Hi, >> It's not that the hand held meter is better. It isn't. It's just that >> incident metering is indifferent to the properties of the subject - because >> only the light that's hitting the subject, is measured. Not the reflected >> light.
> Thanks for the tutorial; I knew about the grey 18% but not what the > incident meter does. > I was shooting a farm on a hill about 70m away yesterday at sunset > (sun in the frame). An incident meter would not work as my feet could > not make it over the fence and my hand is only about a meter long, so > I spot-metered on the farm (and interpreted sunny-16 as I thought best > for the occasion, just to check that I agreed). Looking forward to the > results (though I was shooting forgiving colour negative). don't forget that you don't have to hold the incident meter next to the subject - only in the same light. If you wanted detail in the farm building despite the backlight it may* have been enough just to hold the dome away from the sun, on the same axis as the farm building and your camera. The difficulty with spot-metering, as with all reflected metering, is being able to judge the tonality of the subject. * I cannot be certain, of course, because I wasn't there and don't know more details of the scene. -- Cheers, Bob
