Light meter vs Camera meter

[Rocket850]

I see a lot of you use the Sekonic L358 light meter. How much better is this going to be than my 20d's metering system? I just got the 20d a few weeks ago and have been practicing using the different modes. Is the Sekonic L358 mainly used for indoor photography?

Jay w.

[SkipD]

A meter built in to the camera works reasonably well for "average" conditions. A handheld meter, particularly one as versatile as the L-358, lets you use the meter in ways is either difficult or impossible to use the camera's meter.

The biggest and most obvious difference is the ability to use the handheld meter as an incident meter - measuring the light falling on the subject as opposed to the light reflected from the subject. The meter in any camera is only a reflected light meter. The L-358 can also measure light from flash sources - something that meters in only a very few cameras (I never heard of any until only recently) can do.

You will occasionally run into a situation when you want to photograph a high-contrast (very bright to very dark) subject. Most built-in meters don't handle that sort of thing well unless you really know how to make it work for you. With a handheld meter, you can (usually) easily measure the extremes and make a decision about the resulting readings that the meter gives you. If you know, for example that your camera only has a 5-stop latitude (the difference between the brightest and darkest subject components that it can record well) - typical for today's digital cameras - then you can see on the meter what the range of the subject brightness is and, if the range is beyond the camera or film's latitude, you can choose which end of the spectrum to favor.

If you are trying to photograph a snow scene, for example, the built-in meter (or any reflected meter, for that matter) will give you a reading that tends to make the snow look like it's grey. Using the handheld meter in an incident-reading mode will give you a reading based on the amount of light hitting the subject, and you can use that reading directly resulting in a photo that looks like snow and not coal dust on snow. The same is true - but in reverse - for subjects that are largely dark.

With an attachment, the L-358 can also be a 1° spot meter. I don't know of any meters built into cameras that can do that with anything but very long lenses.

[Raymate]

Originally Posted by SkipD

A meter built in to the camera works reasonably well for "average" conditions. A handheld meter, particularly one as versatile as the L-358, lets you use the meter in ways is either difficult or impossible to use the camera's meter.

The biggest and most obvious difference is the ability to use the handheld meter as an incident meter - measuring the light falling on the subject as opposed to the light reflected from the subject. The meter in any camera is only a reflected light meter. The L-358 can also measure light from flash sources - something that meters in only a very few cameras (I never heard of any until only recently) can do.

You will occasionally run into a situation when you want to photograph a high-contrast (very bright to very dark) subject. Most built-in meters don't handle that sort of thing well unless you really know how to make it work for you. With a handheld meter, you can (usually) easily measure the extremes and make a decision about the resulting readings that the meter gives you. If you know, for example that your camera only has a 5-stop latitude (the difference between the brightest and darkest subject components that it can record well) - typical for today's digital cameras - then you can see on the meter what the range of the subject brightness is and, if the range is beyond the camera or film's latitude, you can choose which end of the spectrum to favor.

If you are trying to photograph a snow scene, for example, the built-in meter (or any reflected meter, for that matter) will give you a reading that tends to make the snow look like it's grey. Using the handheld meter in an incident-reading mode will give you a reading based on the amount of light hitting the subject, and you can use that reading directly resulting in a photo that looks like snow and not coal dust on snow. The same is true - but in reverse - for subjects that are largely dark.

With an attachment, the L-358 can also be a 1° spot meter. I don't know of any meters built into cameras that can do that with anything but very long lenses.

Great reply... thank you, I wanted to know that too

[Rocket850]

Great answer Skip, thanks! Do you think a light meter will help with the "white sky" syndrome? I'm getting better at avoiding this problem but if a light meter will help it may be worth getting.

Jay w.

[SkipD]

Originally Posted by Rocket850

Great answer Skip, thanks! Do you think a light meter will help with the "white sky" syndrome? I'm getting better at avoiding this problem but if a light meter will help it may be worth getting.

Jay, that scenario is similar to the generic "high contrast" situation like I alluded to before.

Careful use of a meter is critical to success in these situations. I don't think I would let the camera just decide for me automatically, as that leads to poor results more often than not.

Unfortunately, an incident light reading wouldn't work as well to determine how bright the sky is - because it is as much a light source as it is part of the subject. It's kind of difficult to measure the light falling on the sky without a really tall ladder . Thus, I would use a reflected light meter measurement (probably the in-camera meter because it's there, but seeing results on my L-358 is easier) to determine the difference between the sky and the darkest portion of the scene on the ground that I cared about. I would then calculate the difference.

If the difference between high and low readings is 5 stops or less, I would set the camera for mid-point between the readings. If it's more than 5 stops, then it's decision-making time. The questions I would ask myself are: What is more important to you - the sky or the shadow areas on the ground? Is there a way that I can deal with this situation such as a graduated neutral density filter or taking two shots and combining them in Photoshop?

Does this help the thought processes?

[tim]

Originally Posted by Rocket850

Great answer Skip, thanks! Do you think a light meter will help with the "white sky" syndrome? I'm getting better at avoiding this problem but if a light meter will help it may be worth getting.

Jay w.

The most practical solution, like Skip says, is doing two exposures and blending them in Photoshop. It's a pain in the arse, but there aren't many other options, apart from annoying filters. Another solution is to do the photos at dusk or dawn when the sky's less bright.

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by SkipD

With an attachment, the L-358 can also be a 1° spot meter. I don't know of any meters built into cameras that can do that with anything but very long lenses.

How about the 1DmkII with a lens greater then 65mm? Or you can get close with a 50mm lens (approx. 1.4 degrees spot).

[SkipD]

Originally Posted by PacAce

How about the 1DmkII with a lens greater then 65mm? Or you can get close with a 50mm lens (approx. 1.4 degrees spot).

Cool. I now have another reason to upgrade from my 20D. Just don't tell Cindy, please.....

[PacAce]

Originally Posted by SkipD

Cool. I now have another reason to upgrade from my 20D. Just don't tell Cindy, please.....

Of course I won't (the more blackmail matter I have in my back pocket, the better, he-he-he ).