoid "blowing" highlights with transparency films: again, nothing to do with 18%. For this you use IRE 10 or a highlight index, but an incident light meter is easier and arguably better.

Subsidiary uses are "key tone" readings, e.g. ensuring that the cheek of the star in a movie always gets the same exposure, and stays the same from shot to shot, and measuring the overall subject brightness range for Zonies.

Again, none of this has anything whatsoever to do with 18% greys. In fact, almost nothing has anything to do with 18% greys. An 18% grey is a Munsell mid-tone, the tone that most people will tell you is a visual mid-tone when they are looking at a series of tones from the brightest white to the darkest black.

Most people who write about metering don't realize this, which is why so many spot meters have completely worthless mid-tone index marks: people who don't know enough about metering imagine that they are useful, even though they are not. In fact, they are a dangerous distraction and entail a lot of pointless fudging.

I used to believe all that stuff about 18% and mid-tones -- until I studied the subject. To my shame, some of my early books propagate these untruths. This is why I am quite passionate about dissuading others who swallow the sort of partially-understood metering information that is so widely propagated.

You might also care to look at http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps 18 per cent.html which is about 18% grey card; http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps subject brightness range.html which deals with subject brightness ranges; http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo neg.html about negative exposure; and http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps expo slide.html which deals with slide exposure (digital is similar).

Cheers,

R.

 

[BLKRCAT]

Thank you for the response Roger.

I'll have to read up on it. I've been taken by trying to understand the spot meter as much as possible. I find this stuff interesting and fascinating.

But not to disagree with you as I admittedly have more to learn on the inner workings of the spot meter, I have had no issues with my metering technique once getting a grasp of the zone system and wrapping my head around this flawed idea of what the meter sees.

For me the meter isn't the be all end all. I use it as a tool to help me estimate exposure rather than using it as a guide or crutch for exposure.

I'll read up on your links on my lunch break. Thank you.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Re: "A portrait with lots harsh light. How do you measure a face in such a situation?"

My simple answer is don't bother or find some shade. Harsh lighting is a good way of spoiling a portrait. Unless you want a harsh picture.

Harsh lighting is usually bright lighting, meaning closing down or a fast shutter speed and a wide aperture. Most of the time I'd go for the widest aperture available because I don't want a razor sharp portrait.

I doubt if this has helped but there you are...

Regards, David

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . For me the meter isn't the be all end all. I use it as a tool to help me estimate exposure rather than using it as a guide or crutch for exposure. . .

Absolutely! The big danger with any metering system is treating it as Gospel, without any interpretation. As I say in one of the links, ANY metering system can be made to work with a bit of intelligence and experience. And, it must be said, a lot of people who think they are being very precise are in fact being saved by the enormous inherent flexibility of neg/pos photography.

Personally I worry less and less about metering, because I now have something like 49 years' experience of measuring, guessing and fudging. My current credo with neg film is:

A little extra exposure does little harm with 35mm, next to none with roll film and none at all with LF, so always expose generously if you are in doubt.

Bracket if you feel the need: one at your best guess, and another at 2 stops over.

To avoid doubt, read the shadows directly, with IRE 1 or a personally established shadow index, to ensure adequate exposure (actually, this one is a "magic bullet").

For slide film or digital, use an incident meter or (with digi) simply rely on the histogram: a "digital Polaroid", only better than a real Polaroid.

If you want to understand as much as possible about exposure, then apart from buying Perfect Exposure ( http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photography/exposure.html ) you might also want to look at http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/over-under-indices.html which deals with the various indices on Weston meters. Even if you don't own a Weston, you can still learn a lot about basic metering theory from these indices.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Aurora]

That´s maybe the I.R.E. was giving me such a confusion.
As to me to give a light skin 4 (sounded like giving it 4 in a zone system).
I know I got around the idea of the zone system a few months back - so this is a bit chinese to me…

So yes, perhaps it´s not too off to give 1 stop more than what the spot meter says, now I will try 2/3. My incident meter is a bit strange sometimes I find, it´s one of these old analogue ones, but there are 2 levels and so often it shows the value 12 (not EV or anything) or seems to bascualte between them, I have used it and it is accurate, it just makes me unsure when it basculates between the two levels. Hard to explain if you don´t know what it looks like. I think I might want to get an Minolta Autometer IVF.

Spot meters can be handy when you have a kid or a person in front of you and you want to be the least intrusive, then again a camera is intrusive…

Talking about 1/3 steps, when you have a camera like a Leica, to do the 1/3 steps is fairly random, as you need to go by what you think is a third way to the next stop and you can only do it on the aperture, no?

I have read most of your modules…
Thanks for that, I have just got back to the darkroom and I have a film project that involves photography, so I need to get these things right somehow, with scanning I find that it´s easy to get a tone you like, especially with the plug-in Colorperfect.

David - most of the times, you want a portrait with smooth light, but sometimes a bit of drama can be quite nice.

Roger - I guess as I don´t have the I.R.E scale I can use this shadow button on the Minolta reader. I am pretty sure that is what it does - I point to the shadow click - it gives me a reading of for example EV 6.6 then I click the Shadow button it says EV 9.3.

I hardly take color or slide.

Again thanks for this.

 

[CMur12]

As I understand it, the shadow and highlight buttons on the Spotmeter F are supposed to be geared to the exposure latitude of slide/transparency/positive film.

In my own case, shooting slides, I have used a highlight reading and the highlight button on my Spotmeter F as my starting point for a normally exposed slide.

Now, I need to look into the I.R.E. system!

- Murray

 

[zilch0]

Bring home the bacon by bracketing.

Bring home the bacon by bracketing.

For landscapes, I routinely expose my 120 format chromes with a combination of diligent exposure determination and bracketing.

The cost of film and processing is nothing compared to the cost of travel and accommodations just to get to a location, scouting it, hauling the gear over hill and dale, etc. Bracketing brings home the bacon.

For high-contrast scenes, I use a Sekonic L-608's spot meter, selecting the proverbial highlight for which I want to retain texture and detail, but "exposing for the highlights" is seldom easy - especially in terms of selecting the highlight and placing it relative to Zone 5 - to fall within the dynamic range of the slide film you're using.

This annotated iPhone 5s capture illustrates a mid-day high-contrast scene that's relatively easy to spotmeter. It's almost a no-brainer to spotmeter the whitest area of granite that you wouldn't want to lose to pure white film base, with no detail.

When shooting Provia 100F, I would adjust the spotmeter's ISO setting to 25 (to place the metered area at Zone 7) and go with the shutter speed it recommends for the aperture I've decided to use. But then, despite a high level of confidence with a scene like this, I would still bracket with four additional exposures, 1/3 and 2/3-stop to either side, decreasing the shutter speed for the +1/3 and +2/3 exposures, so that the resulting aperture still delivers sufficient DoF. (I never bracket with an aperture that's larger than what's necessary for sufficient DoF, as previously determined.)

But where is the "highlight" in a scene like this?

More specifically, where is Zone 7 in this scene? Where should I aim my spotmeter?

If you make the mistake of spotmetering and placing the distant peak on Zone 7, you'll find yourself with an underexposed frame, and even a +1 bracket might fall short of ideal - never mind being thrifty and shooting only a couple of half-stop brackets. That wouldn't save you from such a mistake. Why? Because the brightest portion of that peak deserves to be placed at Zone 5 or maybe Zone 5.5, at most.

For a scene like this, in which no obvious Zone 7 subject exists, I am much more comfortable aiming my incident meter dome in the direction exactly opposite that which the camera is facing, holding it high overhead (to minimize the effect of any ground reflections), with the meter's ISO set to 100, then shooting as it advises, followed by the requisite 1/3 and 2/3-stop brackets to either side.

If I chose to spotmeter that grey peak, with the meter set to ISO 32 or 50, willfully placing it at Zone 5.5 or Zone 6, respectively, then again, bracketing with four additional exposures, the question would still remain: Just where do I want to place that "highlight" that's obviously not a "highlight?" In such situations of low confidence, I've found it best to just abandon reflected light metering and go with metering the light source itself - by using the incident meter - aiming it at the front of the camera, not at the source - then bracketing, of course.

And then we have the Sunny f/16 rule, which often haunts me in such situations, because it sometimes dictates a different exposure than my incident reading, but when it does, its mandate is almost always covered by one of my brackets. 😉 The problem with the "Sunny f/16" rule is that all it takes is some hazy skies to end up with what will be perceived as an overexposed frame, if you blindly follow the rule.

Low-contrast scenes are much easier to meter and they're the only scenes I shoot with Velvia 100. If the entire scene is in full shadow or under heavy overcast, I use the L-608's incident dome, again aiming it toward the front of the camera, and depending on just how "flat" the lighting is, I might only bracket 1/3-stop to either side.

It's worth mentioning that filter factors have to be applied in all situations where CC gels or warming filters are used. I always re-check their density at the time of shooting by incident metering with the L-608's dome retracted and aimed directly at the light source - with and without the filter. I then adjust the meter's ISO setting downward by the difference in EV.

Note: I didn't waste any film on either of the two scenes I've used to illustrate this post. 😀

As a bit of a bio - to emphasize why bracketing is so critical to my purely analog workflow: My 6x7cm chromes are the final product - mounted in a backlit handheld stereo (3D) viewer that uses large-diameter 78mm FL achromatic doublet lenses which offer 4.2x magnification with very little chromatic aberration. This provides an essentially grainless, backlit 3D virtual image having a diagonal of about 12 inches, at an apparent viewing distance of 12 inches, with a resolution approaching 8 lp/mm after magnification - the equivalent of 64 MP per eye (assuming detail can be extracted from a Provia 100F chrome at up 4000 dpi - many would say 6000 dpi is possible.) I use laser rangefinders to measure Near and Far distances within the subject space and to select targets on which to focus my Mamiya 7ii lenses at a distance calculated using an HP 48G+ programmable calculator. Aperture selection that optimizes defocus against diffraction for the measured distances, and the appropriate lens separation required to properly render the depth of the scene in my stereographs are also calculated. Everyone who sees my work is looking at the original, first-generation chromes. I don't scan them, dupe them, or print them. At most, the only post-exposure manipulation they receive is a +1 Push in E-6 processing. Correct exposure, color correction (with gel filters) and contrast control (with mild ND pre-exposure and/or use of continuously graduated ND filters - having no waistlines), all has to be achieved in-camera, at the time of exposure. I have no opportunity to modify my images after exposure and E-6 processing.

I cannot roll the dice. Bracketing is a must.

Mike

 

[Godfrey]

I have a Minolta F spot meter and a Gossen Luna Pro incident meter.
I am slightly confused. ...

This is how I've been thinking of and doing my exposure metering for the past 50 years:

Any meter, whether incident or spot, is calibrated to integrate whatever its sensor is exposed to and produce an exposure for 18% gray (Zone V). If you have a gray reference card to meter from with a spot meter (or any other reflected light meter) and put it in the light that your subject is illuminated by, and meter from it, you'll get the same reading that you get from an incident meter.

So the difference between using an incident meter and a spot meter is that with the incident meter you always get a Zone V reading for whatever light is falling on it whereas with a spot meter you get a Zone V reading for whatever reflection you pointed it at.

What this says is that with an incident meter, you can always reliably obtain a Zone V reading for light falling on the subject, whereas with a spot meter you can obtain a Zone V meter reading for whatever part of the subject you aim the sensor at. The spot meter is an easier to use analytic tool since you can meter different parts of the subject easily and compare the readings without having to be physically close to it, whereas with an incident meter you can more easily obtain an overall sense of how much light you have to work with but need to be close to the subject to obtain comparative readings of different parts of the subject.

With that in mind, use your eye to analyze the subject. What parts of the subject are about 18% gray? What parts of the subject are the highlights you want to retain detail in (not go to solid white)? What parts of the subject are shadow values that you might be willing to fall to black? Proper exposure places these three things in the dynamic rance of the recording medium. Once you become familiar with a given film and development, or a particular capture sensor and ISO setting, you get to know those dynamic range limits.*

You can use either a spot meter or an incident meter to learn dynamic range limits by metering and shooting a couple of test subjects, then looking at the exposure and analyzing the light recorded against the meter readings you used. As I said above, it's just a matter of how you obtain the readings that depends upon the meter type.

* Note that not all scenes have brightness values that fall within the dynamic range limits of the recording medium, which means there is no one exposure setting that will do the job correctly. This is when you have to decide what parts of the subject's dynamic range you're willing to lose, and where a spot meter is generally an easier tool to use since you can analyze the subject against your mental model of the dynamic range.​

So, using a spot meter, if you know that a skin tone is 1.5 stops brighter than 18% gray, and that's the important subject of your photo, you can take a spot reading of the skin and add 1.5 stops more exposure to what it reads—that will place it in the tonal scale where you want it, letting everything else fall where it ought to go within the recording medium's dynamic range. Similar for metering shadows, in the other direction: if you meter something you know should be about Zone 3, subtract two stops from the meter reading to place it properly in the tonal scale.

Using an incident reading, you'd be getting the 18% gray tones right on the money without any calculation, and the other tones will fall where they ought to in the recording medium's dynamic range.

enjoy, G

I have a Minolta F spot meter and a Gossen Luna Pro incident meter.
I am slightly confused.

Let´s´take a couple of scenarios.

I am in a landscape. It´s sunny with lots of shadows. Some shades I don´t care for, but some I do. So if I have the possibility to creep under or in the shade I could take an incident reading and have 2 -3 stops less. That would give adequate texture for the shadows, placing it on Zone III or II.
With the spot meter I could spot read the shade - which would make that Zone V (this is the bit I am confused about), then I do the same, it makes that zone V so I need to close down 2-3 stops. I could also have it on a different ISO, first finding out what EI that film is.
On the Minolta spot meter there is an S button, for shadow. Could I just click on that one - spot metering in the shade and it would give me the correct reading? It seems like that from my understanding of the meter.
Doing the same for the highlights, calculate the SBR which is high EV minus low EV plus 5, no? Then I decide on what development it needs.

Now I´m in the landscape again, it´s snowy, cloudy and quite miserable.
I find the Shadow and highlight. Or in such a case, it´s quite safe to do an incident reading? As the brightness range is not going to be that huge. Of course if I want it to have more contrast I would need to calculate the SBR and give N+ dev. Although sometimes I like the photographs to look a bit "eastern european"…

A portrait in soft light, no harsh shadows- I could take an incident reading and leave it like that.
I also (and this is quite handy often) take a spot meter of the face. If the person is not snow white - I open up one stop, no?
I know it´s better to take a spot meter reading of the whole frame and decide the shadow in comparison to the face and highlights.
Sometimes there is no time for that, so it´s handy with a spot meter reading of the face. Another way is to take an incident reading.

A portrait with lots harsh light. How do you measure a face in such a situation?
Thanks in advance

 

[Larry Cloetta]

As a bit of a bio - to emphasize why bracketing is so critical to my purely analog workflow: My 6x7cm chromes are the final product - mounted in a backlit handheld stereo (3D) viewer that uses large-diameter 78mm FL achromatic doublet lenses which offer 4.2x magnification with very little chromatic aberration. This provides an essentially grainless, backlit 3D virtual image having a diagonal of about 12 inches, at an apparent viewing distance of 12 inches, with a resolution approaching 8 lp/mm after magnification - the equivalent of 64 MP per eye (assuming detail can be extracted from a Provia 100F chrome at up 4000 dpi - many would say 6000 dpi is possible.) I use laser rangefinders to measure Near and Far distances within the subject space and to select targets on which to focus my Mamiya 7ii lenses at a distance calculated using an HP 48G+ programmable calculator. Aperture selection that optimizes defocus against diffraction for the measured distances, and the appropriate lens separation required to properly render the depth of the scene in my stereographs are also calculated.

Mike

Well, I've learned something new today. Could you give some more details on the viewer? I've been happy cropping my 6x7 chromed to fit into 6x6 mounts and project, but this sounds even more time intensive and arcane, so has immediate appeal to my unbalanced mind.

 

[airfrogusmc]

I think this has been already touched on but with the zone system, B&W sheet film, and I am being very basic here, I would first use a spot meter to determine the contrast of a scene. Then I would meter to see where i wanted to place my exposure (and I usually based that on shadows and how much detail I needed in those shadows). Zone II very little detail, zone III and even zone IV. I would then base my exposure on that reading and control my highlights through my development times. Example: If I wanted my shadow to be at zone III, I would stop down two stops from what the meter read in that shadow area that I wanted to be zoneIII.. Zone III being two stop darker than zone V. After 50% of the development time, the shadows are for the most developed. You then control your highlights by your development times. (Really have to do the test to get it 100% right) N=normal development determined by the tests. N+1 increase the highlight by 1 zone. N+ II by two. (adds contrast to a flat scene to make it full range). N-1 pulls back the highlights by 1 zone. N-2 two zones so now you can keep highlights from blowing out.

You can use the basics with color, especially transparencies and digital to determine what you are going to possibly loose and make a decision on whether those values are important to you visual statement.

I hope this made some sense....

Allen

This is the one I always preferred because you can see the contrast range right on the dial.
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/pentax/pentax_spotmeter_v/pentax_spotmeter_v.htm

 

[wakarimasen]

Interesting reading folks. This is an area which has really tripped me up when trying to use my lightmeter-less Leicas, and I welcome the post from the OP.
I've struggled with the following:

1. using a small light meter (Sekonic L208) and checking my estimations by shooting a digital camera 'manually'
2. estimating using the sunny 16 rule
   

In cases of the former, I usually try to meter a scene (reflectively) and then compare this with an incident reading. In most cases I get different results, which has led to confusion. In the case of the latter, I've guessed a scene and then compared by using a digital camera - in some AE mode. Again, I usually miss the target.

I think I need Rogers' book! Roger - is it still in print, or only available second-hand?