Compact digital camera for metering with 500C/M?

[arthur_nagui_leclerc]

<p>Hi I bought a Hasselblad 500CM a few months ago and I love it, but it did empty my wallet so when it came to metering I thought I'd get my old Canon Aceshooter A620 set it in M mode, set the ISO accordingly and tweak the shutter speed and aperture values until the image on the screen looks right. The results I got looked pretty good most of the time but I do think they could be better. <br /> Until now I've used only 400 ISO film however I'm going on a trip soon and will carry the following:<br /> KODAK PORTRA 400, KODAK EKTAR 100, ILFORD HP5 400 and ILFORD DELTA 100.<br /> What can I do to better the accuracy of the metering? Should I rate my film at half box speed? I had a bit of hard time finding much info on the subject so any advice would be great!</p>

[fred_haeseker]

 

 

<p >If I just bought a Hasselblad my wallet would be empty too. In your place I'd be looking for a second-hand light meter, now not hard to find and cheap unless you go for a top-of-the-line model. Example, for $20:<br>

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Toshiba-Linear-Light-Meter-SKU1576-/221722895561?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item339fb6e4c9<br>

I'm not suggesting you buy from the auction site -- classified ads on photo forums for instance are a more dependable source. If you're lucky and there's still an old-fashioned camera store nearby, it will have some light meters, and you can do a quick test: on a sunny day, with the meter set at ISO 400, it should read around 1/500 at around f/11-16; at ISO 100, around 1/125 also at around f/11-16.<br>

No two meters will read exactly alike, but if in good shape they should be close. I've found meters like the Toshiba on the auction site (if working right) perfectly adequate, especially with negative film. Make sure the meters take batteries that are still available. Some take mercury batteries, which are now banned.</p>

 

 

[philip_dygeus2]

<p>You could also consider the wind-on knob with built-in meter. A friend uses that for his 500CM and gets good results. </p>

<p>I also use my iPhone with the iZoner app. A very under-rated metering app imho.</p>

<p>br<br>

Philip</p>

[mike_earussi1]

<p>My first suggestion would be to get your leaf shutter speeds checked (each speed for each lens). In this age of electronic precision many don't realize that the marked speed on <em>mechanical</em> shutters can vary widely, sometimes by up to one stop, especially if they are old and haven't been CLA'd recently. The most accurate meter in the world won't help you if you're just assuming that your shutter speeds are accurate without checking first. </p>

[arthur_nagui_leclerc]

<p>Hi I know the shutter speeds are accurate, I made sure of that before buying the camera, what I think I'll do is go out one day when it's sunny and compare the results of my compact with the sunny 16 rule and work out the differences and what I should do to tweak the camera and get better results since I really can't buy anything right now. I think in the long run I'll buy a Sekonic twinmate or something like that though.</p>

<p>Edit: my compact camera is a Canon Powershot for some reason I always thought it was Aceshooter... My bad!</p>

 

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>Been there, done that. A digital camera sets about the same exposure as you would use for reversal film, giving priority to keeping highlights from overexposing. I prefer a denser negative, about one stop more exposure than indicated by the digital camera. With negative film, including B&W, you expose for shadow detail and let highlights take care of themselves.</p>

<p>It's a lot easier to use a light meter, but even so how you use it is based on experience rather than the users guide book. Using a spot meter, I will measure shaded areas (or my hand tilted to be out of direct sunlight) to make sure there is enough registered on the film to print details in those areas. Using an incident light meter, I make sure direct sunlight doesn't strike the dome. An underexposed color negative is thin and grainy. Cutting the ISO rating in half for an average (not spot) is roughly the same thing. Remember how you decided on the exposure, and try to repeat things that work for you.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

I used an old Olympus C-3040Z digital camera as

the light meter for my meterless MF cameras:

Rollei and Yashica TLRs, Agfa Isolette folder. I

actually preferred it to my Pentax spot meter. It

let me preview and spot distractions that I might

have overlooked before committing to film.

 

 

Besides smart averaging, it also offered multi

spot readings. The only hindrance was the ISO

topped out at 400, but I rarely used anything

other than 100 and 400 films so it didn't matter.

 

With newer digital cameras be sure to disable

features that compensate for exposure errors.

Olympus, Nikon, Ricoh and others all offer in

camera JPEG processing that can compensate for at

least a full stop over or under exposure.