Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]<I guess I have a question for the pros on the list. If you are shooting neg film outside with mixed sun and clouds and you want shadow detail, how do you use your incident meters? Do you simply shade the meter dome with your hand, or put the meter in shade, and take a reading, then shoot away? Is the procedure essentially the same as with chrome film except now you're giving more weight to the shadow exposure, as opposed to the highlight exposure?> I use and incident meter with chrome films, and in-camera meters on auto with color neg films. With a tricky situation (bride with lot's of white dress in the frame, or in snow) I also use the incident meter with neg films. I always have the incident meter with me. For B&W, after lots of testing and testing I've developed a method that uses a simplified zone system based on incident readings. It's fast and it works in most situations. The whole zone system is based on developing each negative differently, which you just can't do with roll film. Where there is a very wide tonal range there is nothing to replace spot readings and sheet film for B&W. Tom