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Loa · 11-10-2008

Hello,

I'm relatively young (never had to hold a light meter in my hands), but I absolutely don't understand how (external) light meters could make such a difference...

I simply take the time to learn how my camera meters (moving from a D70 to a D300 was a very surprising experience in that department!), and learn where it fares well and more importantly the situations that will mess it up. The D300 is known for exposing on the bright side as in the example you showed. But once you know that, you just have to compensate for it.

Except for the times when I'm taking quick snapshots for a family gathering, I rarely get way-off exposures. Nothing close to what you showed us in the original post.

If I take the time to think about the scene I'm photographing and the appropriate metering method (which usually takes about 2 seconds), I'd say that nearly all my images using the A mode (Av for Canon I think) turn out nearly flawlessly exposed.

Of course that's 2 "nearly". Then again, I don't think a light meter will garantee 100% good exposures either.

Also, for those very complex scenes with high overall DR and high local contrast zones... Well, we have a LCD on the back don't we? And a bracketing mode, no? (Although while I used to love the bracketing on my D70, I find I never use it on my D300.)

A good light meter will cost you a few hundred bucks, and will more importantly add time for each of your shots. Why bother with that instead of learning how your particular camera meters?

To get an image so far off with a D300, you either have to set the metering to the wrong mode for the scene, or spot meter on the wrong part (or tone) of the image. Or, of course, have a malfunctionning metering system on your camera.

I just don't get why light meters are still so popular.

Loa

P.S. It's dark outside and I don't know where I could find such a plant/fruit outside in November in Quebec, but I'd really like to let my D300 meter try its luck. Quick guess: don't spot meter on the dark stems or darker zones in the background.

11-10-2008	#14 (permalink)
Loa Guanaco Location: Quebec Posts: 480 CamelKarma: 155 Editing OK?: Yes Gallery \| Blog	Re: woo hoo bought a light meter Hello, I'm relatively young (never had to hold a light meter in my hands), but I absolutely don't understand how (external) light meters could make such a difference... I simply take the time to learn how my camera meters (moving from a D70 to a D300 was a very surprising experience in that department!), and learn where it fares well and more importantly the situations that will mess it up. The D300 is known for exposing on the bright side as in the example you showed. But once you know that, you just have to compensate for it. Except for the times when I'm taking quick snapshots for a family gathering, I rarely get way-off exposures. Nothing close to what you showed us in the original post. If I take the time to think about the scene I'm photographing and the appropriate metering method (which usually takes about 2 seconds), I'd say that nearly all my images using the A mode (Av for Canon I think) turn out nearly flawlessly exposed. Of course that's 2 "nearly". Then again, I don't think a light meter will garantee 100% good exposures either. Also, for those very complex scenes with high overall DR and high local contrast zones... Well, we have a LCD on the back don't we? And a bracketing mode, no? (Although while I used to love the bracketing on my D70, I find I never use it on my D300.) A good light meter will cost you a few hundred bucks, and will more importantly add time for each of your shots. Why bother with that instead of learning how your particular camera meters? To get an image so far off with a D300, you either have to set the metering to the wrong mode for the scene, or spot meter on the wrong part (or tone) of the image. Or, of course, have a malfunctionning metering system on your camera. I just don't get why light meters are still so popular. Loa P.S. It's dark outside and I don't know where I could find such a plant/fruit outside in November in Quebec, but I'd really like to let my D300 meter try its luck. Quick guess: don't spot meter on the dark stems or darker zones in the background.
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