metering outside

[mark]

Hi everyone

I hope this isn't a silly and obvious question but i was wondering when you experienced ones go out and shoot a wedding would you use a light meter outside or is ok to be relient on the cameras onboard light meter, would you shoot manually or use apature priority, or shutter priority?

Mark

[David Worthington]

if you fancy using a lightmeter....get into the trading post section.. i have 2 there for sale; you could have a go...they are cheap enough !!!!

[mark]

thanks for the offer but iv'e already got one for my studio work but an answer to my question would be nice!

mark

[David Worthington]

I was just saying !!!!!..

.given that you have the camera set up properly and its a good camera (D300 for me ) AND you know how to read a histrogram then I would put my trust in that system.... I used a light meter for probably about 18-20 years....so i kinda know what the settings outta be.... the histrogram just confirms it for me.

[mark]

Thanks for that David, i also have the D300 so thats great!


mark

[lostmysnorkel]

Yup, modern in-camera meters are accurate enough for most, if not all work these days.

On very rare occasions you may want a 1 degree spot...

[Alan W]

Mark, this may not apply to you but may help others. I work pretty quickly when shooting weddings and wouldn't have time to use a seperate meter. In fact I don't personally know a single wedding tog that uses one (but have definately heard of one who does). Its all about knowing your camera inside out and how it reads different lighting situations - where it is accurate and where it (or you) can get fooled. Same goes with using on camera flash. I try to look at each scene as a lighting situation i.e. where is the source, is it backlit. full on sunshine, a combination af harsh light and deep shadows and so on. Then I decide how to meter (evaluative most of the time but definately centre weighted or spot in some circumstances) and where to meter from.

When I first started shooting weddings three years ago I had a couple of Nikon D70 bodies and didn't rate them because the results were really erratic and I thought this was because the in camera metering was rubbish. I now know that this was almost certainly user incompetence because I didn't understand how to meter or judge a scene. You live and learn!

[mark]

Thanks very much for that Alan, very kind of you to take the trouble to reply amd give me such a comprehensive answer, that answers my question perfectly

Mark

[BarryM]

same here, evaluative most of the time, and flash used most of time too, but knocked down to just fill shadows. No metering with meter, as it would take too much time and ruin the flow of the day for the couple with faffing about.

[copycat]

My lcd is set to show a thumbnail image with the clipping highlights and the histogram. normally on eval metering but use the others as required.

[steveathome]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but.............

Wouldn't it be a great thing to have a live histogram, or at least a method of auto exposure to avoid clipping the highlights?

A cheaper second sensor would probably need to be involved though.