I have no place here, but as I was passing by...
Buy a pocket camera with a long zoom - take a reading from that
...bye!!
O.k without risking causing some more interesting discussion how would I use a gray card ? My original thought was something which occurred the other day whilst out with my dogs, I was standing in a field in bright sun light and a particularly large Buzzard flew over and landed in a dead tree near the edge of a wooded area with steep rising land behind it, this in comparison to where I was standing was relatively dark so me using my Weston 2 meter would only get a reading from where I was standing and exposure of the subject would be way out. This as I said was only theoretical as I don't have zoom lens to fit my unmetered camera anyway but was wondering how it would have been done when most cameras were like this. I fully admit to being inexperienced otherwise I wouldn't be asking the question.
If you use a grey card you have to meter from it. So you'd have a meter anyway.
As I said, buy a camera with a meter.
It'll stop the children fighting at least
If you use a grey card you have to meter from it. So you'd have a meter anyway.
As I said, buy a camera with a meter.
It'll stop the children fighting at least
My first means of exposure calculation was to use the table printed in side the film cartons.
A substantial fraction of decent medium format film cameras don't have in-built meters, or if they do, they are in prism finders that add quite a bit to the already substantial weight.
Having owned a Mamiya C330 kit in the past I realize this.
The OP wanted to know how to expose without a meter in the camera. Perhaps my response should have been buy a meter or a camera with one in.
How is your response helpful? If someone posted asking how to fix a problem with a piece of equipment and you respond suggesting to just buy a new one, that isn't adding to the discussion nor is it helpful.
almost every meter reading was in the range of 11 to 13. After two days, the missus and I could guess the level of the light to within half a stop almost every time!
You're absolutely right Craig.
I've added as much useful information to this thread as you have in this post.
So 12 was a safe guess?!
This is not a dig but just amused me.
Some people seem to make a habit of posting in threads even though they have nothing to contribute and do so in an almost antagonistic way. If only there was a word for it...
In any case I think they should be called out for it.
In theory, an incident reading isn't significantly different from a matrix/average TTL reading... it is for the scene overall and not for a specific item/subject w/in a scene. This also correlates to the "set it and forget it" manual exposure which is correct for mid tones (mid grey) and therefore it is correct for everything else.From my limited grasp of what I (and I guess the OP) are wanting to measure here, I would have thought that it was the amount of light actually reflected from a distant subject that was the important thing???
Well, your Weston doesn't have a spot/reflectance mode per-se, but you could take a reflectance reading off of a grey card and get close enough. But it wouldn't help you in the situation you mention.O.k without risking causing some more interesting discussion how would I use a gray card ?
In theory, an incident reading isn't significantly different from a matrix/average TTL reading... it is for the scene overall and not for a specific item/subject w/in a scene. This also correlates to the "set it and forget it" manual exposure which is correct for mid tones (mid grey) and therefore it is correct for everything else.
But in the end, metering is just metering regardless of how you go about it... it's going to attempt to tell you the exposure for mid grey. But if done wrong the results will be wrong. And if done correctly, the results may not be what you want creatively.
Hi Steve,
Not so sure I agree fully with your last paragraph but I think I understand what you're saying.
There are two types of metering:
Reflected - when light falls on a subject part of that light is reflected and is how our eyes are able to see objects. Darker subjects reflect less light than brighter subjects. Camera meters use reflected light from the subject and average the scene out to an 18 percent grey. If the scene isn't average (eg snow scene) the camera will meter incorrectly and you have grey snow.
Incident metering - most hand meters have this function and do not average anything. They meter the light 'falling' on the subject so if you have positioned the meter correctly whilst taking the reading the whites stay white and blacks black - no need for any exposure compensation. There is absolutely no need to use a grey card with an incident meter.
Incident meter readings are 'difficult' to fool and are more accurate.
Intrigued by what camera you are using. Digitals offer different metering options, spot, evaluative, centre-weighted etc. You have exposure compensation. You can bracket. You can shoot raw. If you are worried about some bits of the scene being under or over exposed by the reading, take several at different exposures and combine in software. I am not sure what all the fuss is about?
I recommend to read and use the following:
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm
http://expomat.tripod.com
Nothing can replace common sense, but the exposure mat helps a lot.
In general I would agree, and that is the same as the "manual exposure" mindset... Do you really want the black bear in shadow to record as nothing but a black blob? Do you really want the white dress in bright light to record as white with little detail?Incident metering - most hand meters have this function and do not average anything. They meter the light 'falling' on the subject so if you have positioned the meter correctly whilst taking the reading the whites stay white and blacks black - no need for any exposure compensation. There is absolutely no need to use a grey card with an incident meter.
Incident meter readings are 'difficult' to fool and are more accurate.
Camera makers would love to be able to incorporate Incident meters in their cameras.
Unfortunately an incident meter requires the dome to be pointed from the subject position towards the camera position.
For that reason alone they will always be a hand held accessory.
Intrigued by what camera you are using. Digitals offer different metering options, spot, evaluative, centre-weighted etc. You have exposure compensation. You can bracket. You can shoot raw. If you are worried about some bits of the scene being under or over exposed by the reading, take several at different exposures and combine in software. I am not sure what all the fuss is about?
Intrigued by what camera you are using. Digitals offer different metering options, spot, evaluative, centre-weighted etc. You have exposure compensation. You can bracket. You can shoot raw. If you are worried about some bits of the scene being under or over exposed by the reading, take several at different exposures and combine in software. I am not sure what all the fuss is about?
Intrigued by what camera you are using. Digitals offer different metering options, spot, evaluative, centre-weighted etc. You have exposure compensation. You can bracket. You can shoot raw. If you are worried about some bits of the scene being under or over exposed by the reading, take several at different exposures and combine in software. I am not sure what all the fuss is about?
Precisely my point which appeared to evade some.
I’m easily bored
You dare to summon one of the Four Yorkshiremen of the Apocalypse?
I’m easily bored
To be fair Craig yes it did.Did the section of the forum this is in evade both of you?
You dare to summon one of the Four Yorkshiremen of the Apocalypse?