To gray card or not?

Lately I've been reading alot about using a gray card to get proper exposure. How many of you use a gray card to get proper exposure readings? Is it beneficial with digital? What would be the best process of doing this with the best results?

I seldom use a gray card for exposure readings these days because I have a handheld meter that can do incident readings. That is handier to use than a gray card.

If you don't have a handheld meter (especially one that can do incident readings), the gray card can be indispensable at times - for either film or digital photos. If your subject has an average brightness range, a reflected meter (handheld or the one in your camera) will work just fine. If the subject is mostly dark or mostly bright, then the gray card (or incident meter) can be the tool you need to get a proper reading. Otherwise, the mostly dark or mostly bright subjects will come out looking like medium gray.

paul cacciapaglia wrote:
What would be the best process of doing this with the best results?

Assuming that the only meter you have is the one in your camera, the process is something like this: Put the gray card in the same light as your subject, and at the same reflecting angle as your subject. Move in close so that the gray card is nearly filling the viewfinder (but not to the point of shading the light falling on the gray card) and take the exposure reading. Using the M (manual) exposure mode is likely to be the best way to do this so you can keep the exposure settings when you go back to the position to take the shot.

thanks a million for your advice, Skip!!

A greycard is only a fixed, known value. It won't give you a better exposure than any other means. Checking the histogram will ensure you capture all the information and don't blow any highlights or block the shadows.

If you are outside, the varying lighting conditions will mean the greycard exposure is only accurate for a very limited time and only under the exact lighting conditions that you metered.

If you are shooting something like landscapes, it is far better to shoot a number of exposures (if on a tripod). That has practical benefits as you are able to merge the exposures and produce High Dynamic Range images from them.

A grey card can help get accurate colour by eliminating colour casts from a known grey value and is actually more of a useful tool for that purpose. In fact, the Gretag Macbeth colour patches are even better, giving you 24 patches of colour to sample.

You can actually use the palm of your hand (do some tests to see how it actually meters).

If you need to get the exposure right first time and the lighting is extreme, then it will be a handy tool to have to hand. Otherwise, I wouldn't consider it a priority to get one.

Graham

If in a controlled environment where the light is constant then I might use the gray card.
If the lighting is variable then I usualy let the camera deal with it and just check the histogram occasionaly. Colour will be corrected in post processing.