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Thread: 35mm SLR as an exposure meter

  1. #1

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    Hi Everyone,

    As a newcomer to Large Format, I was wondering if there's anything fundamentally 'wrong' in using my trusty Canon T90 in 'spot' meter mode to determine the expo sure for a LF camera.

  2. #2

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    No, there is nothing at all wrong with this practice. Many people use this method, although I assume that most eventually buy a "real" spotmeter or use a different (i.e. incident) method.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 1997
    Posts
    117

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    I carry my old OM-1 which I use as my LF meter. I've never felt real comfortable using a spotmeter although the added weight and bulk using a 35mm camera strictly as a meter makes me wish I did.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Posts
    177

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    I used my Nikon FA as a meter untill i bought a dedicated spot meter. I also used the 50mm lens as a focusing loupe for awhile.

  5. #5
    Kevin Kolosky
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Posts
    791

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    I would think that it would be okay as long as you knew the area that the meter was measuring, and as long as you calibrated the meter to your working methods.

    Kevin

  6. #6

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    <a name="1">David,</a>

    There is information in the archives regarding this. My suggestion would be to use a lens in the 135mm to 200mm range so as to meter only a small spot (I read that somewhere, and it helps).

    Another option, and this is subject to personal taste, is to use the palm of your hand instead of a gray card. Place a gray card out of direct sunlight, take a meter reading from the card, then place the palm of your hand in the same light and take a reading from it. Compare the two, and you'll know how much to compensate if you use your hand instead of the card. In effect, this creates an incident meter (and it's cheap!!!).

    I did this before I got an incident meter, and found it to be a fairly accurate technique. The main problem, and the reason I bought the separate meter, was that the natural oil in my skin created a bright reflection in direct sunlight and led to underexposed images. This technique was pretty accurate in the shade, though, even with E6 film.

    Good luck!

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Posts
    193

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    David... here is a well written article concerning your post.

    "The Pentax digital spot meter seems to be popular with large format photographers. It is relatively small and light, reliable, and has easy controls and viewfinder readings. Recently the multi-purpose Sekonic Zoom-master has been succesfull, because it combines incident and flash with spot. However it is more complex and does not have viewfinder displays.

    Personnally I use my 35mm camera. I like to have the small camera to be able to shoot quickly should something change suddently and produce many images for stock. I also use it as a viewfinder so I don't have to move the tripod around. When I am in a hurry, I use the matrix metering, otherwise I use the a built-in spot meter with the 1/3 stop analog scale in the viewfinder. I just set the same shutter speed and f-stop I intend to use on the LF camera, and then see where different part of the scene fall. Cameras with such a scale include the Nikon N8008s, F4, F5, F100 (N90 has only a f1 stop scale), and most canons, including the Rebel 2000 and the EOS 3. If I use the polarizer on the LF camera, I just put a polariser on my 35mm lens. The 24-120 or 24-85 lenses matches all the 4 focals that I commonly use on the LF camera.

    It's from.. Q.Tuan Luong...http://www.ai.sri.com/~luong/photography/lf/ matos-begin.html

  8. #8

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    David,

    I'm planning a backpacking trip next week and have just done an experiment using a Canon G2 digital camera as an exposure meter for my Super Speed Graphic for shooting Velvia transparency film.

    I'll be taking the G2 anyway and am trying to minimize weight, so I'm planning only to take the camera with its 135 Rodenstock, lightweight tripod and some old Mido film holders (like readyloads but you load the film).

    The big advantage of using a digital camera, as I see it, is that you can also have an "instant polaroid" to determine where highlights and shadows block up and go black. Also, with the G2's histogram feature, you have a graphic indication of the exposure for a given setting.

    This weekend I shot several sheets of Velvia (G2 has a low ISO setting of 50) using the G2 and the setup described above. I'll post some images if you like, along with the digital equivalents when I develop the E6 tomorrow.

  9. #9

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    I also have used a 35 mm SLR as a meter for my LF camera now for some years. I prefer it to my hand held meter as I frequently use both formats together. I use a Nikon FE2 which has the basic centre weighted meter. With a medium telephoto to select a 'spot' and with match needle metering it is easy to see the range of light values. Main problem is remembering to convert if you have different film speeds in 35mm and 4x5!

  10. #10

    35mm SLR as an exposure meter

    Wow!

    Thanks to everyone for your very helpful (not mention quick) replies :-)

    Two good things about the T90: 1) I've used it for years; 2) The spot metering is 2.8 degrees - which if used with a 135mm lens should cover most of my initial LF requirements.

    No doubt I'll be back for more sound advice in the future!

    Many thanks,

    David

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