Well now, if I was across the valley from what I was photographing and it was in direct sunlight I would hold my incident meter in direct sunlight between my camera and the scene with the meter pointed at the camera. If it was in shadow I would hold the meter in shadow and follow the exact same procedure as above. But, you say, what if the scene is in direct sun and there is a cloud or something preventing me from getting a direct sun reading, I need a spot meter for that don't I? Nope, just close down a couple of stops from the meter reading and shoot away. The thing is, with a little experience, you have a good idea of the adjustment needed in just about any situation. The incident meter gives you the baseline exposure and experience gives you the proper adjustment.
The standard way to use an incident meter, for the benefit of the original poster, is to use the dome, hold the meter at the subject, point it at the camera, and take your reading. The disk is used for light balancing readings which are usually only used with artificial lighting though they can sometimes be useful in other situations. The incident meter used with the dome, as mentioned above, gives you the equivalent of a gray card reading without the fuss and bother. Experience tells you how to compensate for different tones, etc. In fact, unless you are doing custom processing of your film to rigorous standards, ala zone system, the incident meter will give you just as accurate an exposure as a spot meter. Better, if you are not extremely skilled with that spot meter. Ciao, graywolf [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: Shel Belinkoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To me it's not a given, as it seems that with landscapes there's often > something in the distance that's part of the scene. And with landscapes > there are times when parts of a scene are in deep shadow or in bright > light. Perhaps I am pickier than most, but I want to know exactly what > the range of light is in a scene so that I, not an averaging meter, can > choose where the highlights and shadows will fall. - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
