Meter on ground glass

[Robert_5479]

Does anyone use a light meter to measure various locations directly on the gg of a given scene to come up with a useable exposure? I have digital spot meter that I thought may work. I'd do some testing and possibly save myself from embarressment, but I'm unable to do any developing for some time.

Maybe with some compensation for the gg this could work? Am I crazy? I've been in situations where time doesn't allow my limited math skills to figure compensation for extension, etc. not to mention the resulting headaches if such an attempt is made.

Any ideas, theories, practices, etc. would be welcome.

Thanks,
Robert

[Steve Hamley]

Robert,

Generally metering the GG with a conventional meter doesn't work; excepting the Minolta and Sinar meters made for that.

If you want to compensate for bellows extension, use this, no math required.

http://www.salzgeber.at/disc/

Steve

[N Dhananjay]

I've used a Calculite meter which had an atachment for taking readings off the GG (I believe some Gossen meters have similar accessories). I sort of liked the system becuse it measured a small area of the 8x10 GG and made it easier to assess the luminance range. The only trouble was you lost some of the meter sensitivity to transmission losses. Oh, and you do have to calibrate it once but that is pretty easy to do. Cheers, DJ

[Capocheny]

Robert,

If I'm understanding you correctly, you want to meter off the ground glass directly in order to circumvent the requirement to figure out bellows extension factors and the like. Secondly, you're looking at using your digital spotmeter to do so?

If my understanding is correct... you're simply re-inventing the wheel.

Sekonic already has such a device and as DJ has stated... the Gossen probe can also be used to accomplish what you want. Minolta also has their version of a metering probe off the ground glass. Any of these probes will require that you calibrate the meter to the reading off the ground glass, which is a pretty simple and straight-forward procedure.

Lastly, Sinar also makes a cassette that is designed in the same manner as a regular film holder. The big difference is that it accepts a metering probe. Therefore, you're essentially reading off the film plane to obtain the proper exposure. These are regularly available off the big auction site.

Hope this helps. :)

Cheers