What is your Light Metering Routine with Meterless Leicas?

[will-i_am]

I will get a meter in the future but i'm in no real rush as i'm doing pretty fine without one right now but i would like one for lower light tricky scenes less forgiving films etc

 

[Rayt]

The little chart with the stickman pictures that comes with each box of film is pretty accurate at least for b/w and print film.

 

[Tom A]

I carry a small Gossen Digisix for "checking" and also for those times when I use - to me - "non standard film" speeds.
Nice story here: My current Digisix started to show signs of indecision - flickering between 2-3 stops and giving inaccurate temperature reading of the inside of my jacket pocket! At Photokina I went to the Gossen booth and showed the meter to a technician. He called over two more techs and in true german fashion they proclaimed it "faulty" - as well as old (it was a 2004 version). Some discussion between them and they then handed me a brand new Digisix in the box at no charge!!!!
Class act in my estimation - and now I know the correct temperature in my pocket once again - as well as the correct f-stop for difficult light.
The old meter had been clipped on to my vest for 6 year, been rained on, sat on, dropped etc so I am now confident in getting my 100/125 and 6 iso films correctly exposed for the next 6 years. The 400 iso I still do in my head.

 

[chrismoret]

Using a Kenko lightmeter with my M4p. Switching between incident or reflective as needed.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I carry a small Gossen Digisix for "checking" and also for those times when I use - to me - "non standard film" speeds.
Nice story here: My current Digisix started to show signs of indecision - flickering between 2-3 stops and giving inaccurate temperature reading of the inside of my jacket pocket! At Photokina I went to the Gossen booth and showed the meter to a technician. He called over two more techs and in true german fashion they proclaimed it "faulty" - as well as old (it was a 2004 version). Some discussion between them and they then handed me a brand new Digisix in the box at no charge!!!!
Class act in my estimation - and now I know the correct temperature in my pocket once again - as well as the correct f-stop for difficult light.
The old meter had been clipped on to my vest for 6 year, been rained on, sat on, dropped etc so I am now confident in getting my 100/125 and 6 iso films correctly exposed for the next 6 years. The 400 iso I still do in my head.

Nice Gossen guys!

I've been thinking of getting a digisix: I still use the first meter (and the only one) I bought, but it's big, so it's a love/hate relation: a typical vertical digital spot/flash Sekonic, and I've been waiting for its end for long, but as it's maybe 15 years old now and yet it insists in keeping working well, I'll have to say, as my best excuse, that my shots are a lot different now (no studio flash, no spot...) and I really need a small one for street and everyday... With the Sekonic I feel like carrying another camera!

Cheers,

Juan

 

[Jake Mongey]

When im shooting meter less, I usually shoot iso 400 where I can just calculate my exposure in my head with consistent results.

However there is a meter on my canon 7 which i then take a reading for shadows and highlights and adjust accordingly. Sometimes i carry a little sekonic meter with me and use the same method

 

[stompyq]

I always have my Ricoh GR. Makes a very good handheld meter with instant preview for checking. I don't believe in Sunny 16. Film is not cheap

 

[mdarnton]

My meter got broken in a car wreck in 1973, and I never bothered to replace it. Well, I did, but with a flash meter. Strobes are the only time I use a meter now, and less and less of that, as I get more experience with the ones I have now. If I'm using a camera with a meter, which is about 25% of the time, I just let it do its thing.

Often people who haven't learned to do without one say no one can do without, but like every other thing in the world, the more you do, the better you get, and if you don't practice, you get nowhere. Metering by eye is not given at birth.

 

[narsuitus]

So what is your light metering routine with meterless Leicas (M2-M4)?

I no longer have a meterless Leica. However, I based my vote on my small, medium, and large format cameras that either do not have a built-in light meter or do not have a working built-in light meter.

When shooting landscapes, I use a compact digital as a light meter for my meterless 6x9cm Fuji rangefinder.

When shooting 4x5 and 8x10 black & white film, I use a hand held meter to measure incident and/or reflective light levels.

When shooting with my Nikon F2 cameras with meterless viewfinders or my Pentax Spotmatics with non-working built-in meters, I use the Sunny 16 Guideline and/or a hand held light meter to determine correct exposures.

When shooting any of my meterless cameras with electronic flash, I use a flash meter and/or the flash guideline number to determine correct exposures.


Light Meters by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[kiemchacsu]

I used to guess exposure and indeed the outputs were pretty well.

However since I got the Minolta Autometer IVf, I don't want to guess anymore. Needless to say that I get consistent exposure since then.

Another advantage of using the meter is I can shoot with non-standard ISO i.e. 320, 640 or 1250.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oltimer]

Not only do I meter every shot; I use the tripod too. Never like going back for seconds.

 

[richard_l]

To those that usually meter and then shoot the rest of the roll so long the light has not changed; do you use an incident, reflective or spot meter?

For convenience, I usually find a reflective reading to be good enough, although I may modify the reading for tricky situations.

 

[Rangefinder 35]

When I was in Patagonia last year I metered every shot with incident Minolta III. Because I used polarizers on my cameras (M6, Zeiss Ikon), I had to calculate settings in my head a bit. Shootinfg transparency, I lost quite a few frames due to exposure being way off. Ever since then I use built-in metering.

 

[wayben]

I use a Gossen Pilot for a starter and adjust as necessary depending on the scene.

 

[presspass]

All systems. With a long lens on a meterless Nikon, it's a spot meter. For most outdoor shots with a wider lense, Sunny 16 and 45 years' experience. In a hurry and not sure of the light - incident. There's always a small Sekonic incident meter in the bag, even if the cameras have built-in meters. With black and white negatives, if in doubt, go with the incident.

 

[barnwulf]

I usually photo under strong lighting conditions and I use a small Gossen Digisix and take a incident light reading and continue as long as the light doesn't change. In some more complicated lighting conditions I will meter the lightest and darkest places with a direct meter and set my camera accordingly. Sometimes I meter on something that is white and open up 2 stops to shoot. - jim

 

[SolaresLarrave]

The last time I traveled with my meterless cameras, I just metered an average lit scene (reflected light) and went on from it pretty much all the time while the light didn't change (meaning, drastic change, like going from faint to strong shadows). Always, when in doubt, I pull out my trustworthy Sekonic L-86.

I would have never believed it's so much fun... except when shooting slides. Then, I meter every shot.

 

[Uncle Fester]

All systems. With a long lens on a meterless Nikon, it's a spot meter. For most outdoor shots with a wider lense, Sunny 16 and 45 years' experience. In a hurry and not sure of the light - incident. There's always a small Sekonic incident meter in the bag, even if the cameras have built-in meters. With black and white negatives, if in doubt, go with the incident.

I have found that the incident meter works best for me in most situations. It took me years to figure out why me exposures were all over the place when using the built in meter in my SLR. When I finally tried incident metering in a photography class, I was amazed at how little I needed to change my camera settings as long as the light didn't change. Before the end of the semester, I bought a Sekonic L-398 and started getting many more well exposed negs. This, in turn, allowed me to concentrate more on my subject instead of worrying about exposure every time I released the shutter.
.

 

[skucera]

I mostly use reflective light meters. In fact, after buying an old Leica-Meter MC last autumn (that still works accurately), I find myself using my dad's old Gossen Luna Pro a lot less. However, that was my "go to" meter for decades, after he gave it to me in the Nineties. He bought it new in the Sixties, and stopped using it when his cameras got internal light meters. However, it has a sliding opalizing globe for use as an incident light meter, and I use that quite a lot on nearby objects, like flowers or sculptural subjects.

Actually, I like using the Light Meter app on my iPhone, but it takes two hands so it's not quite a convenient as the Luna Pro. However, for most subjects, I rely on the Leica-Meter MC... it's just super convenient.

Scott

 

[mcfingon]

I found with film the only way to be certain of an exposure was to use a spot meter. I bought, and still have, a 1988 Minolta Spotmeter F. I regard Roger's words of 2010 as being spot-on if you'll forgive the pun.
"For neg film, exposure is keyed to the shadows, and the shadows only. The only reason to read the highlights as well is to see whether you need to vary the development time. For transparency, the exposure is keyed to the highlights, and the highlights only, so you might as well take an incident reading.

Cheers,

R."