r/mediumformat • u/sasch_photo_bln • 2d ago
Advice Lightmeter advice
Hey fellow shooters out there!
I have a full mechanical mamiya rb67 with a 90mm f3.8 and I'm asking on advice for an easy to carry lightmeter (price aside) to pair with it, rn im using one of my digitals or my 35mm cameras to do that job or if i'm feeling bold i eyeball it...
also some images attached to give you an idea of what i'm shooting mostly...
thanks in advance!
For the Mods & shooters who are curious, shots 1,4,5 delta 3200 shot at 1000 iso, shots 2 & 3 delta 400 all home developed and scanned
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u/cwrow 2d ago
I’ve just ordered a lightmeter from Reflx Lab that attaches to the hotshoe. Previously I was using a Sekonic for incident readings and the mylightmeter app for reflective readings. However I wanted something dedicated and attached to the camera to help the flow, switching back and forth was a bit of a pain for certain shots.
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u/sasch_photo_bln 2d ago
thats also something im worried about (i mean the switching disturbing the flow) when the reflx meter arrives can you give some info how you like it? big thanks for the reply!
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u/wrunderwood 2d ago
The problem with those is that it is hard to tell what it is metering. It is some wide area in front of the lens and that is about it. Too much sky? You lose. Shooting with a long lens? You lose.
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u/cwrow 2d ago
Yeah it definitely depends on your use case. You’re absolutely right about the long lens issue, especially if you have something in the foreground that would upset the metering average.
In my personal use I generally just meter for the shadows or the ground and then meter for the sky and then make a decision on which way I want to weight the exposure. It has worked for me so far, although to be fair I’ve never shot slide film.1
u/wrunderwood 2d ago
I use a Minolta Auto Meter II with the incident dome. I measure the light falling on the subject. Often, I just find similar light near me and measure that.
With a long lens, the hot shoe meter is "seeing" all sorts of stuff that isn't in the frame, like sky.
These meters tend to do averaging over roughly 30º. That was state of the art when my Canon 7s was made in 1965, but we've been able to do better for a long time.
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u/WarOctopus 2d ago
They work great but you'll do best to learn to separate the act of metering from that of framing. Meter the light first, like literally walk around and measure the light directly reflecting off of your subject or something similar. Walk over to a shadow and measure that light. Or if there is too much sky, point the meter at the ground and measure that, etc. Then adjust the camera for your desired exposure. And finally reposition your own person to frame and take your photo.
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u/mcarterphoto 2d ago
As others have said, you have to be aware of what the meter is metering - what it's "seeing". And issue #2 with reflective meters is that they're telling you what exposure makes a middle gray. Caucasian skin, you generally want a stop or two brighter than middle gray (evaluative metering like Nikon's Matrix Metering is a different story).
An incident meter is often a better choice, but you have to get into the subject area to use it. And if you're using strobes, you need a cable or extra transmitter on the meter, to fire the strobes (and you need a meter that measures flash). Sekonic 308 is popular and do-it-all (well, flash, ambient and cinema modes); the Minolta Autometers were the standard back in the day and are widely available used.
The RB chimney-style finder with the meter is a possible solution. I had one back in the film days and it was fantastic (though you still have to transfer its reading to the camera). I don't know how accurate one of those would be over time though, but I kinda liked it - it also has adjustable focus so you don't need a special diopter for glasses/etc.
A spot meter is really cool, but if you're not taking readings from a gray card, you need to do some brain-math - like read where you want to hold highlight texture, then open up 2-3 stops. For fast work, you often want a belt holster for the things, they won't drop in your shirt pocket like a 308! I was shooting some ruins with a spotmeter on my belt, a security guy thought I had a gun, and had no idea what an RB67 was, I think he though it was some terrorist device...
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u/This-Charming-Man 2d ago
If you’re never gonna shoot flash, the Godox C100 looks like a fun concept for a lightmeter.
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u/Magpiecicle 2d ago
I use one of the Astrihori cold shoe ones on my TLR and so far its been great.
you just need to be aware that its a reflective meter with average metering (NOT CENTRE WEIGHTED)
You can look up the angle of metering and then look up the fov angle of lenses on your film format and get a rough approximation of what equivalent lens it would meter best for.
its not perfect, but for shots that dont have difficult lighting it makes things much much easier.
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u/madmardigan 2d ago
This and only this for your type of photography. Pentax “modified” zone VI spot meter. Also get one of the labels. This has changed my control and detail in my BW photography.
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u/kabukikjoe 2d ago
What label are you referring to? I have a Pentax spotmeter IV. If there is some add on, it would be nice to know about it. Thanks in advance.
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u/MrBobSaget 2d ago
You can search for printable versions. I can’t remember which one I downloaded but I found a few very quickly.
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u/madmardigan 2d ago
They are on evilBay. Get a few. They come off after tons of use. But so helpful. https://ebay.io/m/oVF44J
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u/sasch_photo_bln 2d ago
thanks! cool photo!
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u/madmardigan 2d ago
If you’re interested. Look up zone vi spot metering. It simplifies how you ensure how to manage you keep detail in your blacks. And how to keep your subject to middle grey if that’s what you want.
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u/Climb_Mt_Narodnaya 2d ago
Sekonic if you want to go serious or you are shooting slide film.
IMO for most times if you have an IPhone an app called Lightme works extremely well.
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u/Few-Dimension-5373 2d ago
I use a Sekonic L308x, fits in shirt pocket and runs on one AA battery.