----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: hand held meters
> Once I have a P6x7, I will probably not have a metering prism and will > therefore > need to purchase and use a handheld meter. Never having done this > before (I > started playing with photography well into the age of in-camera > metering) I have > little idea of what I need or how it works. If I'm largely going to > be doing > landscapes, am I right to assume that a reflective meter would be > best? How much > will a half decent meter set me back? It may be cheaper to buy a TTL > metering > prism. > > Any advice appreciated as hand held metering is a mystery to me! GAAK. Metering is fraught with peril. Thats why there were 300 meesages today about metring issues with DSLR cameras and 30-35 year old lenses. Anyway, if you are getting a hand meter, there are pretty much two choices. You can get a spot meter, or you can get an averaging meter. You can sometimes get an averaging meter that has spot metering ability via a Rube Goldberg attachment. If you care comfortable with the concept of spot metering, then the Pentax Digital Spot Meter is as fine a choice as is out there. For an averaging meter, I have always been fond of the Gossen meters, I am especially fond of the Lunasix meters. Look on eBay if you don't mind playing that game. Prices seem pretty good right now. Metering technique is a pretty big subject, but a few thoughts to ponder. Spot metering should give you somewhat greater accuracy, but takes quite a bit of experience to master. Averaging metering (yer basic hand meter) may give you somewhat less accuracy, but then again it may not. The funny thing about landscapes is that often, the light falling on the camera is the same light as what is falling on the subject. Consequently, an incident meter is often as good and usable meter as reflected light meter. Most, if not all, hand held meters allow both incident and reflected readings. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
