Dslr as light meter

[Ed Richards]

Frank, among others, uses a Dslr as a light meter. Since a good light meter and a good Dslr are about the same price these days, I would like to hear more about how you do it. While I have not been carrying a Dslr with me, I have started to rethink that, now that there are small and cheap ones with good resolution. Do you have to have spot metering in Dslr or do you depend on the histograms?

[Rider]

Since the histogram will have a different response than the film you are using (and most DSLR histograms are not even very accurate) I think you will want to use a spot meter.

[stompyq]

Well I use my DSLR b/c i carry it around everywhere anyway. I normally make the test exposure (same ISO etc) then add filter facters/bellows factors etc and shoot. When I am checking the histogram i normally do it under the darkcloth (blocks out reflections) So far i have not spoiled a single velvia slide b/c of bad exposure (plenty of other reasons have). I am sticking with this stratergy b/c i carry my nikon everywhere and the spotmeter is one less thing to carry

[Ed Richards]

Thanks stompyq. Anyone using a Dslr with black and white?

[Frank Petronio]

While the dSLR Histrograms are probably not a match to your film, I doubt they are THAT far off for those of us who still use commercial labs and neg film. If I ran a careful and precise Zone System darkroom and had multiple processing times for minus development, etc. then I would get a spot meter and live via the Holy Rule of Saint Ansel. But for my stuff the dSLR has proven to be plenty accurate for C-41 and B&W.

I even stopped using the spot metering. I just go for the Histrogram and make sure to keep the highlights where I want them and let the shadows fall wherever.

[Ed Richards]

> I even stopped using the spot metering. I just go for the Histrogram and make sure to keep the highlights where I want them and let the shadows fall wherever.

I would have assumed that, at least with black and white, you would attend to the shadows and let the highlights go where they will. Do you set the exposure to just below where the highlights start to clip?

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

The batteries on my spotmeter died a few days ago so I used my DSLR in its place. I had already compared them and knew that they were 1/3 of a stop different, so it worked just fine. While I can see some advantages using histograms, I didn't want to think too much, so just made a few well placed meterings and went on my happy way.

[Walter Calahan]

A meter in the hand is worth two in the camera.

Don't use your DSLR unless you're in a crunch.

[Frank Petronio]

Yeah, just below clipping.

I even use the dSLR for a flash meter. I must be a slob...

[Steve Hamley]

I think just about anything light sensitive is usable as long as you know how to use it relative to what you're doing.

Frank, never say you're sorry. Someone will agree with you! :D

Steve

[roteague]

I normally use a spot meter for everything. However, I do carry my Nikon F5, and sometimes I use as a light meter; when the light is changing too fast for the spot meter.

[Leonard Evens]

I could in principle use my Nikon D70 as a spotmeter, but it would be very awkward. With the kit lens set at 70 mm, it would yield a spot angle of 1.88 degrees, somewhat larger than my Digital Pentax delivers, but still pretty small. And, of course, a longer lens would yield a smaller angle. But taking several different readings of f-stop and time and translating them into comparable EVs would involve quite a lot of mental gymnastics. With my spotmeter, I just transfer the EV values, which it reads directly, to the dial, placing them on appropriate zones, and I'm in business. In addition, my Nikon is pretty heavy and certainly takes up more room than my small, light Pentax spotmeter.

It appears from what some of you are saying that you use the DSLR and make adjustments to get a plausible histogram and then use that exposure with your view camera, adjusting, presumably, for differences in film speed. That, to me, would be an uncomfortable way to work. Also, I've found that the histogram on the LCD is not always a reliable indication of what you get in the digital image when you upload it to your computer. I wouldn't want to trust a difficult to set up view camera exposure to such a method.

[Atul Mohidekar]

I don't have a DSLR, but I use the good old Nikon film camera instead of a spot meter. When I moved from 35mm to view camera, I thought I would give my Nikon camera a try as an exposure meter before buying a spot meter. I haven’t found a need for a spot meter. The Nikon camera serves two purposes. First, I use Nikon's matrix metering and the spot metering for the exposure reading. Before buying a view camera, I had used the Nikon metering over a decade and had got great results. Second, I use combination of the Nikon camera along with the zoom lens as a very flexible composition tool to quickly figure out the appropriate lens I would need to use on my view camera. I have memorized the 35mm equivalent focal lengths for all of my view camera lenses. I can quickly try all the view camera focal lengths using the zoom lens to figure out which one I would need before taking the backpack off my back for setting up the view camera (I carry the Nikon outside the backpack). I find this technique extremely useful and a great timer saver. Of course if I had a DSLR, I would definitely use the histogram!


// Atul

[Leonard Evens]

I also sometimes use my DSLR as a way to test scenes with different focal lengths and different ways to frame the scene. But I usually do that on a separate trip and upload the images, adjust verticals, etc. before going out with my view camera. The main problem, as I see it, of using a smaller format camera, or any optical viewfinder system, to frame is that you can't do rise/fall or shifts. For that, a simple cardboard frame with a string marked with knots for different focal lengths works quite well. It is true that with the frame, it is hard to be sure what the actual projected image will look like, but of course you will see that anyway on your gg. From my point of view, the main use of a viewer is to see what, for different focal lengths, will be included in the scene, and for that, rise/fall shift cpability is essential.