Sunny f16 vs. Light meter

[pedro.m.reis]

Hi.
I have an old Weston Master V that i use now and then...
Yesterday i came across an odd thing:
It was a bright day, sunny. It was midday and i wanted to take a picture with my Zorki 4. So, using an 400 ASA
film i did 1/500 f16. Ok. But i did had the meter with me, so i tested it. The setting of the meter was 1/900 f16. So, is the meter "broken" ? or this maybe an acceptable result?

 

[rami]

it's only 1 EV ( 1-stop) difference - good BW negative should handle it. But don't try this with chromes :>

BTW: Sunny16 only evaluates exposure, with gray subjects on mind. If you try shot something white in the sun you should compensate... or use lightmeter 🙂 but again - BW films forgives mistakes of that kind - maybe tonality isn't the best, but usually printable. I belive, that lightmeter is much more important indoors, with artificial light - in that scenario sometimes it is very hard to evaluate exposure...

best regards, rami

 

[FPjohn]

incident

incident

Hello:

Sunny 16 generally agrees with my incident light readings . When it does'nt I believe the DigiSix.

yours
Frank

 

[VinceC]

In many cases, Sunny 16 can be more accurate than a hand-held or in-camera meter. If you're using a reflected meter instead of an incident meter, you have to evaluate the subject and adjust the exposure accordingly. Sunny 16 in sunlight is just always sunny 16. A reflected meter will show the correct exposure of a white wall as being something like 1/2000 at F/16 when, in fact, the correct exposure for any wall in the sunlight, be it black, white or gray, is 1/500 at F/16 using ISO 400 film. If it's negative film, you might want to open another stop for shadow detail.

 

[VinceC]

Also, if it's a very bright scene with lots of reflected light -- such as at the beach or around white buildings or lots of light-colored concrete, the sunny 16 rule says you should shoot at sunny-22, which is what the Weston meter showed.

 

[oftheherd]

Without knowing what you were shooting at it is difficult to say. As has already been mentioned, a reflected meter, since it assumes about 18% gray, may give more or less light than would be correct for a particular scene's reflectance. That is one reason many prefer an incident meter.

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Well, i was in the shadow metering a scene on the open. No reflected lights or anything ....

 

[rami]

maybe just try to compare your meter with other lightmeters, even those on your canons? :>

 

[pvdhaar]

Well, i was in the shadow metering a scene on the open. No reflected lights or anything ....

I think what is meant is that you've measured the light coming from the open area, which the meter assumes to be reflected light. This is in contrast to an ambient reading using an inverdome (somewhat translucent white dish) over the meter.