handheld vs in camera meter

Most of the time I chimp my images until I expose to the right without blinkies.

What might be the advantage in learning to use a handheld meter?

1. Far faster than trial and error method using chimping
2. Your in-camera meter will not meter external non-ETTL flash
3. Incident light reading is not fooled by subject brightness, like reflected light meters can be.

Those are the main reasons why handhelds are used.

Wilt wrote in post #5464997
1. Far faster than trial and error method using chimping
2. Your in-camera meter will not meter external non-ETTL flash
3. Incident light reading is not fooled by subject brightness, like reflected light meters can be.

Those are the main reasons why handhelds are used.

Ditto.

PS - It also helps a LOT in understanding the various aspects of the light. You will notice a lot of difference metering in one place and another on the same shot and you will learn to evaualte the EV range. I just love my L-758

Not to start a argument, but in a digital world is there really a need for a hand held light meter? I use to use one all the time when shooting film but that was because getting the exposure right was so much more important as I would not see results of the shoot for days afterwards.

Even today a handheld meter is mostly used for composed or staged shots, not for action pics, sports or wildlife. Today it’s so much easier to take a test pic and look at the histogram and make adjustments accordingly.

gjl711 wrote in post #5465329
Not to start a argument, but in a digital world is there really a need for a hand held light meter? I use to use one all the time when shooting film but that was because getting the exposure right was so much more important as I would not see results of the shoot for days afterwards.

Even today a handheld meter is mostly used for composed or staged shots, not for action pics, sports or wildlife. Today it’s so much easier to take a test pic and look at the histogram and make adjustments accordingly.

You can fairly well get away with non-use of a handheld meter if you are an amateur willing to spend his/her time on chimping and/or you shoot RAW and use a RAW conversion to alleviate the errors in the original exposure.

If you want more predictable and consistent results, and you shoot in the studio under the time gun, you need a meter.

As for your comment about handheld meters and sport, I will take an incident reading and set the camera on M with the meter-indicated combination of f/stop and shutter speed for a long time (until the lighting changed) and I will not have shot-to-shot variations in exposure, like you would if you relied upon the reflected light reading of your camera. And if I needed to adjust expsosure in RAW afterward, I could do hundreds of photos rapidly with the same exposure adjustment.

Yea, I shoot almost exclusively raw and almost always in manual. I use the in camera meter to ballpark but take a test pic and adjust based on histogram. I still have my light meter somewhere I’m sure and would dig it out if it would help.

As usual, I asked the wrong question.

Wilt , you said the meter will give you suggested f/stop and SS. If you change one of those parimeters, will it cough out new numbers.

I quess I'm asking, what information does that meter give me?

chauncey wrote in post #5466034
As usual, I asked the wrong question.

Wilt , you said the meter will give you suggested f/stop and SS. If you change one of those parimeters, will it cough out new numbers.

I quess I'm asking, what information does that meter give me?

Depends upon the meter design, but generally

A) you set ISO and you set shutter speed, meter reads out f/stop; if you change shutter speed, the f/stop adjusts to comparable value

B) you set ISO, meter reads out EV value (which equates to a wide number of combinations of f/stop+shutter which all yield the same light striking the film/sensor)

My meter will change if I change the parameters after taking the reading, but not all will.

Anyway, a couple thoughts...

- Incident vs reflective depends alot on where you are in relation to your subject. If you're shooting a bridge in the sun and you're standing in the shade an incident meter is wholly worthless, for example. As far as reflected meters, spot meters are better and more workable, but that's my opinion as I've seen others say good things about partial, CW, etc., and those things make sense, they're just not what I've adapted to.

- Time is also an "it depends" consideration. Unless the light is changing quickly and constantly, it's a wash either way, and once you get it set it usually won't deviate too much.

Anyway, having one is not the "necessity" as it once was. In-camera meters are increasingly accurate. I've been considering selling mine while I might still be able to get a good price. Except for night and low-light shooting, where it still seems to make a serious difference, I use my handheld meter less and less.

chauncey wrote in post #5466034
As usual, I asked the wrong question.

Wilt , you said the meter will give you suggested f/stop and SS. If you change one of those parimeters, will it cough out new numbers.

I quess I'm asking, what information does that meter give me?

When measuring continuous light with my Sekonic L-358, after setting the ISO value, the meter allows you to choose either the shutter speed or the aperture and the meter shows you the other value. As you spin the dial to change the chosen value, the other value also changes accordingly.

When measuring the light from flash source(s), the shutter speed is irrelevant and the meter knows it. You could dial up a number of different shutter speeds and you will get the same aperture setting.

The L-358 can show you the balance between ambient light and that from the flash source(s). That can be quite useful in the right scenario.

Before I put my babies to bed, $200 to $600, what"s the difference.

Am a hobby person that mostly does landscape, GPS unimportant.

chauncey wrote in post #5467166
Before I put my babies to bed, $200 to $600, what"s the difference.

Am a hobby person that mostly does landscape, GPS unimportant.

Your question does not make sense to me.....

Get the L-358. It will do what you need with ease.
If you are a real gadget fiend and have the big bucks, go for the L-758.

chauncey wrote in post #5467166
Before I put my babies to bed, $200 to $600, what"s the difference.

Am a hobby person that mostly does landscape, GPS unimportant.

For 600, you'll get a spot, incident and flash meter all in once, you'll also be able to spotmeter flash.

For 200, you'll just get an flash/ambient.

For 250, the L358 will give you an option to trigger pocketwizards and give you ratios of flash to ambient.

I find the meter useful even with digital, because you never clip the channels and in certain situations you need to have a very low flare lens on with a camera that has a spotmeter to be able to meter accurately.

I had an L358, a gossen analog meter and I ended up with an L558 which suits my needs beautifully. The only problem is that I wouldn't mind one without the zoom, but with better light sensitivity.

I'd suggest you pick a used multimeter like L558. They go for around 300 or so on junkbay.

It sounds like, in my case, you point these things at various areas in the scene, note the settings, change f/stop to adjust your DOF, then it coughs out new settings.

Kinda gets rid of the stupid factor, or am I missing something.