light meters
 

i have an eos 20d which i like, but was wondering is it worth buying a light meter or do i use the built in light meter, if a light meter is the way to go which ones would you recommend

Opinions will vary but I always use the built in light meter which is excellent for normal use and I never need anything else. Perhaps the studio guys use a hand-held for incident light and studio flash metering so they will know more than me but Sekonic springs to mind. My one and only hand-held was an old Leningrad that Noah had no further use for.

Unless you're doing pro studio flash work, which I guess you're not, then stick with the built in meter.

The level of detail and exposure latitude of digital, particularly in RAW file format, is truly amazing. I've only ever used a flashmeter since switching to digital.

what about outdoor photography using a flash as fill in? I want a seperate meter to help me balance my flash with the ambiant light. My camera's on board meter doesnt actually give me a light level strength - it just tells me if it thinks im a stop or 2 under or over exposed.

If you are using the built in flash or one of the Canon dedicated flash guns, you can set flash exposure compensation seperately from the ambient light exposure compensation. I just dial in about 1/2 - 1 stop flash under exposure compensation and let the camera do all the work

Sekonic all the way .... it does help and relying on LCD screens which like computer screens vary ( .... calibration, calibration, calibration...) or histograms are a very simple way of controling the light. - will help alot to reduce post production

I now use a sekonic L-308S light meter for my studio work which i have found to be absolutely fantastic with perfect exposures every time, but like it has been said above if your not using studio flash the built in meter inside your camera should be perfect for most situations.

Seems to me that use of hand held meters depends upon type of photography and era or origin of training. Studio photographers will largely feel lost without one however for location photography practice using the histogram function rather than the image preview - shooting RAW will provide plenty of post adjustment.

Adam

www.adamcoupe.com