RDKirk
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 p.2 #7 · Light Meters Still Relevant | |
I actually think light meters are still very relevant. I find it much easier to use a light meter and measure all my lights individually ( I have elinchrom's and the skyport system) while being able to adjust each light .1 stop up or down from the meter. It's much faster than setting them, running to the camera, taking a shot, adjusting them etc. I can get the exact setting I want much faster that way.
Since I began using my 5D2 in Live View mode for nearly all my portraits, and because I use flash with full wireless remote control of power and modeling lights, I've found myself using my meter less and less.
I use a variation of Chuck's towel--a textured white plastic panel--to set the base exposure, and the 5D2 Live View works fine to set the lighting ratio. What I see is what I get, and certainly all the detail I can see on the big screen will be captured in the image.
I've used ratios for decades, and with film they are a necessity to get consistent results. Now, not so much. Nor with wireless control of lights is it such a convenience to set them up while metering them individually from the subject position.
My I've got three Sekonic meters (an ancient Studio DeLux I bought in a pawn shop in 1972, an L-358, and an L-558) as well as a Pentax spotmeter from my "f/64" days (no batteries for it, though). I still use the L-558 when I don't have control of the light.
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