Landscape Photography No123 - Spot metering for shadows

#filmphotography #mediumformat
I've purchased a medium format film camera that does not have a built in light meter. Therefore I need to get to grips with using a light meter in the field. Rather than go to the expense of experimenting with light meter reading on rolls of film, I've elected to use my digital camera as a mechanism to check what I'm reading and learn from the experience.
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[@chriscard6544]

14:24 is gorgeous. You are on the right path. Film photography is freaking expensive but B&W analog is a bit cheaper (home development is not that difficult). About scanning, you could get a macro lens with your digital and a light table. And spotmeters are overpriced. Keep on that way. I love your videos. Shadows means sun shadow but also dark part of the scene, it can be a black rock. In digital it's different from analog but I dont want to confuse you here and now. Keep on as if you shoot for film. (no need for bracketing). Mainly you got Zone System concept. Your method is right.

[@huwalban]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It is really fantastic to get some feedback that I’m not a million miles away from the mark. I will keep working on this so that it becomes almost intuitive, but for the moment it is all about learning some lessons ahead of actually committing to some film exposures.

[@jimwlouavl]

It’s fun to watch this journey, Huw. I’m happy that there’s no film of my early, stumbling steps using handheld meters and MF and LF film cameras. I miss them but they do help me appreciate modern metering.

[@GuidoVanDeWater]

That was fun to watch. I have never used a light meter. All cameras that i have ever used had it internally. But i get that it gives you more understanding about what's going on. I think that second composition was the best with the path leading to the trees. I think i would have gone a bit lower to get soem sepparation between the rocks in the background and the trees. But it was a lovely scene for sure! Grt guido

[@huwalban]

Thank you sir, and thanks for watching. I’ve certainly learned a lot about metering and have a greater appreciation as to what the camera’s light meter is up to. Perhaps a challenge for you in a future video - ditch all the “modern” aids, and with the camera on manual and no histogram create a series of images relying on a light meter? Hope all is well with you and yours. Best, Huw

[@paulduckworth1121]

Thanks for the video Huw.
It's always great to see people learning, and joining them for their journey.
Query - when you are referring to 5° and 1° spot meters, is that 5° and 1° of arc? If so, then I would assume that this is the meters "accuracy" in determining the specific point to be metered [Note: This is probably not an important point - I am just a bit of a tech geek and like to understand these little points]

[@huwalban]

Thank you Paul. My understanding is that the 1 degree meter “samples” a much smaller area and therefore you can be very specific with your sampling point. This is not so much of a problem if your are metering off a tree right in front of you, but with an object further away it becomes more difficult. The kicker is that 1 degree spot meters are crazy expensive - upwards of £600 each!

[@alangauld6079]

Your conclusions were spot on(no pun intended!) There are degrees of shadow and on a sunny day 2 stops would work but on a hazy day the shadows are never that dark so 1 stop works better. In fact, on a hazy day I tend to prefer an incident light reading from the sky! But remember it's not the meter that's underexposing it's your adjustment that is too strong. The meter just reads whatever you point it at as mid-grey. The same rules and adjustments apply when using the spot metering mode in your digital camera. You didn't really need to buy an expensive meter, just use your digital camera as a spot meter when shooting film....

[@huwalban]

Thanks Alan, and yes you are quite right to point out that it is my over or under exposure that this the critical factor not the light meter reading. I did wonder about bringing a digital along and just using that as the light meter, but the kit bag is already stuffed and heavy and I really wanted to make the film experience as "pure" as I could. The digital in this video was there simply to validate the metering result without the cost of committing to film itself - although, that is coming in few videos time :) Thanks for the comment and the support.

[@rogerlush3344]

I seems bizarre to me that you take a meter reading but then have to over or under expose by several stops, surely the answer is to use your digital camera as a light meter and set your film camera accordingly? Since you have trusted your digital camera, and your expertise until now, why abandon that for antiquated metering?

[@huwalban]

Hello Roger. I think I mention this in the video, but just in case it wasn’t, I’ve purchased a medium format film camera which has no metering built in at all. Therefore I have to do this exercise every time I want to use it. Medium format film is expensive to purchase and process, so I’m using my digital camera to “play” with metering and learn how to go about it. Once I’m a bit more confident I’ll have a go using the film camera, but for the moment I’m testing the metering result using the digital. The answer to your “bizarre” question is the why the spot meter works - it assumes that it is always measuring middle grey regardless of where it is pointing so you have to make the under or over exposure decision based on what you have in front of you to take a meter reading from.

[@jimwlouavl]

The older meters like Huw is using try to render everything medium grey. By metering a shadow with slight detail and underexposing two stops, you place that part of the scene at the right level of luminance to render it the way the eye saw it. The zone system expanded on this to make the contrast of the scene match the limited “dynamic range” of film stock. Those of us who shot film are constantly amazed at the dynamic range of any current camera.