Hi Bill: No confusion on my part but maybe my poor writing. You are correct by saying "reflective meter measures light reflected from a subject, and an incident meter measures the light falling on a subject". I maintain however, that the reflective meter gives you more useful information than incident meter. Many of my photographs could not have been measured using an incident meter due to distance and wide range of contrast, often excessive even for a B&W film. In which case I had to make decisions as to what I should let go, shadows of highlights.
Cheers, - Andrew. -----Original Message----- From: Bill Owens [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: March 24, 2003 6:36 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Hand Meters Andrew, See my earlier post on the subject. I think you are confused somewhat about incident metering. Both a reflected meter and an incident meter measure ambient light, the difference being that a reflective meter measures light reflected from a subject, and an incident meter measures the light falling on a subject. Overall, usually, most of the time..... an incident meter will be more accurate, assuming that the light falling on the dome of the meter is in the same light as the subject. IOW, you point a reflective meter at the subject, and an incident meter is placed near the subject and pointed towards the camera. Hope this helps, Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hagner, Andrew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 5:54 PM Subject: RE: Hand Meters > Steve: > > The light that is recorded on film is the reflected light from your subject. > The ambient meters measure only ambient light and ignores the > reflected light, so logically the reflected light meters give you > information that you > actually need. Ambient meters, however work in many situations. When > the contrast range is not exceeding the film contrast and when the > same type of > light hits your subject as it hits your meter then the ambient meters > are fine. When you are photographing a distant scene in an > interesting light, it is likely that the light hitting your meter is > very different from the one that is falling on the scene. In this > case the ambient meter gives you > no useful information. If the scene exceeds the film contrast then > again, ambient meter gives you information relevant to the middle > tones but the highlight and shadows will be outside the films range. > In this case the ambient meter gives you no information on the > contrast range. > > So, my recommendation is to use a reflected spot meter which overcomes these > shortcomings. With little practice it is hard to make an error in exposure > provided the meter is linear and is properly calibrated. My favourite > one is the Zone VI modified Pentax digital meter. Very simple, > reliable and accurate. > > Cheers, - Andrew. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Steve Desjardins [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: March 24, 2003 1:40 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Hand Meters > > > What would folks recommend in a handmeter, spot or ambient? > > > Steven Desjardins > Department of Chemistry > Washington and Lee University > Lexington, VA 24450 > (540) 458-8873 > FAX: (540) 458-8878 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
