Spotmeter for street photography

[Todd.Hanz]

There should be no guilt about using a Hassy... even on RFF! [😛 to all who disagree.]

no disagreements here, use what works for you (this coming from a guy who regularly hauls a rolleiflex, 'blad, or even an old folding iskra out on the street)

back to metering, you can meter a couple times and soon realize the light won't be more than a couple of stops different, I'll set my apeture and change the shutter accordingly. For me, when I go out I'm not shooting "fine art" so I leave the zone system at home 🙂, when you see the overexposed stuff that passes for "street" nowdays, I wonder if we should meter at all 😕

Todd

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

F8, 125th, 400 ISO film ...

then up 1 or 2 stops for really really sunny
down 1 or 2 stops for cloudy or shade

no meter necessary 🙂

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

oh, that's for b/w film, DON'T try that with slide film 😉

 

[Jamie123]

I"d have to second Back Alley on this, even in relatively "safe" cities, given the general paranoia these days, walking around with a gun shaped object, no matter how innocent, no matter that you are also carrying a camera or two, could invite trouble.

Well I think we shouldn't get carried away here. Although the spotmeter has to be held like a gun it doesn't really look like one. More like one of those old 16mm (or is it 8?) cameras but much smaller.

But like I said, I usually don't point it towards people (unless I'm doing a posed portrait shot).
Having said that, I still don't think in Switzerland it's that big of a problem. I'm not saying that it's that safe here but people are less aware of guns.

Guns aren't that popular here even though everyone that was in the army (which is mandatory for men) is required by law to have an assault rifle at home....but that's a whole other story! 🙂


I love my spotmeter and I got it for only $50 from the guy who also sold me the Hassy but for street work it's just not the ideal tool. I'm very happy that I found the Weston Master. I knew I had it somewhere but I always figured it wasn't working properly. Luckily I was wrong.


@Brian: There may not have to be guilt about using a Hasselblad but here comes the real blasphemy....I don't even own a rangefinder.

Now don't throw stones at me! I'm saving up to buy one. Besides, my cousin has an M6 which she has no idea what to do with (she inherited it from her late father) that I can borrow. Haven't had the chance to use it for quite a while because her ex-boyfriend still has it. 🙁

 

[mc_vancouver]

Vancouver doesn't have that many guns (at least in the hands of people who might actually be responsible users of guns...can't say how many are with gang members, Hells Angels, etc). I was sort of joking, but I would find using a spot meter, which takes time, just too cumbersome for street work. I had a Pentax digital and rarely used it, thus "had", except for film work. I guess where I'm coming from as far as street photography goes is fast, unobtrusive, and mostly by instinct. Hey, besides having assault rifles in the kitchen, don't you also have jet fighters inside mountains and bridges that can be taken out of service oh so fast, and so on?