Pocket light meter

canon400d

Can anyone please tell me if these small pocket light meters are useful when taking photos? Or is it just another piece of gear one doesn't need.
Cheers
Bob

ziggy53

I honestly don't think that "ambient" light meters are terribly important for most forms of photography, as long as you properly use the metering capability of most modern digital cameras. The addition of a gray/grey card for metering can help too.

A flash/incident meter really "can" be a benefit for those using manual flash units, either battery powered manual flashes or AC powered pack or monolights.

A meter which measures both ambient/available light and incident/flash light can make an easier task of setting ratios of ambient to incident lighting, but I still prefer to "proof" the light with sample captures.

If you should decide that a meter is important to your photography, choose one with at very least 1/3rd stop accuracy. (That can still mean up to a 2/3rd stop error [using multiple lights], but it's better than those with only a 1/2 stop accuracy or worse.)

canon400d

ziggy53 wrote: »

I honestly don't think that "ambient" light meters are terribly important for most forms of photography, as long as you properly use the metering capability of most modern digital cameras. The addition of a gray/grey card for metering can help too.

A flash/incident meter really "can" be a benefit for those using manual flash units, either battery powered manual flashes or AC powered pack or monolights.

A meter which measures both ambient/available light and incident/flash light can make an easier task of setting ratios of ambient to incident lighting, but I still prefer to "proof" the light with sample captures.

If you should decide that a meter is important to your photography, choose one with at very least 1/3rd stop accuracy. (That can still mean up to a 2/3rd stop error, but it's better than those with only a 1/2 stop accuracy or worse.)

Thanks Ziggy I appreciate what you have told me.
Bob

ian408

I have a Sekonic meter. I rarely use it except when I'm shooting with studio lighting, then I will always meter my shots. It's also useful when you want to see what the difference between the dark and light parts of a scene (in spot mode).

The short answer is that they are useful but I don't always use it.

thegridrunner

I also have a Sekonic meter (L-758cine) which I use a lot for video. When using it with continous lighting and trying to get consistant contrast ratios from scene to scene, light meters are indispensable. Also situations where mixed lighting is involved, it is easier and quicker to get repeatable results with a light meter. A DSLR histogram will not give you specific information on certain parts of the shot that you are interested in unless you spotmeter.

Dreadnote

As has been mentioned, it depends on the subject and method that you are using. Just bear in mind that reflected and incident light are different things. To illustrate, point your camera at a piece of black or white paper and snap a shot using the in camera metering on aperture or shutter priority modes. Then use an incident meter to read the light hitting the scene. You will notice strikingly different results.

thegridrunner

Exactly, lightmeters measure incident light (amount of light actually reaching your subject) while camera lights measure reflected light off your subject. Here is an example where lightmeters come in handy http://www.sekonic.com/Classroom/MeteringTechniques/IncidentvsReflected.aspx

canon400d

thegridrunner wrote: »

Exactly, lightmeters measure incident light (amount of light actually reaching your subject) while camera lights measure reflected light off your subject. Here is an example where lightmeters come in handy http://www.sekonic.com/Classroom/MeteringTechniques/IncidentvsReflected.aspx

Thanks everyone very helpful indeed and much appreciated.
Bob

cmason

Originally, light meters were very useful, as camera's didn't have very good light meters (or no light meters). Most were extremely basic.

Now we have what are comparably high end computers in our camera, most of which are measuring light at multiple spots within the scene. In other words, current camera's have very good light meters.

If you are shooting film they come in handy to better ensure you have the scene lit correctly, as there is no ability to 'chimp' with film.

These days, an external light meter is not as important as it used to be, aside from what is mentioned above: comparing from scene to scene or analyzing a spot.

canon400d

cmason wrote: »

Originally, light meters were very useful, as camera's didn't have very good light meters (or no light meters). Most were extremely basic.

Now we have what are comparably high end computers in our camera, most of which are measuring light at multiple spots within the scene. In other words, current camera's have very good light meters.

If you are shooting film they come in handy to better ensure you have the scene lit correctly, as there is no ability to 'chimp' with film.

These days, an external light meter is not as important as it used to be, aside from what is mentioned above: comparing from scene to scene or analyzing a spot.

Once again very sound advice. I have ordered one but from what I have been told I don't think I will get a lot of use.
Bob

paddler4

I haven't used an ambient light meter since I first got a good in- camera spot meter (Canon FTb in 1971).

thegridrunner

Light meters are very good for analyzing a scene for green screen work, or any type of video or film work flow. It can save you from clipping the highlights or not perserving enough shadow detail in a scene. I noticed when I used my camera meter only (before I had a light meter), I made more mistakes because the camera meter was fooled by the amount of reflected light (In fact, once I got the meter, complex lighting scenes became much easier to shoot). I shoot with a Nikon D800, D7000 and sometimes with the Canon 5D3 and 5D2 and all of these cameras can be fooled by overly bright or dark scenes. A lightmeter will tell you exactly how much light (natural or flash) is reaching your subject regardless of how light or dark a scene is. For general photography, I don't use a light meter much because the internal meter of the camera will usually get me close, plus I shoot raw which gives me at least one stop safety margin up or down. For composed photography or video where I am setting up the scene and the lights (as in a movie set), I definitely use one. Most DSLR video cameras don't shoot raw video, so your final exposures don't have much room for correcting a clipped highlight or crushed shadow, hence the light meter are indispensable.
Note: if you use your DSLR camera in a video rig with a follow focus, matte-box, external monitor and recorder, it isn't practical to take your camera off to do spot metering on a 18% grey card. It would take too much time to dissemble (having ten people waiting on you to finish is not pretty), and looks pretty unprofessional on the set. Light meters are better and faster.

canon400d

thegridrunner wrote: »

Light meters are very good for analyzing a scene for green screen work, or any type of video or film work flow. It can save you from clipping the highlights or not perserving enough shadow detail in a scene. I noticed when I used my camera meter only (before I had a light meter), I made more mistakes because the camera meter was fooled by the amount of reflected light (In fact, once I got the meter, complex lighting scenes became much easier to shoot). I shoot with a Nikon D800, D7000 and sometimes with the Canon 5D3 and 5D2 and all of these cameras can be fooled by overly bright or dark scenes. A lightmeter will tell you exactly how much light (natural or flash) is reaching your subject regardless of how light or dark a scene is. For general photography, I don't use a light meter much because the internal meter of the camera will usually get me close, plus I shoot raw which gives me at least one stop safety margin up or down. For composed photography or video where I am setting up the scene and the lights (as in a movie set), I definitely use one. Most DSLR video cameras don't shoot raw video, so your final exposures don't have much room for correcting a clipped highlight or crushed shadow, hence the light meter are indispensable.
Note: if you use your DSLR camera in a video rig with a follow focus, matte-box, external monitor and recorder, it isn't practical to take your camera off to do spot metering on a 18% grey card. It would take too much time to dissemble (having ten people waiting on you to finish is not pretty), and looks pretty unprofessional on the set. Light meters are better and faster.

Well it has arrived and after looking at it and reading the instructions. I am sorry to say it is Double Dutch to me. I do use a 7D and 5D 11. So I honestly believe it is £20 down the drain. I am not a professional but would class myself reasonably well up the scale in the learning stages.
Cheers
Bob