Newb as in LF newb. If I'm shooting with any of my digital cameras I don't have a problem nailing exposure. Modern camera metering kicks butt. I shoot manual all of the time with the digital boxes. However, I recently (like yesterday and today) shot 10 rounds (my reloading life is leaking through) of Fujiroid B&W through my Linhof MT and getting the right exposure was not a walk in the park. Granted... the first 4 were eyeball (literally) and bracketed in. All of them were shot in bad light (4 stops on average). One was shot with the dark slide in That might have been the best of the lot come to think of it But... I used my Sekonics meter in spot metering mode. I chose f22 and the meter range was 1/125s on the sky to 1/2s on the barn. The barn was probably 85% or more of the exposure. I didn't expect to see the sky and barn both properly exposed. I also used my 1DsMK3 as a meter (70 - 200 lens @ 70mm gave me about the same image) and it told me 1/8s should work. To bring this to the point. Both 1/8s and definitely 1/2s were over exposed. I shot the very last sheet @ 1/30s and I probably could have stopped down 1/3 to 2/3 and been closer. Again- the sky was a loss no matter what I did if I wanted the barn to be right. If it hadn't been cloudy and high noon-ish I probably would had less exposure latitude to deal with. Once I was out of film I put the Sekonics in reflected light mode and starting at the barn, I walked away and measured exposure until I got 1/30s @ f22. As I expected, I was about 15' away from the barn toward the camera before I got to 1/30s @ f22 (ISO 100). I'm at a loss for how to meter a landscape image. I can't fire off a pack of fujiroid for testing purposes every time I want to shoot something. I need a way to home in on a good exposure setting for a given metering value.
^^ all of the above is leading up to the real question. Assuming that I'm not dealing with more exposure difference than film (or any sensor for that matter) can handle, what is the best way to meter a landscape image? Generally speaking. I realize there are a ton of unseen and site dependent factors in this question but there has to be some kind of starting point.
I had forgotten how much more there was to photography when shooting film... cool...
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