Light Meters for Landscapes (Page 3): Not sure about you but I'm convinced most questions asked on this or any other forum will yield a variety of answers based on other peoples...

Dave R. Loc: PNW

Russ1700 wrote:

I've read a lot of the info on HH regarding the use of hand held light meters. Most of the comments refer to studio or portrait shots.
My question sis there any benefit in using a hand held light meter outdoors when taking a landscape shot?
Thanks for your comments

Not sure about you but I'm convinced most questions asked on this or any other forum will yield a variety of answers based on other peoples opinions. Who is right in the responses you got from your question is up to you.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Dave R. wrote:

Not sure about you but I'm convinced most questions asked on this or any other forum will yield a variety of answers based on other peoples opinions. Who is right in the responses you got from your question is up to you.

The common thread for the better answers is that relying 100% on a device is probably not the best way to ensure consistent results - and experience does more to help ensure those results that hardware and measuring devices.

Leitz Loc: Solms

paulrph1 wrote:

I disagree. A camera makes generalizations and does not necessarily see what the photographer is seeing. What he has in his mind for a good shot. The camera does not think, it just does.

No camera makes an assumption, good or bad. A built-in meter can only suggest a setting - the photographer must decide whether or not that setting is correct for the shot he has in mind. The same applies to a hand-held meter.
It is incredible, though, just how accurate even the simplest of modern cameras often are.

steveg48

Russ1700 wrote:

I've read a lot of the info on HH regarding the use of hand held light meters. Most of the comments refer to studio or portrait shots.
My question sis there any benefit in using a hand held light meter outdoors when taking a landscape shot?
Thanks for your comments

I use a sekonic 758 which has a 1 degree spot.. I get a reading from the brightest part of the sky when the meter is set to the aperture and iso that I plan to use. I press a button on the meter and it gives me a reading that represents about 3 stops over-exposure from the measurement. I then set the camera to the 'overexposed' setting in manual mode and I get an exposure that is usually right on. If not, I can tweak it slightly.

This was a bit counterintuitive for me. The reason it works is that if I just used the initial readfing that represented the brightest spot in the scene, the camera would process the highlights to 18% gray and the scene would be underexposed. By overexposing by about 3 stops (the lightmeter is calibrated to my camera, a Nikon D810) and lens, the highlights are moved to the right. So this process is called 'Expose to the Right' or ETTR.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Dave R. wrote:

Not sure about you but I'm convinced most questions asked on this or any other forum will yield a variety of answers based on other peoples opinions. Who is right in the responses you got from your question is up to you.

So far we have more facts than opinions in this thread, though!

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Russ1700 wrote:

I've read a lot of the info on HH regarding the use of hand held light meters. Most of the comments refer to studio or portrait shots.
My question sis there any benefit in using a hand held light meter outdoors when taking a landscape shot?
Thanks for your comments

Yes.

Hand held tells you how much ambient light the subject is receiving as long as you are not standing in the shade and the subject is sunlit. It removes the vagaries of reflectivity of the surfaces being photographed, and it will get you in the ballpark is not a home run. You will still need to adjust based on your histogram, but you will find you first attempt far closer to what you want.

Edit- I am speaking of an incident meter -End of edit

Now you can also use the [i]Sunny 16[/] rules, and after a while you will also be close on most usually lighting situations in the landscape.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

steveg48 wrote:

I use a sekonic 758 which has a 1 degree spot.. I ... (show quote)

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

big-guy Loc: Peterborough Ontario Canada

Nice to know that some folks here understand the difference between incident and reflective metering and how to use it to your advantage. I fear you are trying to convert the great unwashed but I applaud your efforts. Good luck. Me? I'm headed out with my hand held meter and camera to make some land and sea scape shots. :thumbup:

rpavich wrote:

Not true.

Where the camera will make bad assumptions about the exposure, an incident meter will not be fooled, indoors, outdoors, in all conditions.

BebuLamar

I have 2 very good meters and some not so good meters but I never go out with one.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

I used to carry a light meter but found it was too heavy.....

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

RWR wrote:

The FX format Nikon Df measures a 4mm diameter circle - 1.5% of the frame.

Percentage of the frame is hard to relate to the degree parameter that is specified with hand held spot meters.

On a full frame camera with 50mm lens that is a 4 degree spot meter, with a 100mm lens it is a 2 degree spot meter, and with a 200mm lens it is a 1 degree spot meter.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Russ1700 wrote:

I've read a lot of the info on HH regarding the use of hand held light meters. Most of the comments refer to studio or portrait shots.
My question sis there any benefit in using a hand held light meter outdoors when taking a landscape shot?
Thanks for your comments

Reading thru these,
everybody's right if everybody's wrong.

Basically there is some sound information here, but it seems many of us use or understand the tools differently. This seems to be one case were a lot of the variance is still correct. I read many that are totally different from what I learned (about metering and exposure), but after thinking about it, I now think "that could work". But of course, unfortunately a few people are lost as usual.

Peace!

bw3 Loc: Vermillion, SD

I agree with you 100 per cent, rpavich!!!

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

lamiaceae wrote:

Reading thru these,
everybody's right if everybody's wrong.

Basically there is some sound information here, but it seems many of us use or understand the tools differently. This seems to be one case were a lot of the variance is still correct. I read many that are totally different from what I learned (about metering and exposure), but after thinking about it, I now think "that could work". But of course, unfortunately a few people are lost as usual.

Peace!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

Apaflo wrote:

Percentage of the frame is hard to relate to the degree parameter that is specified with hand held spot meters.

On a full frame camera with 50mm lens that is a 4 degree spot meter, with a 100mm lens it is a 2 degree spot meter, and with a 200mm lens it is a 1 degree spot meter.

Of course. I merely quoted the respective user's manuals to point out that their spot meter areas were not "large," as was alleged.