response questions to "essentials"

[theorist]

Responses to my questions have been extremely helpful, and I really

appreciate them. In repsonse to a few of the "essentials" comments,

if I were to get a light meter (I have a Minolta X-700, so do I need

one?), which should I get? I want some small and very useful. I do

mostly B&W (not sure if this matters), but some color as well.

 

Also, several people mentioned taping ill-fitting filters to the

lens. Is this recommended over using a step-up/down ring?

 

THANKS!

[Brian]

The guys who talked about taping filters on to lenses using duct tape must be talking about disaster recovery scenarios. If you are kitting yourself out for a field trip, a stepping ring to adapt a filter from one thread to another is definitely the way to go. Even better is having the right size filter.

[alex_lofquist]

You can tape a filter in an emergency, but don't use duct tape as it can leave a residue from the adhesive. I would suggest getting a small roll of Gaffer's tape. This is used by lighting personel (gaffers) on sets to tie back wiring, masks, and anything else which needs temporary tying down. If you can't find it at a camera store, check out a local portrait studio. I would bet that they can spare a few inches.

 

Alex

[stephen hazelton]

On the metering question, "If you don't know what it's for, you don't need it." The small cheap light meters are for people that don't have light meters built into their cameras. Some people use spotmeters (expensive) or lightmeters for flash (expensive) or color balance( expensive), but if you don't know if you need one...you probably don't.

[lee_brand]

I would say that you dont need a lightmeter because:

 

The one in the X700 is very good anyway.

It is yet another thing to carry, loose and break down!

You are not going to learn much about how your camera meters.

Your exposure for B&W does not have to be very accurate anyway :-)

 

Why you may need a meter - maybe a spotmeter because your X700 cannot do this, but if you get to know the camera then you will be able to predict when it is going to get it wrong and you will be able to compensate up or down.

 

You may want to get a FLASH METER one day - these are almost indespensable when using multiple flashes and bounce!

[sknowles]

As said, the X-700's light meter is an excellent one, a 2+ decade old design of the center-weighted system with newer light cells and the system to support full-program mode with TTL (mult-)flash synchronization. A separate light meter is useful for adding information, but you can also use the EV-control with the x-700 to cover the extreme light conditions.

 

If the light meter fails in the X-700, the only mode you can use is manual mode, so a light meter would be useful. I don't expect my X-700's to fail, but I also carry and use a Sekonic 308b (non-flash) light meter, which has a 5-degree spot meter and reads both incident and reflective light.