How to use a hand light-meter?

On 9/8/2010 3:58 PM, Howard Lester wrote:
"Michael" wrote
On 2010-09-05 02:46:37 -0400, said:

On 9/3/2010 6:18 PM, Howard Lester wrote:
You
just walk to the subject and point the meter's white dome at the camera
and
take a reading. Where the reflected meter is best used is on a landscape
where you can't walk to it, as in a distant scene.

Even for landscapes they work fine, just hold the meter in the same light
that is in the distant scene. Which generally in landscapes is the same
light falling on the area the camera is in too. IMHO it's much more
accurate than trying to judge readings from a reflected light reading
given the variables in subject color, reflectivity etc. Incident readings
avoid all that subjectivity.

Stephe

I agree. My Seconic handheld meter works in both reflected and incident
modes and I use it with my otherwise unmetered Nikon F and Pentax 6x7 and
get good results on landscapes. Especially good results on seascapes and
beach scenes and snow scenes where the reflected meter reading is likely
to make the snow or the beach neutral gray instead of nearly-blown-out
bright. Still have to bracket though.
--
Michael

Sorry for having to retain all of the above; I did so for clarity....

To follow up (or summarize): you still have to think, whether you have
incident, reflected, gray card, palm-of-your-hand -- whatever.

Howard




I just feel reflected metering requires the most "subjective"
interpretation as you have to take into account how far from a matte
finish gray card your subject is. Depending on the color of the subject,
how much sky the meter is seeing and how many clouds are in the sky etc
the reading can vary wildly and ends up being a guesstimate at best.
Unless for some odd reason I can't get into aprox the same light that is
falling on the subject, I always prefer to use incident metering.

Stephe