Sekonic L358 and D3 metering question

[shineofleo]

<p>I was always confused by the reflection mode in L358, although I have searched around. According to the manual, I put the lumi-grid on the L358, and want to do some light metering for a, for example, a landscape photo, which is a object at infinity.</p>

<p>ISO at 200, L358 reads F8 and 1/500, and D3 reads F8 and 1/250, with a AFS 50mm/F1.4 lens(I tried all of the three metering modes, same).</p>

<p>So, I can understand a separate light meter works different from the one with in camera, there may be some compensation. However, I want to use this meter with my 120 camera which has no metering. So how can I apply the settings to the film camera? Should I make some compensation as well?</p>

<p>In fact for flash photography, with a lumi-sphere on the L358, I have no problem with that, because the D3 will be in M anyway. But for a landscape and 120 camera, I am seriously confused.</p>

<p>I've heard that different light meter has its own 'personality', which means you know your equipment, you know when to tweak the settings based on a meter. However, if the meter is not that clever, why bother to provide such a product always asking for special 'tweaking' by human?</p>

<p>Please give some advice, thanks!</p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>Unless you buy the spot metering attachment for that Sekonic, you have to understand that it's seeing a much wider scene than is your D3 with that 50mm lens. How do you have the camera's metering set up? Matrix? Spot? The camera is relying on its understanding of the scene, including its software's guess about what it is that the reflected light is bouncing off of, whether or not it's back lit, and hundreds of other variables. I'm not at all surprised if the two approaches give you a stop different in the way of results.</p>

[shineofleo]

<p>So If I want to take a picture with another 120 film camera, can I safely use the setting from Sekonic?</p>

<p>It seems that a spot metering attachment is essential for landscape photography.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"So If I want to take a picture with another 120 film camera, can I safely use the setting from Sekonic?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yes. Start with incident metering. It's simpler, more foolproof and reliable. I've owned and used incident and spot meters for years with my meterless medium format and other cameras. I probably use incident metering more than 90% of the time. Spot metering only occasionally offers significant advantages in most natural light situations.</p>

<p>To check the meter to be sure it's calibrated reasonably well, compare incident readings in daylight against the usual Sunny 16 guideline. Full sunlight is typically EV 15. Set the meter to ISO 100. The reading should be around 1/125th second at f/16.</p>

<blockquote><p>"It seems that a spot metering attachment is essential for landscape photography."</blockquote><br>

Not necessarily. Spot metering is integral to the Zone System and generally presumes the use of sheet film, with each sheet exposed a particular way for a specific type of development. ZS can be adapted to roll film use but it's a kludge.</p>

<p>If the scene you're photographing is in the same light in which you're standing, incident metering will do fine. Spot metering is primarily useful when the scene you're photographing is in a different light than where you're standing. For example, if you're standing on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in bright sunlight and photographing the North Rim which is under a thunderstorm, spot metering may be more useful. (And I've seen exactly that scenario at the Grand Canyon - it was spectacular.)</p>

<p>Best way to learn? Run some tests for yourself. Compare results from your D3 using the camera's TTL metering against the Sekonic in incident and reflected metering modes. Repeat with a roll of film.</p>

<p>A couple of online guides:<br>

<a href="http://www.fredparker.com/">Fred Parker</a>'s <a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm">Ultimate Exposure Computer</a> - helps to grasp the concepts of light and how it relates to film/sensor speed (ISO), shutter speed and aperture.<br>

<a href="http://spotmetering.com/">Spot Metering guide</a>. A little single-minded for my tastes, asserts that spot-metering is the best way for almost all circumstances, but the basics are good.</p>

[ArthurRichardson]

<p>I haven't used a light meter off camera for years, but to answer your question, why not bracket some frames including the values from the D3 and the Sekonic and see the results, like Lex suggests.</p>

<p>I believe that Matt has a valid point in stating that the angle of view will influence the incoming light in a big way.</p>

[john_tran14]

<blockquote>

<p>So If I want to take a picture with another 120 film camera, can I safely use the setting from Sekonic?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Sure, it's not going to blow up and kill you on site. It depends on how safe you mean by safe. As Lex said, your meter should be reasonably calibrated. But don't forget that your camera should be reasonably calibrated (or compensated for) also (even if your camera is a Kodak Hawkeye Brownie or a Mamiya 6)</p>

[shineofleo]

<p>Thank you very, very much. There is so much for me to learn and I will definitely do some experiments to make them clear to my brain.</p>

<p>Another reason I am asking is, for L358. Since it doesn't include a spot metering viewfinder by default, unlike L758, so I am wondering if 358 is capable of doing landscape for 120. Obviously as long as the user knows what and how to do with it, this light meter should be good enough.</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>When you use a light meter, it assumes that whatever you are measuring has a reflectance of 18% (sometimes 13%), which corresponds to the convention of "neutral", and recommends an exposure which will achieve a certain density on film or level in digital. Theoretically, a reading taken with a spot or averaging reflectance meter against a grey card should agree with an incident reading pointing toward the camera from the subject. For matrix or center-weighted measurements, the grey card must fill the entire viewfinder. In practice, the readings may differ by 1/2 stop or so.</p>

<p>Objects in nature which come close to 18% reflectance include clear blue sky, green grass and red barns. The palm of the (Caucasian) hand is about 36%, or one stop high. Tree foliage is about one stop low. These are all cues you can use for landscapes, especially with a spot meter.</p>

<p>You can use the D3 as a manual meter by placing it in manual mode and watching the slide-rule scale in the viewfinder as you adjust the shutter speed and aperture. The divisions are in 1/3rd stop increments. If you carry both cameras anyway, why not use it in lieu of an incident meter? Make sure the ISO and field of view are the same as for your 120 camera.</p>

<p>Matrix metering is special because it uses the results from many sensing points and applies "fuzzy logic" derived from the patterns it detects and the distance of the main subject and the experience of many photographers. I can say from experience that the D3 is very, very good in this respect - better than any previous cameras I've used, including the classic F5. It's not perfect, and you must learn the exceptions and set your own priorities. For consistency and accuracy, I usually use an incident meter for group photos and portraits, especially with flash. My meter is a Sekonic L-508. There's nothing "average" in these scenes, unless you have someone hold a grey card, and small changes in posture or composition make a big changes in the average reflectance.</p>