I'll wade in here, too.... I use spot and incident and the incident
(L398 and L718 Sekonics) is much more intuitive for my work. I'll pull
the spot out (Minolta) if I'm suspicious of too wide a range and it then
gives good additional information. Try this: Point your spot meter at
a distant black object (100 M or so) and record the reading. Now
approach the object closely and take another reading. You'll find it's
darker up close. Lens flare on the meter can be a real culprit at many
angles and it'll have you guessing at what's really going on many times.
I end up feeling much less confident with the spot meter and ultimately
get better results with the incident. My incident metered negatives
seem to print much easier and consistently. More reliance and practice
on the spot might make me more confident but it seems so much more
natural to know the light falling on the subject and then make slight
changes for issues of film type and general scene contrast.
Paul Stenquist wrote:
Because the amount of reflected light is dependent on the reflectivity
of the subject. If you're shooting a white subject, such as a snowdrift,
the reflective meter will want to render it as 18% gray, the value to
which meters are generally calibrated. An incident meter will measure
only the light, and your snowdrift will be recorded as snow white.
Paul
