Do I REALLY need a light meter for Film Photography?

🎥 About This Video....
Do you need a light meter for your film photography?
Maybe yes, maybe no! It all depends on your camera and what you shoot.
But they are very useful to have even if you think you don’t need one.
In this video I go over how I use Incident and Reflective metering with examples.
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😊 ABOUT MY VIDEOS
If my videos inspire, create ideas and help others in film photography and darkroom work then it's worth making them.
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[@anta40]

For me: yes. - Most medium format gears don't have built-in lightmeter. - Sunny 16 and its variants don't work on indoor setting. So? Get a Sekonic/Gossen etc.

[@danem2215]

Sunny 16 or a full minute spot metering every bit of a scene, I know what my ADHD ass is choosing.

[@stevenmccaughan2752]

Me and my photography friends have a drinking game one person will point at a subject and another person has to give the exposure if you miss you have to take a drink

[@m00dawg]

It's weird to see Roger sitting on the proper side of the car ;)

[@SnowmansApartment]

i am always wondering if it is possible to just be very good at guessing the values. It feels like something you could learn to be good at

[@bigshooter461]

you do get to understand better what light you have and how conditions like being in open shadow from buildings in mid day sun affects how much light you still have, a meter is a great aid in this for confirming or informing when you are close or way off.

[@largophoto]

Roger ..the Astohori old dog here ...I still go by your hat rule..which is even more accurate .,..if you're hat is on its probably a hot possibly a sunny day and will be 250 th at f8.3 ...if your hat is off and the light is flat it will be 60 th at f6.7 ..I think spot meter is a bit extreme ..and only has relevance it you point towards a grey card ..other wise the photogs can take three shots if it is so critical

[@scrptwic]

Somebody gave me a Minolta light meter I had no use for it until I got a Pentax Spotamatic SP11 with a bad light meter Photographing the moon with my DSLR is interesting in the metering my Pentax K3-11 wants to raise the ISO up to 6400 if I photograph it at that it comes back looking like a flashlight I have to put the camera in manuel mode drop the ISO to 100, 400 for my shutter speed and F-8 for aperture for a proper espourser of the moon

[@fintonmainz7845]

If you have a mirrorless or dslr, can you use that as a "light meter"?

[@drtools9226]

Yes or an lightmeter app ;) or sunny 16 rule ;)

[@impressionsoflight9263]

You don’t need a meter with flash. Aperture = Guide number/distance. If you’re flash has a guide number of 32, subject is 3 meters from the flash, your aperture will be f11 @iso 100. Change your iso to 200, the aperture will be f16, change your flash to half power, your aperture will be f8 @iso 100. Much quicker than fluffing around with meters, especially when shooting a wedding on film.

[@NeilGould]

Wonderful video Roger and are you still riding that push bike? You’re disappearing faster than my Rodinal 👍.

[@andyvan5692]

this is the reason for the feature of exposure LOCK, on the digital cameras, you use the 3D metering system (reflective), and meter the grass (zone 5 {18% grey}) and LOCK exposure, recompose, and shoot; one other compelling reason to get one, I shoot LF, a sinar F2 so I need to know not just exposure, but if any glare or flare is present, so whether or not to use ND or polarising filters; so a SPOT meter is my friend too, it shows what zone I have in my scene, what contrast is there (for film printing), and, for my Hasselblad 500c\m what EV it is, so here I can set ev and shoot at what ever shutter or aperture I need or want, still safe in the knowledge my film is safe, it will be exposed correctly, so saving my $17 for the roll.

[@hoggif]

I used to train estimating light by making my estimate first and checking with light meter after that. After a while I noticed I got pretty good for estimating for B&W but not for something like slides. It was a life saver once when my battery run out and I had a mechanical camera to shoot but with no meter. That being said, for tricky shots, low light, or slides nothing beats a 1 degree spot meter for my subjects like landscapes and architecture. With that you can nail it just right. Especially with expensive film like say 4x5" slides I want to nail it spot on. Sometimes the slides are something like Velvia that is not made any more and I'd hate to bracket. Being on a tripod with slow camera anyway it makes no difference. For pretty constant light quick street snap it is totally another matter.

[@JDCarnin]

I use a Kodalux L (the old and large version) mounted on my Kodak Retina 1a, which, despite its age of about 65 years and the fact that it’s powered by a selenium cell, is absolute spot on. And it is unbelievable comfortable and quick to work with. Just turn the wheel until the mark lines up and you have the chart with the values. Since it displays it like a spreadsheet in two columns instead of round like conventional analog lightmeters it’s super quick to glance at and read the values. I love that thing and it’s a perfect pairing for my favorite camera. The Retina 1a is so small and pocketable for every day carry. Got the version with the f2.8 lens and it even has a flawless documented service history for every 5 years of its life.

[@RussellEaling]

Hi Roger, I should have waited a week for this video instead of pestering you after last weeks video about how you metered to get the lightbox exposed correctly. This video explains it all and helps makes sense of metering in a clear and precise way, thank you for this video and the advice you gave last week. Saying that I am going to watch this video about 5 times and take notes and then go and put it into practice.

[@rjbiii]

Do I need a light meter? Nope, because I watched your sunny 16 video like 20 times then took my OM-1 out with no battery in it since the light meter is broken and shot a bunch of rolls and got (mostly) good results lol.

[@michaelcase8574]

If you ever shoot slide film, always use an incidental light meter. It will give you consistantly excellent results. If you shoot color film, explore a light temperature meter. They will give you accurate, consistent color at any time of the day. A gossen color meter and proper filters are very inexpensive and are all over E bay. In digtal cameras, whte balance does this for you

[@tumaprints]

Great video Roger! A nice broad spectrum look at the topic of metering. And the answer to the question is, It depends. LOL I use the tools at my disposal that will enhance my ability to achieve the desired outcome based on the situational variables. ROFL

[@TheHambo4]

Excellent video. I used to have the F90x (amongst by Nikon camera gear) and shot many fashion shows with it. It does have an excellent light meter and never let me down. I had a Minolta IVF light meter and hardly used it! Believe me you don't really need a hand held light meter if your camera has an excellent one built in, especially if you're shooting outside of a studio.

[@chucknology_]

I've always found that color film is way more forgiving than black and white. Portra for example has almost 7 full stops of dynamic range.

[@Jerry10939]

I think everyone who does photography should have a light meter. Yes, some cameras have great light meters. But generally I think a light meter should be something in their kit. Like you said it doesn’t need to be expensive.

[@davidjenkins8009]

Hi Roger, I think that was a really very good video. The only thing that you really could have added would have been useful is to have talked about dedicated flash and how the camera can meter that. You did talk about subject failure and it may have been useful to students if you had mentioned that term as they may come across it in their studies. You know I am a very critical person but as I said, an excellent video and I enjoyed watching it. Also, your enthusiasm is always good to see. Keep it up.

[@pietro-viecelli]

Great stuff! I ordered myself the original Astrhori one to use with my medium format cameras as they don't have meters.. Been using an app so far, but that's a bit annoying..

[@SloopJohnBee-vq6dw]

My phone meter app is rubbish compared with my old 1950s meter! But to be honest I rarely use either for reasons you said. 👍📸

[@michaelkonkel4394]

Which app do you use for metering? Thanks for the video!

[@ianlainchbury]

Absolutely perfect Roger... I was going to ask about incident/reflected. Perfect! Many thanks :)

[@josephasghar]

Spot meter every time. I wouldn’t leave home without it.

[@mrca2004]

When I use a light meter, I get consistent negatives and that makes camera scanning go really fast.

[@FerrisThomas]

Great stuff on incident v reflective, Rog. Well done.

[@robertgordon6362]

Excellent explanation and illustration.

[@noofynumbskull]

Got one of those zeiss cameras ,still good

[@IainHC1]

Aye John...... Got a new motor???!!

[@wdb1932]

Yes, yes I do.

[@user-ve3gh5xg9q]

Yes. Why not

[@user-ve3gh5xg9q]

Boss Roger and Mike Browne my favorite photog🇬🇧raphers💪

[@aristoioannidis7490]

Excellent tutorial Roger!