I'm making a foray into film and decided I should get a light meter. I bought a used Sekonic L-508 which has both incident and spot metering. Messing around with the K-5 and Sekonic, I found the readings didn't really match up. So I took a picture of the blue sky, the histogram was spiked in the center. I then spot metered the sky. I used the compensation function to dial in 3AV to bring the meter in line with the K-5's shutter, ISO and aperture. I used a gray card in the shade to meter off of with the K-5, and then matched those settings on the Sekonic by dialing in a -1AV for the incident reading.
Does this sound like a decent calibration method? I went around metering things and taking shots with the K-5. I found that if I spot metered off a shaded green bush, I needed to speed up the shutter 2 stops to bring the histogram near center. When metering off a gray cloud, with silver lining, I sped up the shutter a couple stops to bring the histogram to center. The incident meter seemed to get the K-5 in the ballpark when metering in front of a tan shed, while the meter was facing the direction the sun. In shade, facing away from the sun, I generally had to slow the shutter down a couple stops. Does this sound like the way an accurate light meter works? I've never used one. Any thoughts appreciated. I realize all this hinges on the K-5 being accurate, and assuming the film cameras will work with the same meter readout as the K-5. I probably should have just purchased a new model, but good ones are expensive! Thanks, -- Kent Brede http://kentonbrede.com/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
