Do I really need a light meter for my M3?

[normclarke]

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I second what Pete says above, I have always found the Sekonic L308 to be ideal in most ways. I also use a Weston V with invacone with my other systems (Nikon). I find the internal meter to be a major distraction when shooting and now only use unmetered film cameras.

 

Best,

 

normclarke.

[Stealth3kpl]

. I find the internal meter to be a major distraction when shooting and now only use unmetered film cameras.

 

Best,

 

normclarke.

 

Me too. It's one of the main reasons I sold my MP for another M2.

Pete

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[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Everybody,

 

A Sekonic 308S is a nice choice from among meters available new today for those who want something smaller w/ somewhat expanded features. If I were making it today I would change its shutter speed preferred mode to aperture preferred. I think that would make it an even better & more versatile meter.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[Doug A]

I have consistently better results with incident light readings than with reflected light readings. I use a Digisix. The M6 meter provides a sanity check, but I seldom change the exposure based on its readings. (I only shoot B&W.)

Edited April 12, 2012 by curmudgeon
added parenthetical note

[gberger]

Another vote for the Sekonic 308S. It will give you both incident and reflective readings, fits in your shirt pocket, and uses an AA alkaline battery for power.

 

If you shoot transparencies, incident readings will give you a better chance of getting on-spot results. Very easy to use.

[roguewave]

I use a Gossen Digisix for (incident light) metering all my cameras. It’s small and unobtrusive, I usually let it hang around my neck, stop watch-style. I originally bought it for the M3, and I now use it with the M9 as well. About 80% of my M9 shots are metered with the Digisix rather than the built-in meter.

 

Reason: I regularly switch between three cameras for both work and leisure and mostly shoot RAW or slide film. Rather than keeping in mind how multiple meters behave in various situations I only need to know how to interpret the Digisix’s measurements. Makes it easier for me to get consistent results.

 

I too endorse this small, wonderful light meter. It has never failed me & it's very reasonably priced. Very accurate & discrete. Good luck.

[plasticman]

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I also use the Sekonic 308S, and really like it. The EV reading works well with Hasselblad lenses (they have EV markings), and because I'm otherwise pretty clueless about film exposure, I taped an EV to aperture/shutter speed graph on the back of the meter for occasional reassurance.

[Broadside]

+1 for a Weston Euromaster - No batteries and a beautiful thing.

[cocker]

And if you don't want to look for a used Weston the Sekonic 398A is excellent and in the spirit of your M3. I have one and prefer it to the digital Sekonic's I have. http://www.sekonic.com/Products/L-398A/Overview.aspx

[tobey bilek]

Film needs to be exposed correctly to make perfect prints. Some compensation is possible in the darkroom with still less than perfect results depending how far off you are from ideal exposure.

 

Then there is the time factor and money factor, cost of printing paper, to experiment with each picture still never achieving perfection.

 

Trust me there is nothing like making a contact sheet and every frame is correct. From there you scale up and down with exposure time/lens openings to make different size prints. Every print will be close on the first try. Then you can spend your time experimenting with creative manipulations rather than just fighting to make a print.

 

How did they do it back in the day? They worked at it to make correct guesses or bought a meter. Kodak even printed proper exposures for sun, beach, cloudy, etc on the instruction sheet that was in the yellow box with the film. That`s right, instruction sheet. Then the bean counters made them print it on the box insides itself. Now, I have no idea.

Also

Google the sunny 16 rule.

 

A spot meter and incident light meter are the two best tools to help your photography. I use a Pentax digital spot and mostly a Sekonic Studio Delux or a Weston Master 4 or 5.

Send you meters to Hollywood Light Metric in Ca. George will return working as new. A Weston with the invercone attachment is a nice reflected/incident combination. Around 2 weeks door to door, $100. He checks all my meters for accuracy.

 

Reflected types,including M6, get fooled by subject reflectance. Bright objects tend to get under exosed, darks over. You need to compensate. An incident is never fooled unless you can not get it in the same or similar light as the subject.

 

I have a bunch of fancy pro digital Nikons with built in meters. Same old stuff. Nothing changed. Put the camera on manual and use your head. My M8 is nothing different.

Nothing has changed in the 55 years I have been doing this. The best thing is the built in spot meter in the Nikons so I save carrying an extra tool. Expo disk turns the camera into an incident meter. Very cool.

 

So buy a used Weston 4 or 5 with invercone and send it to George. None working ones will save you a bunch of $ cause you will need to send it off anyway.. There are small battery types available also new. Or continue to fight every picture in the darkroom.

 

Sun is pretty easy to guess. So will be your living room once you establish it. When it is cloudy or shade the going gets harder.

[cornellfrancis]

Thank you all for your replies and advice on meters. I think I will try to give both the gossen digisix and sekonic 308 a try and see which one I like better.

[Phil U]

And if you don't want to look for a used Weston the Sekonic 398A is excellent and in the spirit of your M3. I have one and prefer it to the digital Sekonic's I have. http://www.sekonic.com/Products/L-398A/Overview.aspx

 

+1

[aesop]

 

...<snip> Or continue to fight every picture in the darkroom.

 

Sun is pretty easy to guess. So will be your living room once you establish it. When it is cloudy or shade the going gets harder.

 

 

...that's it in a nutshell - well said, Tobey.

[delander †]

I read that when taking an incident light reading you go over to the subject and using the cone or sphere point the lightmeter back at the camera. But you cant do that in many situations for example in street photography. So what do you do point the cone at the sky?

 

Jeff

[cocker]

I hold it at arms length in the same orientation as it would be in if it was up against the subject. Works fine as long as you are in the same general light area as the subject.

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Jeff,

 

If you are standing in light equivalent to light falling on the subject you can simply turn around 180 degrees in the equivalent light & point the hemisphere away from the subject in a straight line. Just take a reading.

 

If there is equivalent light near you but you cannot meter from where you want to photograph from: Stand in the equivalent light & meter along a line parallel to a line from where you will be taking the picture to the subject. Point the hemisphere away from the subject along this parallel line & just take a reading.

 

Both of these will give you the same reading you would get by walking up to the subject & pointing the hemisphere back to the camera.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[NZDavid]

One more vote for the Sekonic 308. Compact, accurate, and easy to use.

 

Once you take an initial reading, you can keep the camera on those settings and just tweak as needed, unless light is constantly changing.

 

If you are familiar with the sunny 16 rule, you will have a feel for exposure. You can then test your judgment against the meter.

 

Do you need a meter? Yes, unless you want to waste lots of film and miss shots.

[MarkP]

Agree with Sekonic 308. Cheap, light and small.

 

However, I agree with the post above that it really needs an aperture priority setting.

Why it does not have one is beyond me.

[finarphin]

When I got my first real camera -- Miranda DR -- I didn't have a light meter (and neither did the camera), so I had to try to use the printed sheet (Cloudy Bright, Hazy Sun...), and I often was way off on exposure, particularly if it wasn't in the middle of the day.  Then I got a Weston Master VI and it helped me tremendously.  Eventually it konked out and I got another one (although I hope to get the original one repaired soon), and I use it when I'm out with a IIIf or M3, or with my Miranda DR.  It works for me.  I also try to keep in mind the Ansel Adams method as a back-up or double-check on the meter: f-stop determined by square root of ASA (ASA=400, f=20), and then the shutter speed is the inverse of the brightness in candles per square foot -- in the summer in the High Sierras it is said to be usually around 200 (shutter = 1/200).  Of course the whole trick to this is having the experience to estimate the brightness of the subject, bearing in mind the Sierras are the "Range of Light."  Meter.  I try to take readings on nearby objects that are represented in the background but too far away to measure with anything other than a spotmeter.  I try to keep aware of what falls on Zone VIII and how careful I have to be with retaining that placement and not allowing it to be shifted to Zone X by the placement of something else.

 

Of course I have a spotmeter (Pentax) but it's big, and if I'm going to carry it I might as well go all the way and carry the 4x5 too.  With the 35mm cameras I just use the Weston.

 

Older digital cameras, such as a Canon Powershot seemed to have a bad algorithm or a bad communication between the meter and the shutter such that there was a marked tendency to blocking in the high values, like clouds, that was very annoying.  The newer digital cameras I've used don't have this tendency to the same degree, but daylight, with tree trunks in shade vs. clouds in sky still present problems. For a lot of these kinds of scenes film is better, because it's more controllable.

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[jaapv]

Not because it it is more controllable, but because you are used to its character.