What? no meter?

[John Berry]

Ground glass as a meter? John, explain please...

When I told him I forgot my meter he told me how to do it. Works good outside, not so ood in low light. While looking thru the ground glass, stop down the apature till the detail just goes away in the darkest part you want detail in. That will be the apature. test will tell you what your shutter speed will be. When shooting Supper-XX @ 50ASA ( that's what it was then,not ISO ) on a bright day I was usually around F16-18. N- is more the normal in the contrast of the NW. My choice was usually the shade in an evergreen tree. We have a few here in Washington. Whatever your choice, be consistant. For my test the shutter speed was 1/25. Good enough for chrome. Try it, you might just leave the meter in the car. I will say though that I didn't wear glasses then and they didn't have photogrey then either. YMMV

[Stephan.in.Belgium]

I shoot 4x5" negs without metering in the daytime, usually without much problem. Indoors or in low light I meter though, I havent got the hang of that yet. But f-16 @ ISO speed works great most of the time for me:



F16 at 1/125 on kodak 160NC, wista 45D with schneider apo-symmar 150mm

[Marcus Carlsson]

OT
Stephan: Lovely image. I really like that you see only a part of the other person.

[Don Wallace]

Although I shoot LF, I used to shoot 35mm, with TTL metering, for "tourist" photos. I got a MF camera with no meter a few years ago and used it extensively for the first time on vacation in NYC. The weather was bright and sunny and my hand held meter showed that the light was very consistent: one exposure for in the sun, one for in the shade, and one for deep shade. I left it in the hotel room after that and all of my reversal came out fine. Now I wonder about all those years of farting around with the TTL meter to get everything perfect. Oh well, it probably made me look like a serious photographer.

[scott_6029]

I've done it in a pinch...sunny 16 with variations based on lighting conditions. But, then again, I need all the help I can get and a meter isn't that much more to carry when you are using a 7 x 17 camera

[ageorge]

How is this important? Who cares? If you want to go make a fire with sticks and stones, knock yourself out. But it is definitely nothing to be impressed about, especially when matches are readily available. Seems kinda dim witted from my way of thinking.

[Joe Smigiel]

What's a meter?

Pretty useless for wetplate...

and I certainly don't want any lit matches around either.

joe

[Stephan.in.Belgium]

OT
Stephan: Lovely image. I really like that you see only a part of the other person.

Thanks, man. I really dig that too but most people seem not to

[David A. Goldfarb]

Even if you have a meter, having an approximate idea of the exposure is useful for interpreting what the meter is telling you. Looking at the meter without thinking about the light is as likely to result in exposure problems as not using meter at all.