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06-28-2020, 08:57 AM - 1 Like   #31
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QuoteOriginally posted by GUB Quote
It never occurred to me to meter anything.
I wasn't thinking of this as a test of metering.
It would be reasonable to presume the meter would have tried to place the greycard on the centre of the histogram in both situations wouldn't it? (spotmeter).
I would expect that metering the grey card would have returned EV 15 if the light were actually appropriate for Sunny 16. Doing an incident light measurement would also have been a good check. Doing so tests the rule against standard-referenced instrumentation.*

The problem with histograms is that they represent the output intent of the rendering/processing engine and not the light intensity. A good example of how that works is to simply add one stop brightness/exposure in a tool such as Lightroom. Instead of the histogram shifting right one stop, the tool changes the curve shape. Similar is done on import, even with JPEGs.


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* Some care should be taken with metering that the measurement is of the grey/gray card and not the rest of the frame. As noted, this is one of the cases where the spot meter is one's friend.

06-28-2020, 09:03 AM   #32
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Well. . . I went out this afternoon to try to grab some snaps in the quite tricky light of patches of cloud with bursts of sunlight passing across the landscape, hoping to show some examples of through-the-lens matrix metering getting it hopelessly wrong. And in every case the matrix metering in the GX-10 hit it bang on the nose -- same exposure I would have judged by eye using Sunny 16. It underexposed by 1/3 stop in one or two cases, but that's no problem.

So that's me taught.
06-28-2020, 09:10 AM - 1 Like   #33
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QuoteOriginally posted by Dartmoor Dave Quote
Well. . . I went out this afternoon to try to grab some snaps in the quite tricky light of patches of cloud with bursts of sunlight passing across the landscape, hoping to show some examples of through-the-lens matrix metering getting it hopelessly wrong. And in every case the matrix metering in the GX-10 hit it bang on the nose -- same exposure I would have judged by eye using Sunny 16. It underexposed by 1/3 stop in one or two cases, but that's no problem.

So that's me taught.
The matrix metering is pretty amazing, enough so that it is tempting to get lazy shooting with the K-3.


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06-28-2020, 09:17 AM   #34
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
The matrix metering is pretty amazing, enough so that it is tempting to get lazy shooting with the K-3.

It's left me wondering if I should forget about Sunny 16, take the Sekonic out of my bag, and just use matrix from now on. But they're sort of a safety blanket.

06-28-2020, 01:39 PM   #35
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QuoteOriginally posted by Dartmoor Dave Quote
It's left me wondering if I should forget about Sunny 16, take the Sekonic out of my bag, and just use matrix from now on. But they're sort of a safety blanket.
My Sekonic L-208 is always in the bag.


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06-28-2020, 02:01 PM - 1 Like   #36
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
My Sekonic L-208 is always in the bag.


Steve
And hopefully my guessometer will never leave my brain!
06-28-2020, 02:09 PM   #37
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
The problem with histograms is that they represent the output intent of the rendering/processing engine and not the light intensity.
Fair point - although I left the screenshot image in their native state, it meant the base curve was on. I should have zeroed it. Interestingly the grey card points never shifted in the histogram from this although the ends of the histo did (just like you describe.)
I consider the incamera histogram more valuable than a meter because it is checking the clipping point as well as the general exposure.

06-28-2020, 03:00 PM - 2 Likes   #38
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QuoteOriginally posted by GUB Quote
I consider the incamera histogram more valuable than a meter because it is checking the clipping point as well as the general exposure.
Yes, those are very helpful, though I have to remember that it is based on the in-camera JPEG preview and reflects whatever custom image settings are being applied. I know...the complexity of it all, it never ends.


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06-28-2020, 04:04 PM   #39
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
I know...the complexity of it all, it never ends.
Funny thing tho - if you shoot raw in manual mode, utilise iso-invariance and guess/check exposure in histo then things get very simple.
Boils down to - is this the appropriate aperture for the shot -- is this an appropriate shutter speed for the shot -- am i clipping the histo - then go for it!
06-28-2020, 04:07 PM   #40
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
Yes, those are very helpful, though I have to remember that it is based on the in-camera JPEG preview
I am never in jpg so these settings stay unchanged. (except that blimmin custom image button that keeps getting bumped!)
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