How do YOU meter?

[thomasjmpark]

I probably do it the daftest way! I pretty much always use spot meter and try and get the average tone of the scene. Then its trial and error until I get the correct exposure. It works brilliantly for landscape photography but would need to learn how to do it properly for sports, or when the subject is fast moving and i need to do things in a hurry (i guess you would set up beforehand for that though).

[Lowell Goudge]

Originally Posted by anomaly

When I first got my K10D, I was a little put off.. all those buttons were intimidating for someone coming from a K1000.

But now I LOVE those buttons. Particularly the green button and AE-L button.

In most situations nowadays I find myself spot metering my subject in manual mode and pressing the green button to get the exposure accurate. From there if I need to change the aperture or shutter speed I simply press the AE-L button and change them to my heart's content.

This working process has been working great for me but the issue I am having is, is there a way to make the AE-L to STAY on? It goes off after one shot, which is fine most of the time because I have the settings where I want them, but it can still be a pain.

How do you guys approach metering in different situations?

I basically use manual mode as you do, and spot meter on what I want. If i then need to change the apature for one specific shot, to get depth of field, I simply go back and re-meter.

One mode I would love, that existed on my PZ-1 and does not exist today is Hyper Manual. this was essentually a perminent AE lock, where with AE lenses you could press the green button and that would lock the exposure value, you could then spin the two thumb wheels to your hearts content, to change either apature or shutter independantly, and the camera would automatically change the other to maintain exposure.

I have not tried it, but you could possibly try the menu item that sets the green button function to the program line if the lens, although I suspect this will move shutter to match focal length and / or apature to optimum image quality

[Canada_Rockies]

Originally Posted by Lowell Goudge

I basically use manual mode as you do, and spot meter on what I want. If i then need to change the apature for one specific shot, to get depth of field, I simply go back and re-meter.

One mode I would love, that existed on my PZ-1 and does not exist today is Hyper Manual. this was essentually a perminent AE lock, where with AE lenses you could press the green button and that would lock the exposure value, you could then spin the two thumb wheels to your hearts content, to change either apature or shutter independantly, and the camera would automatically change the other to maintain exposure.

I have not tried it, but you could possibly try the menu item that sets the green button function to the program line if the lens, although I suspect this will move shutter to match focal length and / or apature to optimum image quality

Hold down the AE-L and the K10D will go into hyper manual. Unfortunately, only on A and later lenses. That's ok though, I can count

[24X36NOW]

Me, I usually take an incident light reading with my Gossen Luna Pro SBC handheld meter and shoot at the indicated exposure manually.

[Lowell Goudge]

Originally Posted by 24X36NOW

Me, I usually take an incident light reading with my Gossen Luna Pro SBC handheld meter and shoot at the indicated exposure manually.

so much for High tech in the cameras

[Canada_Rockies]

Originally Posted by Lowell Goudge

so much for High tech in the cameras

While testing my M 400/5.6, I used the sunny 16 rule. No light meter. Nada. (Shots on my Flickr site).

[24X36NOW]

Originally Posted by Lowell Goudge

so much for High tech in the cameras

Heh, indeed. But when you strip down how light metering works, it is based on an assumption that allows it to be easily fooled (the assumption being that any given scene coming through the camera's lens will reflect, on average, the amount reflected by a mid-tone gray). The ever higher tech cameras do not escape the boundaries of this basic assumption, they just use multiple readings and computer algorithms and such to make the guesswork more sophisticated. At the end of the day, however, while the successful proportion of guesses might improve, correct exposures from reflected light meters remain a happy accident based on the same original assumption being used in a more sophisticated fashion.

An incident light reading, by contrast, strips the metering process down to one without guesswork, since incident meters measure the light directly, giving you an accurate exposure every time. Only brightly lit scenes with lots of snow or sand (which add reflected light to the original source) need any "compensation" vs. the original reading. In bright sun, of course, (assuming you're not within 2 hrs of sunrise or sunset) Sunny 16 works like a charm, and you don't even need a meter, as Canada_Rockies indicated.

[PDL]

I use what is necessary given the situation --- maybe that's why Pentax gave us the possiblity of using one of the three. When in doubt - think about it.

Oh - I always shoot full frame --- it means I use all the pixels available on the sensor - whether it is APS-C, 135 or 4x5.

The Elitist - fomerly known as PDL

[krs]

I pretty much spot meter in manual. Have not used the AE-L button at all, but I will have to get out the manual and camera and play with this feature a bit!

Thanks for the additional insight!

[filmamigo]

I'm with 24x36NOW.

Unfortunately I get lulled into the convenience of on-board metering every time I use one of my cameras where the meter works...

When shooting motion picture film I only use a handheld incident meter. With my Spotmatic F, Canon TL or Yashica 12, the meters are all un-trustworthy -- because of battery issues, age, crudity, etc. So I also use a handheld meter with them. (A Sekonic L-328 Digilite F).

Once I pull out an SLR with a good meter, I get lazy and start to doubt myself. I rely on centre-weighted or matrix.

The result -- exposures taken with my modern cameras are all over the place. I do a lot of exposure adjustments in Lightroom everytime I use my *ist DL!

But I have never had one inaccurate exposure using my icident meter. I find it so intuitive and accurate. Even for landscapes, it makes sense to me for the icident dome to stand in for the subject. The incident dome is always pointed back at the camera lens, and if I want to expose for highlights, I make sure the meter is held in the open sunlight. If I want to cheat to bring out the colour of the sky, I tip the meter to capture more light from the sky. If I want to expose for shadows, then I walk the meter into the shadow, or simply hold my hand over the meter to cast a shadow. It sounds very involved, and it means more walking around, but I find it very intuitive. I can really get a handle on the contrast ratios in a scene by walking around with the meter.

My Sekonic was the best photographic investment I've ever made. Cameras come and go, but that meter is a trusty companion.

[deludel]

Originally Posted by m8o

I thoght maybe there was something I didn't know about how AE-L operates in M mode, but I just did a test and found the AE-L does stay on across multiple shots in M mode... the issue I think is for how long, which may not be long enought for your need.

There's a time option for the number of seconds under the Advanced Options, as "Meter Operating Time". I can't change mine as my LCD is broken but I'm pretty sure I have mine set to 3 seconds presently (10 seconds is the default), and that's how long the AE-L is staying on too. I know in the past when I had it on 10 or 30 seconds, AE-L stayed on longer too, so I'm assuming it was for that same amount of time. I note as long as you turn a dial within what's set for the meter time , the meter display stays on, and the AE-L stays locked.

Originally Posted by anomaly

Ah ha! So it doesn't turn off when you take a shot, it just stays on with the meter..

Well with it set for 30 seconds I think I can live with that.

I was thumbing through my manual looking for something completely different, and found the piece on this, I think it's p 162 in the manual (I was in the pdf, p164). It says:

"The exposure remains in memory for twice as much time as the metering timer after releasing the AE-L button. The exposure remains locked as long as the AE-L button is kept pressed or the shutter release button is pressed halfway"

Regarding that first sentence that I put in bold, does this mean if you set the metering timer to 10sec, then the exposure remains in memory for 20sec?

Anomoly, regarding your original post .... It also says, same page,
"The combination of shutter speed and aperture value changes depending on the zooming position even while the AE-L lock is engaged when using a zoom lens for which maximum aperture varies depending on focal length. However, the exposure value does not change and the picture is taken at the brightness level set by the AE lock."

Lastly, if anyone's looking, the manual talks about setting the Meter Operating Time on p 143 of the manual, p 145 of the pdf.

[Mechan1k]

Wow ... this is some great information .... I haven't even touched on metering at all ... I mainly use centre-spot metering ... but to varying effect in different conditions.

I need to read through this thread again though ... just to make sure I understand it all ... I really am a n00b still. But from what i read here ... it makes Manual less daunting to use.

I might spend a day outside just using these tips and see what my results are like after some use.

[deludel]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

I need to read through this thread again though ... just to make sure I understand it all ... I really am a n00b still. But from what i read here ... it makes Manual less daunting to use.

I might spend a day outside just using these tips and see what my results are like after some use.

To share my experience, I began reading this thread several weeks ago. I'm taking an online course, and my learning is ongoing. Yesterday I went back and printed, highlighted, and re-read the thread, and it made SO much more sense!

The same can be said for the user manual - when I first got the camera, most of the manual was greek to me. But just exposing myself to these forums + online courses + real life practice has brought me back to the manual on several occasions .. each time, something new makes sense to me!

Happy learning ..

[simons-photography]

Originally Posted by anomaly

Yeah I am shooting in Manual.

The issue for me is.. say I am shooting a portrait and I do my whole spot metering thing and AE Lock and adjust my depth of field to be what I want it to be and take a few shots. Then I want to move from say.. f/8 to f/2.8

In such a scenario I am going to have to be spinning both dials, trying stop one up and the other down at the same rate to maintain my exposure. Either that or remember what my exposure settings were and do a quick calculation in my head OR do the whole spot metering + Green Button + AE-L + DOF/Shutter speed manipulation again.

This is why I was wondering if it was possible to stop the AE-L from switching off when you take a shot. It is not a HUGE pain in manual mode, but if I dare venture into Av mode it becomes a pain.

then why not use Av ? and use the compensation button to correct the cameras short comings I take it that you want constant exposure but freedom to vary the aperture to control DOF ?

[simonkit]

Pretty much always use AV mode...

Front dial set for "EXP comp"

Rear dial set for Aperture

Take the shot, check the histogram (RGB) and dial in E-Comp - when I'm in changeable lighting I always use bracketing too, always try to "shoot to the right" to catch maximum detail/minimise shadow noise.

Simon