Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/04/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I am sure not everyone understands this but - no you don't. Since you are measuring the light impinging on the subject rather than that reflected by it it does not matter what colours etc are in the scene when you use an incident meter. It measures the actual light intensity so black will appear black without correction and white will appear white without correction as their presence has no influence whatever on the reading. A compromise may still be used to achieve a desired effect, for example if the contrast exceeds the film capacity. Reflective meters are always "wrong" and need interpretation. The complex matrix type meters take more into account than other meters and the interpretation is done by a calculation in the camera, The results are usually excellent. An expert using a spot meter to take multiple readings of a scene can calculate exactly the effect he or she wants. OTOH an incident meter is always right as long as it is correctly used and calibrated (that is needed for all meters of course). Some believe that incident meters are less appropriate for landscapes as one does not have access to the subject to place the meter correctly but it is usually not beyond the wit of a man to measure a local light level the same as that impinging on the subject. Perhaps if one is in a dense forest taking a scene in full sunlight through the tree trunks one may have a problem - hasn't happened to me often. Certainly in-camera meters are more convenient and they have been around so long that I think the use of incident meters is little understood these days by most camera users. cheers Frank > Andrew Moore wrote >> A hand held meter is simple to use, quick and fool proof. > > Almost, anyway -- I suppose black still absorbs and white still > reflects > more like, so even with an incident reading you still need to take > that into > account, right? - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html