How and what do you use a digital camera as a light meter for taking film shoot?
I notice that some LF photographers are using digital camera instead of a traditional light meter. The image took by digital camera could be used as a preview so that the exposure of the film by using the reading of the digital camera is always or closed to correct.
Do you have any inputs?
Ross
Ross, I have an “input” which may be not exactly on subject.
Two reasons exist for using LF. One is the technical quality only a large negative can render.
The other reason is the pure joy of working with simple equipment and a simple medium in an age of gross technical overkill.
LF landscape photography is largely a matter of capturing the sunlight (which is nearly the same brilliance in the same general geographic area every day) onto a sheet of film inside a leather bag through a simple lens.
As a novice assistant, I was amazed to discover my employer/photographer never bothered with a light meter. He could look at the sky and know the exposure. After years of developing negatives he had shot in sunlight, he had discovered that the sun is just about the same size and distance away every day. And if it’s overcast, open up a few stops. It’s not that tricky.
I have found commercial studios to also exhibit this phenomenon. The last place I worked, given the Broncolor flash units provided and the style of lighting currently in vogue with all clients, every shot was finally exposed at f/32, within a third stop, regardless of what we did in building the set.
Working indoors with color transparency under available light can indeed be tricky. But outdoors under sunlight, exposure is not such a deep mystery to warrant high-tech intervention.
Expose a few hundred sheets. Develop and attempt to print them yourself (without switching materials). Take a few notes and keep your eyes open. What time of day is it? What day of the year, relative to summer/winter solstice and vernal/autumnal equinox? What are the clouds doing? Any haze, smog, fog?
You will soon learn how to instinctively expose b&w film outdoors without gadgets and electronic crutches.
No different from sinking a putt nor shooting a basket. Tiger Woods doesn’t carry a digital laser tape measure.
In my most humble opinion, it is just wrong to use a separate camera to make exposure readings. If one learns how to use a handheld meter he will eventually liberate himself from the automation of ignorance.
I had to smile one day when working with a documentary photographer who takes a hundred times more frames than I do. (He uses MF) He took readings from his 1-degree spot meter and said, "Yep, haven't lost my mind yet." He had already set the camera properly by habit. Meter reading for him is just a ritual sanity check.
Tiger Woods doesn’t carry a digital laser tape measure.
No, but his caddy has a little book with all the yardages in it. But your point is still valid :-)
Ross, I'm using Gossen StarLite spotmeter for both studio and field metering, but since his bettery died on one summer day few hours away from the nearest shop I'm caring one really small and old cds Gossen light meter (from my father's equipment - date should be somewhere about '50s or '60s last century) and if possible my Olympus E1. That day I used sunny 16 rule for the first time and I have got fair results. Not the best, but acceptable. Same is with metering from Olympus. Good, not the best. Can be used if StarLite dies again. And I have say that this Olympus is much more precise (i.e. closer to my StarLite) than my previous dSLR which was Nikon D1.
Not a suggestion, but just a funny story: good and older friend of mine, long time professional fashion photographer happend to be with some photo freshmens on beer, they have talked about choosing lightmeters, spot or not, combined with flash meters or not, etc, etc... (He is one of those who buy a good, not most expensive camera, who buy the best lens(es) but not much of them, and he use that equipment as long as glass is still in barrel and aperture/shutter blades have no rust) Suddenly, he grabed his notebook (I knew that there were his notes of my exposures form day before when he was assisting me on one of my trips) and he showed *that* to the young public - here is my lightmeter... (what???) I'w borrowed the best lightmeter from shop just for the test, metered light around the whole city, and I give it back almost intact. Now I know exactly how much of light is on some of our corners. The group were quietly and slowly shaking heads with some tough thoughts in those "baloons", as he later descibed them. I have never met some of those again... (Don't know if someone is in the busines right now.)
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