Both are interesting Huw but I remember a similar technique quite a few years ago now when I worked in a ‘wet’ darkroom; the days of chemicals and photographic paper. The reason behind metering for highlights or shadows was to overcome the fact that your eyes see a greater dynamic range than the film which in turn was greater than the paper which you were making the print on. At the time of capturing the image you were deciding how the final image would look on the paper hence exposing for the highlights or shadows. If you are scanning the image and then printing via a printer, then to me the first aspect that needs to be understood is the dynamic ranger of the printer / paper relative to the film. If this is different to ‘old fashion’ print making then the calculations could be very different.
Many thanks for watching and the comment. What I’d like to be able to do is to scan the negative and then treat as a digital file in order to print. One day I might actually commit to darkroom processing, but not at the moment. However, despite the digital step my aim is to get everything as right as I can on the negative, hence this little journey that I’m on. To be fair, my approach with a digital camera is the same, i.e. not relying on software to rescue a poorly executed attempt in the field. Thanks again.
Your spot meter journey is interesting and helps me appreciate a histogram all the more. Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a matrix meter that included responsiveness of different film stock and produced a histogram?
I had heard a rumour that the next Pentax camera was going to be a film camera, but with all the digital gadgets we use today to aid with the exposure process. No idea whether there is any truth in it, but my heavens it could take the resurgence in film photography by storm.
What I've learned from this is that light metering manually is just very difficult. Imagine ruining all those shots on a roll of film l. That's an expansive hobby 😅 good video do! Grt guido
It is definitely a challenge, and one that makes me think harder than ever before every exposure. I like that approach, and even with digital I’m still fussy to get things right before pressing the shutter. With film there is the added “pressure” of the expense and reducing waste. Overall I’m enjoying the process and also the romance of the film approach. At a recent Christening I took a 50 year old Olympus M-1 35mm film camera only and shot one roll of 36 exp film - I only sent it off the other day and am filled with the anticipation of seeing how I got on. Great fun, you should give it a try!
@huwalban wow are you going to show the results of those images on the channel? Hope these worked put for you! I have to say that I did make a change recently. Normally I shoot everything in aperture priority mode except for the long exposures of course. But recently I changed it and starting doing more manual stuff. The outcome is exactly the same but somehow there is more satisfaction in it 😅 sonintotaly get what you mean here 🙂 grt guido
@@GuidoVanDeWater Coming from an Olympus OM10 film camera (which is an aperture priority camera by design), aperture priority just makes sense for me. I've tried manual, but have grown accustomed to the shutter speed being automatically adjusted if the sun suddenly comes out or goes in so dropped it quite quickly. I'll share some of the Christening images (as long as my sister doesn't mind) on Facebook - or I can Facebook messenger some of them over to you. Will be interesting to see how I go on - just a simple needle light meter in an M-1! Take care out there.
What does the spot meter on the Digital camera give you compared to the Sekonic? Are they both the same%. Just a thought, not into film but finding your journey very interesting!
That is a great question. In fact someone mentioned on the previous video to compare the light meter to the digital and shoot a roll of film just using a digital camera as a light meter. Usually in my “film pack” I have a digital as well as a “just in case it really explodes with light” in order to give me as many options as possible, so I;m going to give this a go. However, getting to grips with a spot meter has been a fun challenge for me. In the next video I put all this experimentation into practice and commit to some film exposures… Thanks for the support and the excellent suggestion.
Well Huw, after watching your trials and tribulations with the hand-held meter, I think that going back to film cameras and manual metering is something that is best left to the photographic masochists, I will stick to modern digital metering cameras so that my photography time can get more in, in the amount of time available, hats off to your persistance with it, I look forward to your future adventures in the technology of the past.
Both are interesting Huw but I remember a similar technique quite a few years ago now when I worked in a ‘wet’ darkroom; the days of chemicals and photographic paper.
The reason behind metering for highlights or shadows was to overcome the fact that your eyes see a greater dynamic range than the film which in turn was greater than the paper which you were making the print on. At the time of capturing the image you were deciding how the final image would look on the paper hence exposing for the highlights or shadows.
If you are scanning the image and then printing via a printer, then to me the first aspect that needs to be understood is the dynamic ranger of the printer / paper relative to the film. If this is different to ‘old fashion’ print making then the calculations could be very different.
Many thanks for watching and the comment. What I’d like to be able to do is to scan the negative and then treat as a digital file in order to print. One day I might actually commit to darkroom processing, but not at the moment. However, despite the digital step my aim is to get everything as right as I can on the negative, hence this little journey that I’m on. To be fair, my approach with a digital camera is the same, i.e. not relying on software to rescue a poorly executed attempt in the field. Thanks again.
for a fall, I put Zone 8 to highlights but I compensate 2 and half stops, which is similar to your results
Your spot meter journey is interesting and helps me appreciate a histogram all the more. Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a matrix meter that included responsiveness of different film stock and produced a histogram?
I had heard a rumour that the next Pentax camera was going to be a film camera, but with all the digital gadgets we use today to aid with the exposure process. No idea whether there is any truth in it, but my heavens it could take the resurgence in film photography by storm.
@@huwalban that would be fun
What I've learned from this is that light metering manually is just very difficult. Imagine ruining all those shots on a roll of film l. That's an expansive hobby 😅 good video do! Grt guido
It is definitely a challenge, and one that makes me think harder than ever before every exposure. I like that approach, and even with digital I’m still fussy to get things right before pressing the shutter. With film there is the added “pressure” of the expense and reducing waste. Overall I’m enjoying the process and also the romance of the film approach. At a recent Christening I took a 50 year old Olympus M-1 35mm film camera only and shot one roll of 36 exp film - I only sent it off the other day and am filled with the anticipation of seeing how I got on. Great fun, you should give it a try!
@huwalban wow are you going to show the results of those images on the channel? Hope these worked put for you! I have to say that I did make a change recently. Normally I shoot everything in aperture priority mode except for the long exposures of course. But recently I changed it and starting doing more manual stuff. The outcome is exactly the same but somehow there is more satisfaction in it 😅 sonintotaly get what you mean here 🙂 grt guido
@@GuidoVanDeWater Coming from an Olympus OM10 film camera (which is an aperture priority camera by design), aperture priority just makes sense for me. I've tried manual, but have grown accustomed to the shutter speed being automatically adjusted if the sun suddenly comes out or goes in so dropped it quite quickly. I'll share some of the Christening images (as long as my sister doesn't mind) on Facebook - or I can Facebook messenger some of them over to you. Will be interesting to see how I go on - just a simple needle light meter in an M-1! Take care out there.
What does the spot meter on the Digital camera give you compared to the Sekonic? Are they both the same%. Just a thought, not into film but finding your journey very interesting!
That is a great question. In fact someone mentioned on the previous video to compare the light meter to the digital and shoot a roll of film just using a digital camera as a light meter. Usually in my “film pack” I have a digital as well as a “just in case it really explodes with light” in order to give me as many options as possible, so I;m going to give this a go. However, getting to grips with a spot meter has been a fun challenge for me. In the next video I put all this experimentation into practice and commit to some film exposures… Thanks for the support and the excellent suggestion.
Well Huw, after watching your trials and tribulations with the hand-held meter, I think that going back to film cameras and manual metering is something that is best left to the photographic masochists, I will stick to modern digital metering cameras so that my photography time can get more in, in the amount of time available, hats off to your persistance with it, I look forward to your future adventures in the technology of the past.