Light meters measure light.
Film photography can be tricky enough so using a light meter to check your exposure will mean more great images, faster.
They can be found in all sorts of cameras, from vintage to present day and tell us how much light is being reflected from a surface. There are also independent hand held light meters. Some are quite beautiful in appearance and can be difficult to ‘read’ at first. Essentially they do a similar job to built in ones and are pretty handy if your vintage camera doesn’t have one!
There are also light meter apps, downloadable to your mobile phone, again they tell you how much light is around and there are good ones out there that are free! They can improve your chances of great results when engaging in film photography!
Why do we need to know how much light there is?
With film photography, if your camera doesn’t have an Automatic (or usually Aperture priority mode) we need to select the cameras settings to take a correctly exposed image*.
As discussed in a previous blog Simple Photography Principles there are variables when using a film camera and as soon as we put in a roll of film, one becomes fixed – the film speed. Entering the chosen film speed into the light meter or App allows the meter to provide shutter speed and F-stop options.
*This doesn’t apply to point and shoot cameras as they have automated functions that ensure good exposures (within reason).
With ‘My Lightmeter’ App (on my mobile) the decision is then up to me. Is depth of field is important (a high number F-stop) or capturing motion (fast shutter speed)? I adjust my camera accordingly and the image will be properly exposed.
It’s also important to understand that a light meter will always meter an average exposure. If you point your lens at a piece of black cloth – the meter will indicate settings that would result in it exposing grey…..overexposing it. Conversely, if your lens is looking at a white sheet, then it will underexpose it to make it grey!
(Useful to know if you are photographing a heavily shadowed composition or trying to shoot a snow scene.)
Incident Light
This is where the Incident light meter setting on an independent light meter or app helps. An incident meter (sometimes called a bulb-meter) works by reading the intensity of the light that falls onto the subject, as opposed to reading the light reflected off of the subject as the reflective meter does.
So that’s just a brief explanation of the reason for, and how a light meter works. If you want to delve deeper into light meters then this articles certainly covers those bases Vintage light meters If you need further help with any of the concepts explained here, just reach out via our Contact Us section. Even better, pop into The Light Room for a chat!
