Which metering mode do you use most?

[Bosk]

Greetings photogs!


After many months of absence from these boards I've returned, having renewed my interest in rangefinder photography after a well-needed break from poking my Leica in the faces of strangers.:o


Given that I'm planning on purchasing a handheld digital lightmeter of some sort by the end of the month (I'm leaning towards one of the entry-level Sekonics) I thought it might be interesting to post a topic discussing which metering mode you prefer to use most often when out in the field, and why.

Please feel free to vote in the poll, and if you wish to also let us know why you tend to favor the metering mode you do, or why you use a combination of modes if that's your thing.

Apologies if similar threads have been posted but I've been unable to find any.

Cheers, Bosk.

[blacklight]

sunny 16, tbh

[Jocko]

Although I think incident is best, I tend to favour reflective metering, as I have lost the bit of white glass from my Leningrad 8 :(

Persons with such a bit are invited to pm :)

Cheers, Ian

[pvdhaar]

Reflective, from a middle grey object. Set the camera to the aperture/shutter combination (which appears to be 1/125 at f8 all the time)..

[maddoc]

reflective ... using either the build-in meter (Leica MP) or hand-held (Gossen Digisix) with the M3

[rogue_designer]

handheld incident most of the time. Just for a general idea of a reading, then I adjust by eye.

[f/stopblues]

Incident from a basic Sekonic 308 all the time.

It's simple. Meter light, meter shadow, forget it til the conditions change. When I used TTL I felt obligated to fine tune the metering every time I brought the camera to my eye. It really affected how I concentrated on what I was shooting because I was so preoccupied. I heart incident :D

[iml]

Inbuilt spot + a bit of judgement. I've trained myself to avoid re-metering for every shot unless the light is very changeable.

Ian

[jky]

reflected, centre wt or sunny 16

[oftheherd]

For me it's what's at hand. If using my SLRs or any other camera with a trusted meter, it will be reflective almost exclusively. With a meterless cameras, it used to be incident almost exclusively since I had a Sekonic incident meter with a large dome. Now that the Sekonic got dropped one to many times, I moved to a Gossen Luna Pro and Luna Pro SBC. Probably use reflective more than I used to. I just don't get as warm a fuzzy with the small incident domes on those meters.

[GeneW]

When I carry my Sekonic L-308 I prefer incident metering. When I pop on my CV I meter, it's reflective. If I forget to bring a meter it's sunny-16 with some adjustments for breezes :)

[ndnbrunei]

Incident with a Luna Pro - very simple and surprisingly reliable.

[Toby]

Incident for medium format. With my bessa I just point at grass or grayish tarmac and meter off that with a bit of sunny 16 thrown in.

[ibcrewin]

Incident from a basic Sekonic 308 all the time.

It's simple. Meter light, meter shadow, forget it til the conditions change. When I used TTL I felt obligated to fine tune the metering every time I brought the camera to my eye. It really affected how I concentrated on what I was shooting because I was so preoccupied. I heart incident :D
This is basically what I do but use the ttl instead of a hand held meter. It's amazing how many times I'll put the camera up to my eye and it's already properly set.

[colyn]

I find myself mainly using reflected metering but am trying to use incident more..

[RayPA]

As usual, it depends. I voted incident, but I use all three, including one other method not mentioned: sunny 16 (which is really incident).

:)

[ErnestoJL]

Mostly reflected, sometimes incident and spot when getting my exp. meter close to the subject.

Ernesto

[nightfly]

Combination of Sunny 16, guesstimate and whatever is written on the inside of a box of Neopan 1600 for low light.

Works surprisingly well.

[raid]

I mainly use a spotmeter. Even when using an averaging meter, I point the lens to a small area and then adjust in my mind the overall exposure. When the weather is perfect, I use the Sunny 16 or Sunny 11 rule depending on the time of the day and the location. In Europe, I use the Sunny 11 rule, whereas in Florida I use the Sunny 16 rule.

Raid

[payasam]

Incident is the most reliable, but sometimes distance makes reflected the only option. An "incident" reading can be had by taking a reading off the palm of a hand with a TTL meter -- if the light on the palm is the same as that on the subject -- and opening up one stop.

[emraphoto]

center weighted... meter my hand and go from there.

[Michael I.]

ambient usually

[hobbim]

Inbuild reflective most of the time. Spot when the lightning is tricky and I really want it right. More and more often no meter when the lightning is easy, even if the meter is built in.

I miss incident metering mostly at low light when the light level is not enough for spot. Incident metering often works at lower light. I'm currently considering a spot/incident combinate because of that (and a caple more features I miss on my current spot).

[OurManInTangier]

Incident metering with exposure correction as necessary from my sekonic meter with my Leica or spot metering for anything shot with my SLR's.

I assumed when I first saw this thread it was about AP or Manual etc....I'm fully manual most of the time but love AP when I'm working quickly with my SLR's and AF...I'm such a sucker for whizzy bangy bits but love my Leica for its simplicity

[PHOTOEIL]

With the M5, I consider it as somewhat spotmetering, otherwise I mostly use indecent with the Variosix for colour slides and the Pentax Spot Meter, a very fine instrument, for B&W neg..

[Diomedes]

Mostly incident, sometimes reflected...

[wilt]

Incident with a Calculight XP plus brain and eye.

[jplomley]

Sekonic -558 1 degree spot meter. If I don't have time to meter, I'll use AE lock on my Mamiya 7. It is very accurate, provided you know what to meter off of and how to compensate.

[ash13brook]

Here's a link to the one I use.

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

When you see it, you'll think I'm a wise guy, but I took this chart, condensed it to the stuff I needed, printed it about two inches square in an Exel spreadsheet, cut it out, and laminated it. I regularly shoot Kodachrome 200 with it without any problems (after a little practice of course). I haven't carried my meter in over a year.