Wezza1977uk Loc: London, England

Hi Guys

Hope you are all well.

I recently read a post on here regarding light meters and made a comment on that post regarding an app I had downloaded for my iPhone called "Pocket Light Meter". I wanted to expand my opinion on the app and figured I would make a new post regarding this.

After reading Scott Kelby's very good Digital Photography Book Volumes 1,2 & 3 I started to wonder if a light meter would be of any use to me in my ongoing quest to master Manual photography with my A77. I searched Amazon, Ebay and B&H's websites and found that irrespective of whether they would assist me or not they were definitely not cheap. However during my search one of the google results introduced me to the apps available on the App Store. 2 apps stood out above the rest because they were Free, and Free is of course my favorite price. So I downloaded Pocket Light Meter & Fotometer Pro and I have to say I am very impressed.
Looking through some of the photographs I have used the light meter for I was impressed with their accuracy and the ease of use, especially seeing as I have never used a film camera that wasnt just a little automatic p&S and as such have never needed or used a light meter before. Both apps allow you to type in the aperture you want, or the shutter speed you want and make the correct adjustments to either the aperture, shutter speed or iso for you depending on the scene it is metering. For it to work you need a phone with a camera (Which phone doesnt have a camera these days) and for Fotometer Pro which does Incident & reflective metering you will need a phone with a front facing camera for the Incident metering to work (iPhone 4 onwards). Both apps are available on both iOS and Android and I highly recommend giving them a go if you have a phone with either of those operating systems.
Subsequently it is worth noting that due to the ease of use of these light meters I have decided to give Film Photography a bash and last night purchased a Konica Minolta Dynax 404Si 28-80mm Lens kit 35mm SLR Film Camera and a few rolls of film from eBay for the princely sum of £34.99 (approx $50.00) and developing costs aside am really looking forward to trying a new medium.
Any tips regarding film photography are welcomed!!!

Thanks for listening guys (or Reading lol). I have attached a picture of my daughter taken in manual mode with the assistance of the light meter.

Wezza

caboose Loc: New Jersey

I have an app on my phone that I use called light metering as well (there are many out there) and I love it (free as well)...but really the only comment I wanted to say here is no matter what the lighting was in this picture, this little girl is GORGEOUS!

Wezza1977uk Loc: London, England

Thanks Caboose, she's my youngest daughter and she says thanks too...though she got all shy and blushy when i showed her your comment :D

farmerjim Loc: Rugby, England

Lovely shot Wezza. I'm downloading the app as I write this! Best of luck with your film experiments, please post some pics soon. I've just bought some B&W film stock and I'm gonna put my old Pentax ME super back to work!

Wezza1977uk Loc: London, England

Cheers Jim, hope to see some of your film work soon too. Once ive taken them, then found somewhere on this tiny isle that actually develops them, and then received them back and then scanned them I will happily post some film shots :D

Rich Maher Loc: Sonoma County, CA

Wezza, your little girl is a doll. Thanks for the info on the apps. I just downloaded them and will be checking them against my Gossen Luna-Pro digital meter. The photometerPro is now $.99 but I splurged and bought it anyway. I shoot both 35mm and medium format as well as digital. I hope you become a convert to film and enjoy it. Rich

jmdusty Loc: greater DaytonOh. area

Well, I still love and use my Sekonic Studio Pro 5. It has served me well for over 60 yrs, in studio and out and if I have ever had an exposure problem, it hasn't been the meter.

Dusty

Dean Sturgis

You can use a DSLR or any digital camera that allows you to review the picture and exposure data as your light meter before using your film camera.

dsturgis