Light meter vs Camera meter

I was trying out my friends light meter the other day, we were trying

to shoot rowers at the lake slightly after sunrise, there was a nice

mist over the waters and lots of swans (cranes?). My camera meter (EOS

3), average metering, said f22 @ 1/125 but a hand held light meter in

reflective mode said f22 @ 1/6. Its a sektonic light meter. I was

using a 75-300 lens with a polarizer on it. My gut feeling is the

camera was correct coz it factors in the zoom, ISO (100 in my case)

and light cut by the polarizer, but am I wrong? Clearly the light

meter was way off compared to the camera meter.

you should dial in your iso on the handheld metre...zooming doesn't cut off

light...polariser will take off 1.5~2 stops...off of what were you metering anyway?

My light meter was dialed in at 100 iso, I was far away form the rower (100ft) I was metering the rower, including the water and some sky.

Using a telephoto or a zoom lens, does reduce the viewing angle of the meter, If you use a

long enough lens it acts like a spot meter.Camera meters are very good at reading a

scene,

and giving the right exposure. Matrix metering gives extra attention to different parts of

the scene ,depending on which program you are using. A hand held meter has a fixed

angle of view ,which does not take into consideration which lens you are using. I use a

hand meter as well , but with the photo you described , I would go with the camera

reading

It looks like something is wonky with your camera. The sunny 16 rule for ISO 100 film would have you exposing at f22 @ 1/60 in full sunlight. Knock off 2 stops for a polarizer would put you at f22 @ 1/15. Knock off another 2-3 stops for reduced light shortly after sunrise would have you at f22 @ 1/2 - 1/4. The hand-held meter appears to be closer to the correct exposure. The ISO setting for the hand-held meter should be set to about 25-40 to allow for the polarizer.

Manoj;

 

I have 2 Sekonic meters, and depending on mode they can meter as small as 1 degree coverage. One has a zoom mode as well.

 

Therefore, you might have been metering a much smaller selective area with the Sekonic than with the averaging meter in the camera itself.

 

Consider the Sekonic to be a spot meter and then imagine the scene. You might have picked up a bright spot on the water and metered on that.

 

Just a thought based on my experience with my meters.

 

Ron Mowrey

You were probably metering 2 different fields of view, or the sekonic was pointed at something dark, like the water. The polarizer would cut 2 stops or so, that doesn't explain the difference at all... Most people who use hand-held meters use incident mode, and compare the results against an in-camera meter reading of a grey card. Or you could be precise and check both meters against a grey card at the same time in the same light.

In my experience if two or more light meters agree they are conspiring against you. Be wary.

I prefer incident readings whenever possible. Outdoor shots like you were making could be metered by an incident reading made at camera position because you were no doubt in the same light as your subject.