Hand Held Light Meters Digital Photography

With a handheld meter the angle of coverage is usually fixed for example 40 degrees.

Hand held light meters digital photography.

01 angle of coverage. They cannot measure light produced by a flash or studio lighting kit. With in camera through the lens meters the angle of coverage is governed by the lens you re using or the metering pattern spot versus average etc. Turn the knob around the white dome of your light meter to make it protrude.

Set your camera to manual mode and select your preferred iso and aperture. A hand held light meter is a small device that can accurately measure the light reflecting off or falling on the subject. The iso range on the meter is 6 to 12 000 with 1 3 step increments and thanks to the amorphous photocell there is no need to worry about using and charging a battery or having to use an external power source. Additionally built in memory and comparison capabilities of digital meters enable users to quickly recall and compare readings from other lights or settings to quickly draw conclusions on your light and make adjustments.

At its simplest it calculates an aperture and shutter value that you set your camera to for a correct exposure of a given scene. Set the iso and the aperture on the meter to the same values as your camera. A hand held light meter may not seem to be an essential item that you need for digital photography given that all digital cameras have a built in light metering system of some kind. Smartphones have changed many aspects of photography including metering.

Choosing a light meter eight things you need to know about light meters. A handheld light meter is a separate tool for evaluating light intensity and calculating exposure. These early light meters were designed not to measure the light reflected by the subject but rather the light falling incident on the subject and became known as incident light meters. Enter the lumu light meter for ios devices.

Some smartphone apps allow you to take a picture and determine the exposure based on that image while other manufacturers are making actual devices to turn phones into handheld light meters. How to use the hand held meter. Handheld meters originated in the early days of motion picture film and were quickly adopted by still photographers. However built in meters can only measure ambient light.

Hold the meter in front of your subject with the white dome facing the camera. It can also provide all the aperture and shutter combinations that match an exposure value. Handheld meters also feature many other dedicated functions and accessories including the ability to program for different camera models for increased accuracy. The sekonic l 398a light meter studio deluxe iii 401 399 is an ideal light meter for those who are doing still photography.

It is also favored by those in cinematography too. Some people are unfamiliar with or intimated by a hand held meter. Light meter goertek digital luxmeter illuminance meter handheld actionometer foot candle meter high accuracy 4 with lcd display one 9v battery included range 0 1 200 000 lux 0 01 20 000 fc 4 2 out of 5 stars 45.