To meter or not to meter

[ant_nio_marques]

This may be off topic here or not.

How do you go on about photographing?

 

Do you use the camera's meter?

 

Do you use a handheld meter? A phone app?

 

Do you use your intuition?

 

Do you do average or spot metering?

 

Do you do it mostly always the same way or does it depend on the circumstance?

[Mike Gammill]

<p>You will likely get lots of different answers to these questions. For me, metering is important if the light is tricky. Sunlight, cloudy, bright interiors I can get by without a meter. You might want to look at some older threads here to see what other members are using. I've used "sunny 16" exposure enough that I can usually tell if the battery in my light meter is weak. Sunny 16, basically means you take 1 over the film ISO and set lens to f16 for sunny bright conditions and take it from there. For example, an ISO 125 like Ilford FP4+, you would set shutter to 1/125 second and lens at f16 for sunny bright. For hazy sun you might back off to f11. Takes a little practice but it's worth it. For example, if the battery is low in my camera and the meter recommends 1/30 at f4, then I know the battery must be low or there is a problem with the light meter. So for me, this technique allows a good estimation for exposure for my meterless cameras and has taught me not to blindly follow the meter readings all the time.<br>

Lots more that I could add, but I will let other members share.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>For anything but slide film, the exposure latitude is great enough that 'Sunny-16' serves me very well. I usually carry a Gossen Luna Pro SBC if the lighting conditions are variable.</p>

<p>For "modern film cameras" the built-in meters either work fine or not at all. What you do in the latter case depends on the manual capabilities of the specific camera.</p>

<p> </p>

[john_robison3]

<p>There are cameras with meters?!!</p>

<p>When did this happen?</p>

[SCL]

<p>Lots of my work is in b&W with older rangefinder bodies, and unless the lighting is quite unusual or I'm having a bad day, I generally use "Sunny 16" guidelines. If I'm working in color with these bodies, I use an incident meter. When I'm using a camera, like my DSLRs, with built in metering, I use the camera's metering, if I am thoroughly familiar with exactly how the camera meters (the pattern, weighting, etc) and apply compensation based on reflectance of the object being metered.</p>

[Rick Helmke]

<p>Sunny 16 works well especially with a little practice. Still, if I have a meter onboard I'll use it. I also usually know when something is throwing it off though. I find I can use the meter in an F2 or F4 very effectively but I also know when conditions are giving me a wrong reading.I rarely us a hndheld unless I'm metering for flash.</p>

<p>Rick H.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Nevermind...</p>

[vrankin]

<p>I loaded some Ektar 100 in the Kodak Retinette last week, and used the old tab from a film box with the "Sunny f/16" suggestions for settings. The negatives were exposed in everything from bright direct sun to open shade, and <em>all</em> looked very good. I saw more exposure latitude than I'm now accustomed to, with my admittedly older digital cameras. It caused me to see my digital metering and post processing in a different light. Trying "Sunny f/16" manual settings probably wouldn't have turned out as well with my digital cameras.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>I do have afterall a camera with a meter (DSLR) and sometimes I use it for a meter for my other cameras. That and a Pilot and Luna Pro complete my collection of meters. </p>

[dhbebb]

<p>If I am shooting handheld with a 35mm or digital camera with matrix metering, I go with this - it's at least as smart as I am 98% of the time and faster. Metering with a built-in meter and the camera on a tripod is fast way to go completely insane, particularly with spot metering - built-in spot metering is more likely to confuse than elucidate, spot metering in general is of questionable value you unless you understand at least the basics of the Zone System. In all these cases I use a separate handheld meter. I've met many people who claimed to be able to judge correct exposure without a meter, the results ranged from mediocre to appalling. Incident measurement is my preferred mode, with a correction for predominantly light or dark subjects, spot is great for things like sunsets or anything with a small but extremely bright highlight (set the camera to 2 to 3 stops more than the meter reading).</p>

[jean_yves_mead]

Do you use the camera's meter? Yes.

 

Do you use a handheld meter? Yes. A phone app? No.

 

Do you use your intuition? Yes.

 

Do you do average or spot metering? Either, depending on circumstances.

 

Do you do it mostly always the same way or does it depend on the circumstance? Depends on

circumstances.

[Jochen_S]

<p>When I carry a meterless camera with me, I add my Gossen either a Lunapro or if I might end using flash Variosix. I meter first and compose later (if it isn't too dark). On simple subjects I'll meter average or incident and when things are supposed to get nasty (concerts or such) I'll pick the spot metering add on and point it at a face.<br>

My meterless MF & RFs taught me the advantages of a decent handheld meter. - I might even use one when carrying manual SLRs instead of wasting everybody's smiling power & patience while I aim at them to set shutter speed & aperture. I think a planning phase with just a meter in my hand helps.<br>

I don't have or want a smart phone. They are lacking the handy neck straps meters come with and seem less intuitive to use, not to mention their built in cameras making folks lazy which seems no good for image quality. </p>

[AlanKlein]

I use a hand held meter when shooting my medium

format camera that has no meter or a built in

meter when shooting cameras that have them.

 

 

Sunny 16 rule mainly works in mid day with

negative film that has more exposure latitude then chromes. If you are shooting chromes at any time of the day or negative film before 10 am or after 2pm, you'll get

more consistent results using a meter.

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"...does it depend on the circumstance?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>This.<br>

<br>

With ISO 100-400 films in my 35mm compact rangefinders I don't worry much about accurate metering. I can guesstimate pretty well, and the built in meters work well enough. The main difference between how I shoot now and how I shot 10 or so years ago is that now I avoid underexposure. I used to push process a lot but the underexposed film needs to be developed promptly to salvage the underexposed latent image. So now I expose normally or generously, since I may not develop for months.<br>

<br>

With my meterless medium format cameras I'll meter more carefully. Sometimes I'll tote a Minolta Autometer IIIF and on rare occasions the Pentax Spotmeter IV. Mostly I use my digital camera for metering and apply the settings to the film camera. Works fine. If I had to choose one, the incident meter would suit me. I'm hanging onto the spot meter in case I ever get back into large format film, although any good camera with built-in spotmeter would work just fine.<br>

<br>

If I'm shooting outdoors in typical daylight conditions the light doesn't change that much. I note the conditions in full sun and again in shade and adjust to suit. Other than that, I don't fret over metering every frame. I'll meter every half hour at midday and every 15 minutes earlier or later in the day, until sunset when the light changes much more quickly - metering every minute is appropriate.</p>

[CoryAmmerman]

<p>If I'm using a camera that has a working light meter, then I'll use the meter. If I'm using one that has no working meter, it usually depends on my mood. If I'm just out for a casual stroll, I'll use Sunny 16 with the iPhone light meter app as a backup. If I'm feeling more serious, I'll take my handheld Gossen.</p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>The easy answer is all of the above! I have a few with built in meters, and those without I will use my Gossen Starsix or Luna Pro. If I forget my meters I just use sunny 16 which I have become quite good at.<br>

Also just bought one of those Voigtlander VC meters that slide onto the hotshoe. These are very accurate and look like they belong there, kind of like the Leica MR meters.<br>

It is amazing what you can get away with on B&W film, especially the older emulsions like Tri-X and FP4.</p>

[peter_korzaan]

<p>Yep all above... and when needed hand held meter, a classic to go with all the CMC's, a Weston Ranger 9... usually incident.</p>

[User_502260]

<p>I recently added some meters to my colllection: a Lunisix 3, a Luna Pro, a Luna Pro SBC and a Super Pilot SBC. Last weekend I used a Sixtar (non-US Super Pilot) to shoot with a Konica FP with a 52/1.4. I now have one meter prism for my Bronica GS-1s and one meter prism for my Mamiya M645 (first series) cameras. </p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>"Yes" to all, with the exception of the phone app. Enough is enough when it comes to gadgets!</p>

[q.g._de_bakker]

I think that whenever possible to meter, there is no reason not to. We can guess, use rules of thumb. But if that worked as good as meters do, we wouldn't have meters. But they are not just put into even the latest and most advanced cameras because it could be done.<br>And films can be forgiving. But that means the latitude (or rather: wide palette) they offer is used up to compensate for errors we make and could have avoided. We could make better use of that forgiving nature of film. So why not meter?<br>But it is of course not always necessary to meter for every single exposure.

[Matthew Currie]

<p>I usually use the meter provided, having tried in most instances to check, compensate or calibrate it as needed and possible.<br>

<br />Most of these meters are averaging or center weighted averaging, and I trust them most of the time, overriding them when needed. If you spend a lot of time with something, such as Nikon Phtomic FTn's, it is pretty easy to figure out what is needed. I haven't done slides with the old F for a while, but when I did, I got it pretty well most of the time. </p>

<p>If it's a metered Minolta, or a Nikon F3, chances are it's making a better guess than I am unless the conditions are unusual. </p>

<p>When there's no meter at all, I usually take a starting point reading with some averaging hand held meter, a favorite being the Gossen Pilot II which is reasonably accurate. That's a very wide acceptance averaging meter, so it's only a starting point, but over the years and with varying ISO films I have lost some of my ability to guess the starting-point offset from sunny 16. Back in the dreamtime, when I was shooting an averaging Nikon Photomic and always using Plus X, the meter was hardly necessary, but I seem to be getting older and lazier. </p>

[AlanKlein]

<p>Even with Portra negative film, although you have a wide latitude where you can get decent prints, the colors are different from one stop to the next. If you need accurate colors or consistency in colors among similar pictures, metering is important.</p>

[dan_fromm2]

<p>Do you use the camera's meter? The cameras I use these days don't have meters.</p>

<p>Do you use a handheld meter? Yes. A phone app? No. After years of resistance I finally got a cell phone. Dumb phone, no apps.</p>

<p>Do you use your intuition? A meter is more accurate and much more consistent than my intuition. But then, I shoot reversal film. Reversal film punishes bad exposure severely.</p>

<p>Do you do average or spot metering? Average, and incident where possible, reflected when that's all I can do. When I care a lot about exposing accurately for the main subject and am willing to lose the rest of the frame I'll use my LunaPro's narrow angle (5 degrees, hardly spot) attachment.</p>

<p>What is the point of asking these silly questions? Class project?</p>

[ant_nio_marques]

<p>I've usually trusted camera meters, not always to my content. Now that I have a couple of cameras without, I'll have to learn what to do. I find it especially interesting that even the most seasoned don't trust their intuition implicitly. While averaging also seems to have more currency than I suspected.<br>

Thank you all for sharing your technique.</p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>All of them except the phone app. Of course not all at the same time. <br>

If the camera has a good meter I generally would use it. Camera with meter that requires mercury cell I would not use it. <br>

I do use handheld meter but either in spot or incident and never average. No phone app as I don't even have a smart phone.<br>

I use my knowledge when the camera doesn't have a meter or requires mercury battery for the meter or inaccurate meter. Yes I do check all my camera meter against the meters I trust. <br>

Almost never average as most camera built in meter are center weighted or spot or matrix. <br>

Of course I don't do things the same way for every shot.</p>