cgardner
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
Zenon Char wrote:
That is what what I want it for - manual. When I'm using flash in that mode I want precise control.
If I use ETTL then it will sit on top of my camera and I'll just chimp using the histogram and experience - haha. Won't use the light meter until a better option like Sekonic or someone else comes up with a Canon friendly transmitter module for the L-358. Not gonna hold my breath. If they do they will come up with a newer version meter so I will have to spend more money. Even then if I have the time I always prefer to use manual.
Of course even in ETTL there are ways around it. Have the person hold the L-358 or something like that. Not very professional unless you have an assistant.
When I first got my L-358 I discovered it's readings didn't produce correctly exposed highlights. The reason was the camera's actual ISO when set at 100 was actually around 120. Exposure was 1/3 stop off. That was easily fixed using the compensation feature on the L-358 (press both ISO buttons, turn dial until it reads .3 stops).
The way I determined the meter needed 1/3 stop compensation to match the camera was by shooting a white towel hung on a stand and bracketing the exposure around the f/5.6 meter reading with aperture. I used the towel rather than a piece of white paper because it had texture that disappeared if overexposed.
By comparing the highlight detail in the shots on the comptuer I found the f/6.3 exposure best reproduced the white target. When I added the .3 compensaton factor the meter read 6.3 instead of 5.6 and all the subsequent meter readings where accurate.
Then it occured to me it was simpler and faster to simply fire off a few test shots at a white towel on a stand where the face of my subject would be, before then even arrrived, adjusting lights until it was just below the point of clipping in the playback.
For determining whether or not the lighting ratio fit the scene to the range of the camera I later added a black terry towel. Fill controls shadow detail, Key light overlaps fill to control highlight detail. With E-TTL A:B ratios with Master on the camera A =Fill and B= Key. I'd adjust FEC to get the highilights below clipping, then adjust the A:B ratio until I could see the detail in the black towel. That happens when the A:B ratio is 1:2, meaning incident strength of key light is 2x greater than fill:
H:S
1:1 A Group Fill
2:0 B Group Key
==
3:1 Highlight:Shadow ratio
I get the same results in M mode when I shoot from 8ft with Group A fill on bracket with the Slave in Group B at 5-1/2 feet at the same power level. Due to the inverse square law the key light at 5-1/2 feet is 2x brighter than the fill at 8ft, the same 3:1 ratio and the same result; a full range of detail from black towel (or suit coat) to white towel (or white shirt collar) with everything in between rendered as seen by eye.
The histogram is a very poor tool for precise exposure control but the clipping warning is like a million zone spot metering system for highlights with the clipping warning is enabled in the playback. Try it and you may find, as I did, that the hand held metering is redundant, because after taking the reading what do we do? Take a test shot to confirm it was correct. How do we determine that? Visually based on the clipping warning and shadow detail in the playback.
|
