----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Desjardins" Subject: Re: Hand Meters
> Y'all will have to excuse me if I seem to be struggling with this, but > I am. There seems to be some agreement (but not all) that an incident > light reading gives "better" (more consistent?) exposure than a > reflected light reading. I read that part about the color response of > the sensor matching the character of the light. That makes sense. Why, > however, does this imply that a reflected light reading can be prone to > huge inaccuracies, but the incident sensor is not? Wouldn't the > sensor problem affect both readings in the same way? I also realize > that it very easy to misuse a spot meter reading since you have to > understand at least some primitive version of the zone system. The > meter tries to make the area being read reproduced on film as 18% gray > (actually, I read somewhere that it should really be about 13%). You > obviously have to make adjustments so that the highlights and shadows > come out correctly, and this requires some thought and understanding. > The incident reading, OTOH, is simple since there is only one kind of > light striking the scene. As long as the meter is correctly oriented, > there is only one possible reading to make. > > It this the trick then? The incident reading is better because it is > easier to use the result without making a mistake? Sorry I'm being so > dense about this, but this is an important thing to get right. As far as colour sensitivity goes, an incident meter only runs into a few colours of light, so there is less possibility of the meter going whacky because of a colour sensitivity issue. Spot meters have the most chance of colour failing for the same reason. They get pointed at all sorts of colours. At some point, you are bound to hit on a colour that goofs the meter. According to the late Mr. Picker, spot metering can be made very easy and very reliable. I use his metering strategy pretty much all the time. He advocated metering for Zone VIII and setting the exposure accordingly, which is exactly opposite to Adams wanting the shadows metered (Zone II or III). In general landscape work, Picker's method works better than Adam's method. Find a cloud, meter the brightest part you want to secure any kind of detail in, and that is your metering done. Transfer that to the camera, add four stops, and take your picture. If you have a Zone VI modified meter, you set the meter reading to Zone 8 and the calculation is automatically done for you. William Robb
