spot metering flash?

[cosmicexplosion]

how does one go about spot metering for flash?

thanks.

[vinny]

The same way you'd spot meter for any other light source except your meter needs to have flash sync capability in order to fire the flash/strobe.

[Frank Petronio]

Minolta Spot Meter F (for flash).

[Leigh]

Two possibilities:
1) The meter detects the flash automatically (the rapid increase in luminance).
2) The meter actually triggers the flash, either by wire or wirelessly.

Either technique works fine (obviously requires a meter designed to do that).

My Sekonic L-558 has a 1° spot meter mode. It triggers the flash wirelessly using a Pocket Wizard Plus II.

- Leigh

[Jody_S]

Minolta Spot Meter F (for flash).

Cheapest accurate way, though you may need to get a wireless transmitter for it to trigger your flashes. It uses a standard PC sync.

[cosmicexplosion]

Cheapest accurate way, though you may need to get a wireless transmitter for it to trigger your flashes. It uses a standard PC sync.

i have a pentax spot meter, but i am not sure if it has flash sync , i will have to look.

i have a minolta incident meter with a 5 degree spot attachment, have not used it yet for flash, so i may just have to use that, read the manuel even...

thanks

Andrew

[Frank Petronio]

A meter that did flash readings would have a PC sync outlet on it. Usually they put "Flash" or "F" into the product name. And don't worry, Pentax never made a spot/flash meter.

Most photographers never used spot meters with flash because it is so easy to take the "broad" incident flash meter right up into the scene, under the subject's nose even, and fire off a few pops. You can be metering and hollering at your assistants to move a light this way or that. They show this in many movies and TV shows with portrait photo scenes.

Hobby landscape photographers, who only know how Ansel Adams did it, assume they stand at the camera and measure the light from afar. Commercial photographers, who have been using flash for 80 years, know they have to get into the scene. It's not like it's a far walk, you're not using strobe to light Mt. Cook.

If you want a nice simple flash meter, something like the ~$100 Minolta IVF that uses AAs and has minimal controls is my choice (Kenko makes the current version since Minolta crapped the bed). And there are also plenty of Sekonic and Gossen nightmares that are quite fully featured and amazingly complex.

[cosmicexplosion]

If you want a nice simple flash meter, something like the ~$100 Minolta IVF that uses AAs and has minimal controls is my choice (Kenko makes the current version since Minolta crapped the bed). And there are also plenty of Sekonic and Gossen nightmares that are quite fully featured and amazingly complex.

yes yes nice and simple is the order of the day.

i just started using an old 6mp digital camera to to test compositions etc before commiting to 8x10, and the bloody things schitzophrenic,

i have been spoilt by the simplisticy of an ilex shutter!

exuse my bad spelling

i was having no luck with an incident meter in the field.

one of sydney's best printers from blanco negro has just turned his hand to taking.
and he simply points his incident meter at the scene and his negs are fine.

this seems the logical thing to do as its from the lens's perspective, but every on points it at the lens.

which frank as you say can require walking or not...another question.

i was initally pointing at the scene before i was corrected with a minolta incident, but that was corrected.

as einstien said, things should be as simple as possible but not simpler!

ANdrew