Using palm as grey card on X1

[Beyder28]

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I just wanted to have someone further explain the use of using your palm as "the grey card." and how well it works on the X1? sorry if the question is too newbish.

[lykaman]

I presume you mean as per Grey Card exposure?

Used in Full manual it would be used say on a very white snowy day to enable the

image to maintain the whiteness of the snow as opposed to allowing

the camera metering to misread the scene.

Concrete or tarmac can be used to balance exposure.

[!Nomad64]

I just wanted to have someone further explain the use of using your palm as "the grey card." and how well it works on the X1? sorry if the question is too newbish.

 

Welcome to the Forum and don't be afraid to ask. There are no stupid questions. Sometimes there might be stupid answers...

 

Based on my personal experience the palm as a substitute of the grey card is not very reliable.

For starters, depending from the color of your skin it might be too light or too dark. Then, it may change its color with the season and with the level of physical activity you sustained immediately before.

During winter, when it's cold the blood tends to retreat from the extremities, thus resulting in a paler palm. On the contrary, when it's hot or when you have an intense physical activity the blood circulation increases and you end having a redder (and darker) palm.

So all in all I gave up palm metering.

I have no X1 myself, so I don't know whether it has a metering spot option.

If so I'd respectfully remember that in any case the metering will give you an exposure reading to have what you pointed at resulting in an 18% grey tone no matter what's its actual one. So it basically depends from what element of your picture you want to appear at 18% grey.

 

Hope this helps

Bruno