Those with meterless rangefinders: how do you set your exposure?

Those with meterless rangefinders: how do you set your exposure?

  • I spot meter everything. Usually twice.

    Votes: 34 3.7%

  • I use a handheld incident meter with every shot.

    Votes: 135 14.7%

  • I only meter when I think the light has changed.

    Votes: 390 42.4%

  • I use the sunny 16 rule almost exclusively.

    Votes: 211 22.9%

  • I use an EV chart.

    Votes: 43 4.7%

  • I have been shooting long enough that it is intuitive for me.

    Votes: 107 11.6%
  • Total voters
    920
Oculus Sinister said:
I usually use the sunny 16 rule and it's combinations but I still bring a lightmeter along as a crutch 🙂
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You betcha! And (in my case at least) more than that: I'm fine with judging changes in light, as long as they're not too drastic, but I'm really not good when they are drastic and especially not good at moving between indoors and outdoors. So the light meter is used to establish a new "base" reading whenever the light changes enough that I doubt myself. Experience has shown that I am right to doubt.

...Mike
 
For the longest time, I think I had an aversion to meterless cameras, and tended to go with the technological flow until I had all the automatic bells n' whistles. Took a big step backwards, so to speak, getting the Hexars with only one auto mode plus manual metering, then went out and got a used Sekonic L-428, which was chunkier than the smaller L-398, but (1) could meter in truly dim light, and (2) offered the option for a spot attachment if and when needed...somewhat more cumbersome than later models, but I couldn't get any of those for the fifty bucks the L-428 cost me.

That meter has sen only sporadic use by me up till now. But I have a meterless camera now (Leica M2), so the Sekonic comes with me more often, but hardly used to meter every shot, just when I think the light has changed more than I might be able to accurately calculate 'twixt the ears.

One somewhat-funny project I'm working on: recording and compiling light levels inside various subway cars. (Example: those new R143 cars are bright...somewhere between EV 10 and 11, although I'll want to take another reading to make sure.) Stay tuned. 🙂


- Barrett
 
I just got a new Gossen Digisix and calibrated it with/to the Contax G2 which - for 400 ISO film - has always given me perfect exposed film when set to 320 ISO.

Oddly enough, the equivalent Digisix exposure reading was/is at 200 ISO. Odd, very odd, but two of the same 400 ISO rolls through my dead meter TLR came out perfectly .. with the lightmeter set to 200.

Why would a Gossen light meter be miscalibrated 1 stop over right off the shelf, out of the box?
 
uhligfd said:
I just got a new Gossen Digisix and calibrated it with/to the Contax G2 which - for 400 ISO film - has always given me perfect exposed film when set to 320 ISO.

Oddly enough, the equivalent Digisix exposure reading was/is at 200 ISO. Odd, very odd, but two of the same 400 ISO rolls through my dead meter TLR came out perfectly .. with the lightmeter set to 200.

Why would a Gossen light meter be miscalibrated 1 stop over right off the shelf, out of the box?
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You sure it's not you liking your pics 1 stop overexposed ?
 
kuzano said:
I find this little selenium cell Sekonic (no model name) quite handy. It has a shoe clip on the bottom, but I usually use the neck strap and drop it in my shirt pocket. As you can see it's quite small.

It's old, but it's obviously spent most of it's life with the door on the front closed AND in it's little leather case, because the cell is quite active and accurate.

My other option for more range of exposure is a Gossen Luna Pro digital.

I am just comfortable enough with Sunny 16 to corroborate those rules with these (or other accurate) meters. Mostly reflective, sometimes incident.
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I have been thinking a tiny, modern spot meter/incident version of that thing that you could fit in your pocket, slip on a hotshoe or on your watch band would be great for RF outings.

I usually take my sekonic which is bulky in my pocket. I did the whole guess thing on an outing a while ago, turns out I was mostly within 1/3 a stop, but i am lazy, I dont want the extra fiddle any slight exposure variation causes me in post. I am super careful to take a colour balance and get within 1/5th stop accuracy with digital, and I find with scanned negs, a similar degree of accuracy saves a lot of stuffing around in post also. when I was doing wet prints only I wanted to be able to take an exposure for printing off the base fog and print a whole roll on grade two and have a "correct" looking set of proofs. Saves a step for each and every print you do.
 
Even if the exposure is off on a negative I can get a print that looks reasonable the first time using a meter. I meter off something known in the negative (skin tone, for example) and voila I know a decent exposure.
 
For slide film:


For direct sun I take an incident reading (if I can access the light my subject's in, if not spot).
If there's skin, I open one stop: part of it to open skin as in fashion photography, and part of it because of the warming filter I use always.
If there's no skin, I open half a stop, keep the reading, or close half a stop depending on what I want to do with specific colors.
If it's an overcast day or in the shades, I give the film a bit more exposure, or push.


For print film:


Incident and overexpose 1 ½ - 2 stops. (Warming and to avoid muddy grain). Or reading and a push2.


For black and white:


Incident always. I've been making my own exposure charts for years... In general I expose film to the amount of light it needs to have clear shades. That means for some photographers that I overexpose. From the scene's contrast I decide if that's the case, or then I expose less and develop more for flat days.


For example I rate Tri-X at 50 on sunlight and at 200 on shade, always with a deep yellow filter. I've written data carefully for the last years and completed my chart for only Rodinal use. It's been a lot of fun. When I use Efke 25 on sunlight wanting clear shades, I develop it in 1:50 Rodinal for 4 minutes with just 1 gentle inversion by the half of it, and rate it at... ISO 1.5 ! My Sekonic only meters until ISO 3, so I open one more stop from my reading. I started then to memorize the usual f stop every film gives me with 1/250, which is the mechanical back up speed on my Nikon FE2. I know with Efke 25 I can shoot at f/1.4 on direct sun using 1/250. Then I decide of course depending on the depth of field I want.


Cheers,


Juan
 
I shoot b/w most of time. For outdoor or indoor places I know the light condition well, I don't bother with light meter.

When I enter a place or light condition changes, I adjust exposure setting on camera then, and won't touch it when I actually aim and shoot.

When I think metering is more important than the ultimate speed, I use a small analog meter, which I carry only when I planned to use.

When I'm on the go without a meter but need metering, I use this iPhone App called "LightMeter." This works only on iPhone 3GS (assuming new AF/selective AE is needed), but works pretty well. This app is not a sunny16 rule memo, but actually uses exposure output from the camera.
 
The majority of my photography is street-shooting, essentially all taken on 100 ISO colour slide film with older cameras that mostly top out at 1/1000th.
When I first get to the location, I either take an incident reading with my handheld meter, or if it's a standard bright, sunny day, use 5.6 @1/1000th as a starting point, or f8 if there is a highly reflective surface like a concrete sidewalk bouncing light up at the subject .
Open shade is 5.6 @ 1/125th or 2.8 @ 1/500th for portraits. For interiors, the handheld meter is always used as I first walk inside.
By being careful to change the settings immediately as the light changes, I usually don't get caught flat-footed when an interesting scene suddenly develops.
 
coelacanth said:
When I'm on the go without a meter but need metering, I use this iPhone App called "LightMeter." This works only on iPhone 3GS (assuming new AF/selective AE is needed), but works pretty well. This app is not a sunny16 rule memo, but actually uses exposure output from the camera.
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Wow, this is cool! 🙂 Maybe time for me to change my 10 year old mobile? How does this app work? Is it reliable?
 
I gotta say it's working well. Basically you are taking a picture within the app using iPhone camera interface. You can confirm the shot so it's quite foolproof. The app gets exposure info from the camera and set aperture, shutterspeed, and ISO based on the priority you set.

I usually set shutter speed to be the one gets calculated so I can move the f stop or (or ISO if you are shooting digital or multiple cameras) after the metering and and ss moves accordingly.

You can also change stop increments to be 1, 1/2, 1/3 stops, add filter factor and fine tune the metering to your liking.

I sent some feedback asking for larger "meter" button and the developper just implemented that in the last update.

The app is not perfect, but definitely handy. I'm now spoiled.
 
Switching back to film after seven years digital, I first metered everything (with a Weston Master III my son presented me), but when I noticed that I was guessing correctly everytime, I stopped metering. Old habits never die! It's like learning to swim, you don't forget it!
 
When I shoot with my vitessa I use the sunny 16 rule almost exclusively so to practice with light; for me a meterless camera is the best (and funniest) way to learn how to "read" the light.
ciao
N.
 
I chose EV chart.
I mostly use sunny f/16 if the situation is outdoors but when the lighting situation get really tricky, I go for the chart which I put in my ipod touch rather than printed 🙂

I was able to borrow a handheld lightmeter once and my shots were exposed the way I wanted them too and it just eases things up but when I realized the price... darn, I can't afford one yet 🙁 perhaps in the future but it's still good to rely on my instincts, it's more fun anyways/
 
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