Meter by Eye

Do many advanced photographers meter 'by eye' instead of using a light meter?

 

Also, I'm a photo student working with a Busch 4 by 5 field camera & the only

meter I have is from a pentax SLR, who's fstop range is 3.5-22 and the field

camera's is f/5.6-45 would it be realistic to use the pentax, and just

calculate the exposure if it calls for over f/22....or should i just get a light

meter?

 

thanks

 

Rosemary

Ay some point you'll want to get a seperate light meter, probably one that lets you take incident readings. That's reading the light falling ON the subject rather than te light reflected OFF of the subject. In the meantime your Pentax SLR should work fine, and makes for a good spot meter too.

In the past, a lot more pros used to meter by eye. Nowadays, light meters are reliable and inexpensive. It's important that you learn to understand how different meters work and what they can do for you, only then can you choose the right meter and use it properly.

Usually I will set the shutter speed and f-stop before raising the camera to my eye... I'm

usually within a half stop. It helps to use the same ASA film for a while... But that's with

35mm. I doubt I would do the same with a 4x5, so I agree with Al and Oskar above.

For 135 work I almost invariably guess/estimate the exposure from experience and knowledge. Using B+W film, you can get away it and it is much more liberating and faster to work that way. If I have the time, then I meter properly but that's rare since none of my 135 cameras I use have a light meter. For 4x5 I use a Pentax Digi Spot but you can use your pentax camera and adjust as you suggested. Depending on your subject, you should probably buy a light meter one day. For landscape a spot meter is best. For portraits and studio type settings an incident meter will probably be easier to use. You could get one of those fancy all in one jobs from Sekonic and the like but I find them way to complex to use and I don't need the features.

i have a light meter with a digital display of the Light Value. additionally there is a small scale to turn so that the light value on the scale aligns with a fixed line on a window. you can then read off the exposure time for each f-stop. i never bother with aligning. i have memorized that LV 11 equals 1/60th second at f/5,6 and if actual LV is 8, then I adjust three stops (either f/stop or shutter speed or both) and if the light value is something else i adjust whatever is required. alas, if i were you, i would continue using the pentax as a light meter, at least for the time being.

I'd get a meter unless I was going to carry the slr with me always and even then I'd think about it hard. I like using a meter I can slip into a pocket to assess a scene - or changes in a scene- fast and conveniently without setting up another camera or even putting the bag down. I use my hand-held in preference to the in-camera metering on both my medium format systems.

 

One thing in the slr's favour though is that it might have a good evaluative/matrix capability that makes getting an "about right" exposure easier than using a hand-held and interpreting the results from Incident, spot, or wide-angle reflective readings. So you need to think about how much effort you're prepared to put into metering . If you want to use real spot (one degree) or incident techniqies then you're going to need a hand-held.

 

I'm sure that with B&W you could make the Pentax work- the main thing is to use a method that is sufficiently convenient and allows you to use the metering technique you want.

Guessing exposures can work sometimes and I#m quite baffled how well when I see results from meterless inexpensive consumer cameras on color neg film.

 

OTOH metering and right exposure save you from lots of hassle in the darkroom.

 

I rather carry only some meter with me to look which film and lens speed I'd like to bring the next time than rely on my exposure guessing skills.

 

I even believe that I benefitted from transfering my handheld meter's reading to the DSLR once in a while. when I shot it side by side with some film bodies.

 

Anyhow, when I use my more old fashioned meters which demand transfering a reading to a scale I 'm sometimes too lazy to do that and just figure out the changes, so if you don't need to dig into your cell phones sub menu to reach a caculator for figuring out a shutter speed suiting f45, you should get along with your Pentax, if it has a lens of constant aperture.

 

A decent all in one read: spot, indicent flash and continous meter should be worth the investment, so if you have money to burn get it. Digging yourself at least half into Ansel Adams' zone system might be a good idea too.

 

About the fancy Sekonics: I don't have one. I use Gossen, but unfortunately I love the old Lunapro more than the Variosix F, so I hardly ever have flash metering at hand and the Profispot attachment isn't only bulky but also hard to read, if you are going for a multiple spot contrast range reading, so a Sekonic might be cheaper and way more compact than the stuff I have.

Many experienced photographers use the "Sunny 16 Rule" with negative film, less so with slide film due to its lower tolerance for error. I also use it periodically with telephoto lenses on my DSLR when the metering doesn't couple and I haven't brought along my handheld meter. It never hurts to have a good meter, particularly one which can take incident as well as reflected light readings. If you haven't already done ao, lay your hands on a copy of Ansel Adams' "The Negative". It will give you a unique perspective on exposure issues.

For landscape shots, I often skip the meter. There's only about 4-5 steps between a sunny day and a sunset, so with experience one can guesstimate those scenes accurately.

 

Indoors, I'd use a meter.

 

For times when I don't have a meter, or can't meter (a neon sign, a school play), I use a spreadsheet from this site:

 

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

 

Seriously, metering accurately by day isn't difficult. On a 3-week vacation in July of this year down Route 66, I dropped my meter on about the second day out. Shot about 40 rolls of film with old manual film cameras, and exposure was correct about 98% of the time.

 

If you're starting out - I'd reccomend a meter. But it's like a crutch, and if you want to you can eventually walk without it.

Using the Eyeball Mk I is fun and it does teach you a lot. But, I think that doing so without a good meter is kind of like taking a course in a language you don`t understand: it complicates things and you never know what you just learned. I have used a good SLR as a meter for both LF and MF cameras, and yes, it will work, and yes you will even get the odd intersting shot "while metering", especially if there is a human being involved... but in the end, you will want the freedom of a dedicated light meter, in my case especially a spot meter. I find it to be the perfect tool for the way my brain understands exposure.

"

For times when I don't have a meter, or can't meter (a neon sign, a school play), I use a spreadsheet from this site:

 

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

"

 

Here's a rearrangement of that information, suitable for printing and moutning on a 3x5 index cards. Fits nicely in a shirt pocket, unlike the version at the Fred Parker site.

 

http://aiusa.com/loesljrg/misc/exposuretable.pdf

Rosemary,

Fred Picker described a very good method of working without a light meter in his newsletters. Set up the camera on tripod on the brightest day you are liable to see in your area. Set the aperture on your lens to f22. Then expose a series of negatives starting with your fastest shutter speed and working down. Develop and print these.

(Print for minimum time for maximum black, at described in Fred Picker's book, the Zone VI Workshop. These books are readily available at online used book dealers at reasonable cost.) The print which looks right will tell you the correct "key day" exposure. From that point, double the exposure for sloudy bright days, and another double for cloudy dull days. Even when one has a meter, it is a good practice.

 

I routinely set the exposure before looking at my meter. I often expose the negative first as well.

 

Ken

Every so often I load some slide film in an old camera with no meter and just shoot it as I see it. I feel closer to the image when there're fewer controls consider and my exposures are generally good.

 

This took practice mind you, but not so much as you might think. You learn to gauge tonal differences in shadows, and that makes you a better photographer even when you do have all the whiz-bang electronics at your fingertips.

Hi Rosemary,

 

Use a good quality meter that will record flash and continuous light, incident and reflected readings, hopefully in the latter a spot meter.

 

I teach BEC (also called the "Sunny 16" or the "Sweet 16" of Photography) as well as certain Fairly normal exposures such as commercial interiors in ASA/ISO 400, at f 2.8-f 4.0 at 1/30th. The purpose is to check up on the meter to be sure that it is accurate because a bad battery will give wildly incorrect readings and you should know this.

 

I'm a grad. of Brooks and 2 other prominent shcools of photography, teaching part time since 1965, and full time since 1990. Photographer for money since 1947.

 

Lynn")

When I worked in film production I knew a couple of DOPs who could eyeball a scene and tell you exactly what the exposure was. They got this skill after many decades of lighting.