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Thread: Choice of meter/metering method for landscape/scenic work

  1. #21

    Join Date
    Mar 1999
    Posts
    769

    Choice of meter/metering method for landscape/scenic work

    Not to pour oil on troubled waters but....

    All types of meters (incident, reflected) are perfectly capable of giving decent results when used with some thought. The incident meter can be used for zone system work, though most zone system folks seem to prefer a dedicated spot meter (see Phil Davies BTZS for details on how to use the incident meter for zone work). At the end of the day, metering is fraught with fudge factors. Not the least of which is the arbitrary way we previsualize to place some area on a particular zone, very much a function of our visualization. Other fudges include what the meter is calibrated to (could be anywhere from 9 to 12% grey), the spectral sensitivites of the meter and film may not match (though the Zone VI is supposed to tackle this to some extent). At the end of the day, the most important thing is ergonomics i.e., how intuitive and quickly does the meter let you work. In other words, a good meter should fade into the background and not interfere with your visualization process. Only you can determine which meter does this best for you.

    Specifics: I would second the suggestion of a combined incident/reflected meter becuase there will be times you will want the reflected capability to meter a source of light (which can be done with an incident meter but is a bit of a kludge). Anyway, most decent incident meters should be capable of being used as a wide field reflected meter (most incident meters basicaly entail replacing the lens of a wide field meter with a grey plastic dome that lets in 18% of the light). The better ones will provide accessories to simulate some degree of spot metering or come with a fibre optic probe you can use to take readings off the ground glass (which can be nice because it again simulates a spot reading and takes bellows extension into account - you have to calibrate and block the back of the ground glass to prevent light entering from behind and inflating the readings). A dedicated spot meter can be a nice instrument to have as well. If you need an incident reading, take a reading off a grey card. The point is that either meter will give you the information you need. I would try to get my hands on both to see which one seems to fade into the background. Don't downplay this aspect. In my opinion, the Sekonic suffers from an almost fatal flaw since you can't see the reading in the viewfinder - this is mitigated by the memory functions. In my opinion, the Adorama's or Soligors are eminently worth considering. Flare may be a bit worse but you can try to minimize it with appropriate technique. As for the analog versus digital, I'm inclined to lean towards digital for spotmeters. The balance wheel in the analogs is a little delicate in my opinion but then I'm a bit of an oaf..... Good luck. DJ

  2. #22

    Choice of meter/metering method for landscape/scenic work

    So many helpful people! Thanks for all the comments.

    While this was going on I managed to successfully bid on a used Pentax Spotmeter (analog, not digital) that has supposedly never been used. I got it for a little over half of what it costs new, so I'm going to start there for now. Thanks again for all the advice.

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