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Quick Tip: Should You Buy a Light Meter?

Quick Tip: Should You Buy a Light Meter?

on Aug 28th 2010 with 8 comments

Today we’re taking a look at the once ubiquitous light meter, and how it can still help you in today’s world of cameras attempting to do it all for you. We’ll walk through what a light meter is, and suggest a few potential uses for your photography!

What Is a Light Meter?

A light meter simply measures the amount of light in a scene. This is a very handy value to know in photography, as we can then set the exposure time perfectly. When using a film camera, a light meter becomes far more important due to expensive film and processing costs.

Light meters come in two kinds, reflective and incident. In-camera light meters are almost always reflective, as they reflect light from the whole scene. Handheld reflected light-meters also require a photographer to stand next to the camera to record the whole scene.

Handheld incident meters, on the other hand, require a photographer to go as close to the subject as possible in order to get a reading.

Mike turner has written an incredible in-depth tutorial on the subject, which I would happily recommend anyone for further reading for a complete explanation.

should you buy a lightmeter

Image courtesy of mirsasha

Do You Really Need One?

There is a lot of debate between professional photographers, but in my opinion the answer is yes. They offer considerably more detail than the in-built meter inside your Digital SLR, and can often improve your pictures in certain scenarios.

An example of a good use of a incident meter would be when taking a photo of a model. Using a light meter, you can record the light on their face, clothes and shoes. You then simply add the figures given together and then divide to get an average – this should suggest a very accurate exposure value.

If you are still using a film camera without an in-camera light meter, then this product is a must – it removes all the guess work involved.

should you buy a lightmeter

Disadvantages of Light Meters

Although I think everyone should have a light meter if within their budget, they are another piece of equipment to become familiar with, carry round, and set up every time you want to take a photo. After the first few shots it can become tiring.

Modern day SLR cameras are amazingly accurate at metering, and problems generally only occur when you are either in extremely sunny or dark areas. It is during these times the light meter can come in most useful.

With any modern day digital cameras – even from under $100 – you can take a photo in seconds and instantly see the result. If anything needs changing, you can adjust settings or add a flash. It’s a lazy approach to photography, but it’s perfectly fine for many people.

should you buy a lightmeter

Image courtesy of Alex Dram

How Much Do They Cost?

The average price for a brand new light meter ranges from around $150-$300. These often include both a reflected light and incident meter built-in.

I will admit that it’s quite an expensive gadget to have in your camera bag, but if you are not happy with your camera’s in built meter – or also wish to shoot on film regularly – it makes sense to purchase.

If you are amateur photographer and cannot afford the kit, why not ask family members as often the older generation might have one stored away along with all their old film gear.

If you own an iPhone or iPod touch, an app for measuring exposure has been released and it costs the small price of $3. You can check it out here. I have no idea how good it is, but might it might be fun to try out!

should you buy a lightmeter

Image courtesy of bflshadow

Further Reading

The subject is massive, and I have only skimmed the surface in this short article. Here are some links for further reading into the subject.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. Do you use and own a light meter? If so, why/why not? We’d love to hear your opinion!

should you buy a lightmeter

Image courtesy of jam343

Tags: Tips
 
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I am a freelance graphics designer from Ipswich in the UK. You might know me as Peewee1002, I run a popular Photoshop tutorial site here: http://PSDtutorials.co.uk. Feel free to get in touch via twitter, I love a good chat with other photographers and designers! You can also find me on Photodune by the name peewee1002.  

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  • http://inauspicious.org/ Gary

    I got a light meter in January, and it’s the best thing I’ve bought all year. I predominantly use old, manual film cameras though, and I don’t know how much use one would be for use with a DSLR or similar. I meter incident most of the time. It’s surprising how consistent light levels are outdoors, to the point I can pretty much guess what it’s going to say during normal daylight hours now.

  • http://nightsheep.deviantart.com Vincent Lam

    Peter,

    Thank you for the easy to read explanation along with the good links! I have been thinking of buying one for quite a long time. But I couldn’t really figure out the added value to my in-build meter since i find that one quite accurate already. And it has different metering options as well.

    So I hoped to find the answer in this article since it’s really titled what I have wondering for: “Should You Buy a Light Meter?”. However, the answering topic “Do You Really Need One?” does not 100% answers the question whether I should buy a light meter. The only conclusion you give is “If you are still using a film camera without an in-camera light meter, then this product is a must”. I think it would be better if you had worked out a various of scenario’s and then state whether one should get a light meter or not. E.g.:

    If you are a digital photographer and shoots nature scenes most of the time, then…
    If you are a digital photographer and shoots close up shots most of the time, then…
    If you are a analog photographer and shoots macro most of the time, then… etc etc etc.

    I believe that then your article would fits the title much more. Right now, it is actually just giving a pre-101 course on light meters.

    -Cheers-

    • http://www.peewee1002.co.uk Peter Sawyer
      Author

      Thank you for your comment. I didn’t title the piece, it was changed!

      Here is my summary on the subject.

      If you own a film camera then buy one! They are a highly useful tool which will result in many correctly exposed photos.

      If you own a digital SLR, depending on how much the body cost depends on the light meter. A canon 1D or 5D mark 2 are pretty damn good at getting the correct exposure everytime. A cheaper body might not.

      If you shoot landscapes they are highly useful due to the ever changing light conditions and can help when deciding what filters you plan to use, ND filters are the big one which are often hard to get perfect everytime.

      Depending on your budget and skill, if you can afford it, get one but if you don’t struggle with light/exposures then put your money towards something else.

  • http://www.vaporizerkits.com Zephyr Ion

    Nice, the iPhone app is only $3 and although I have no clue how well it works, your phone is something you carry with you, so in a sense, you don’t need extra gear to carry around :) Nice find!

  • http://serialphotography.com Alastair Moore

    I shoot large format as well as digital and so have a light meter for use with that, which is pretty much essential. I’ve not used it much with my DSLR but something I’m planning on doing as, particularly with shooting landscape, it’s so easy with a light meter to meter the scene and calculate the required ND grads with a light meter, for example. Also if you’re doing studio shoots or lighting shoots, you can get your metering for any lights you might be using straight away rather than chimping or shooting several test shots.

  • Josh Bainbridge

    I have one that I use with digital and large/medium format and agree with Alastair. They can be very useful in that you can have more control over your exposure. This is especially true with a reflective spot meter in conjunction with techniques from the zone system.

    I also often use a incident for two reasons.
    Firstly, it is allot faster than previsualising an exposure with a spot meter (although douse not have the same artistic control).
    Secondly, unlike an inbuilt reflective light meter (no matter how accurate it may be) it takes a true reading of 18% grey exposure.

    For example, if a reflective meter read a dark african americans skin tone it would over expose it to create 18% grey because it has no way of telling what the true tone should be. As an incident meter would take an un-biased reading before the light bounces of the skin so that the exposure falls into its natural tonal balance.

    My two cents :)

  • Stephen

    in my experience, spot metering is as accurate and useful in the same situations as incident metering, and much quicker.

    When shooting film, I have used a handheld spot meter to good effect using a similar technique as mentioned above for getting an average exposure value, but without the need to step away from the camera.

    spot meters have the additional advantage of being able to accurately meter the value range in a landscape, whereas incident meters are limited by the photographer’s physical range.

    I don’t know how common it is among DSLRs, but many (perhaps most) have spot metering capability. I use it frequently with my Canon 50D – it works great.

    Cheers,

    Stephen

  • sverre helgesen

    I have a collection of film cameras, mostly 35mm, but also 120, from the 50′s to 80′s, some manual, some with battery-dependant lightmeters, some so-called ‘compact’, some motorised, some zoom. They almost give them away today, I’m having fun using cameras I could never afford before! I’ve noticed many under-expose slightly, especially in dark conditions. The compacts need faster films, 400ASA, to work well. So small and light I always have one with me.

    I’ve a few cameras that use the old mercury-batteries. One of my handheld lightmeters also uses mercury batteries. But it’s in good form with a lot of charge left.

    But ALL the lightmeters in my possession give different readings!

    Only the Canon F1 is truly reliable.

    I bought a Gossen Profisix analogue lightmeter secondhand (it uses available 9V batteries, I’ve installed a lithium). Assuming it still is calibrated correctly all the other lightmeters, built-in or handheld, can only be used for a rough assessment. The cheap handhelds are totally unreliable in low-light and iffy in bright light, but show about right in the middle, if you grind your teeth a little. The mercury-type Toshiba from the 60′s is one stop out at both ends, the Chinese-made (use whatever name comes to mind) I bought recently for 50 bucks is TWO stops out. It does use SR44′s, though. The German self-charged Bevi meter from the 50′s is somewhere inbetween, but seems better as an incident meter.

    Most of the built-in meters in the cameras are a stop or two out, underexposing. But the older ones might be showing their age.

    The full-auto ‘do-all-but-click-the-shutter-for-you’ compacts you simply have to accept are not going to have David Bailey cringing in fear of you. I believe you can fool the auto-setting by using tape and scraping-off the black areas etc., but why bother. They do take good photos within their narrower sphere, though. Buy good ones when you can find them, and use for less important photography.

    The problem is only really of consequence at each end of the spectrum, in ‘ordinary’ light conditions and with a good film it’s seldom you would notice the difference, the exposure-latitude in a good film covers it.

    Remember, many of the older photos we oggle in awe at were taken WITHOUT a lightmeter, with crap cameras and crap films compared to what we have today.