here’s the easiest way if you’re outdoors, do an incident reading, then go one/two stops over for details in the shadows applies for negative film only
Ok tell me if I have it , when I take 4 readings then press AVE then go back and check the + and - of the 4 reading and if it says +1.2 you will add that as compensation and use that value?
Is it possible to tell the lightmeter what nd i am using on the camera? When metering the light, let’s say i am exposing k light for 1.4 f stop on my human subject and I want the fill light 4 stop less. Does it go negative f mesuremente?
I don't understand... for slide film you have 5 stops of dynamic range so -2 stops from 0 (middle gray) would be Zone III, not Zone I. Right? And if Zone 0 is 5 then +2 stops is only Zone VII, not Zone IX. Am I missing something? Same for negative film. From my understanding if you place your spot meter to a rock and say you want it to be Zone IV, then you move your given exposure 1 stop down... giving you a dynamic range from Zone II to Zone VI or 5 stops of dynamic range
@@StephenMilner Sorry to disagree. If I take a reading of say a shadow area, the meter will give an exposure of middle grey (zone V). Now if I want to place that particular part of the scene in its correct zone, I will need need to adjust the exposure by shifting the exposure from zone V to zone IV or zone III (depending on how much detail in the shadows is required) by closing the aperture by one stop (to zone IV) or by two stops (to zone III).. You can, of course, adjust the shutter speed accordingly. The reverse applies to where you want the highlights to land. One zone is one stop. Ansell Adams in his book 'The Negative' explains it much better that I can.
@@DavidWilliams7037A Thanks for sharing your experience with metering. Using your logic, how can you use slide film when are shooting a sunrise or sunset and there is direct light on an already bright object, like snow for example, and there are deep shadows in the rocks? Slide film only has 4-5 stops but the scene I have explained and have experience in shooting has zone 1 up to zone 9.
@@StephenMilner no, it doesn't work like that, 5 stops of dynamic range are not spread across all the 9 zones. How can you explain the dynamic range of negative film? spread across the same 9 zones? If your meter tells you 1/500 at f/16 ISO 400 for Zone V and you want to make that Zone IV, then what would do? How would you move 1 zone down? Using your logic of 5 stops across the entire 9 zones... where do you place Zone V, Zone IX, and Zone III? If you use your meter and check and the dynamic range is 7 stops... from Zone III to Zone IX that's 7 stops. You'd need a ND filter to bring the Zone IX down. I'm so confused, I've never heard that that the 5 stops are spread across all the 9 zones of light. Google hasn't shown any information about that. Can you explain it some more, please?
@@StephenMilner Yeah that would be great I’m having a hard time for some reason comprehending this and I’ve been a photographer for 26 years. I’m taking a trip to Acadia national Park and shooting slide film. I just don’t understand how to fit a scene into the amount of stops I have with the film. Like when to add compensation or not from the average meter reading. I know once I get this it’ll be like a lightBold going off in my head. I keep wanting to make each zone one stop.
I’ll pull some worlds together. The light bulb moment for me was when I realised what is critical for a correct exposure. The only zones your really need to be aware of are zone 1, 5 and 9. Zones 1 is you shadow meter reading, zone 9 is your highlight meter reading. Average out gives you zone 5. The most important part is you have to decide what you want to be zone 5 and then you add exposure compensation to suit. You will need a graduated filter if the highlights have increased, which is most likely if there is sky or snow capped mountains in your photo. If the highlights have gone up by 1 or 2 stops use a 2 stop grad. If it’s 3 stops then use a 3 stop filter. It might be easier if we do a conference call to talk it through?
Good diagrams but I found the explanation almost impossible to follow, even though I understand the issue. For example: If snow forms a large part of the image but you want good rock and people detail; your auto exposure camera or averaging spot readings (simply done), will result in grey snow due to underexposure. So you need to measure the light values and decide on which bits you want to expose best, ie do it in your head. You may wish the snow to be white so then make sure the snow is at box 9. This may require + 2 , 3 or 4 stops compensation. Anyway if using film you will probably also use at least a Skylight filter 1B or you will probably end up with blue snow. Digital cameras do not normally require filters for this issue.
I don't think Adams created 10 zones. I think zones 0 and X were assumed, but I believe Ansel only had 8 zones officially in his scale (at least initially). I believe the scale he used ran from 1 to 9 but the assumption that a zone 0 wouild be completely black and 10 would be completely white (with both containing no detail information and thus not really relevant in photographs other than they lacked detail.
Brilliant video. A lot of information in a short amount of time. One of the best I've seen!
Wow, thanks!
Great presentation, psyched to get my new L858, thanks man
Thanks, I hope you enjoy it
Fantastic Video, this takes me back 40 years when i used a Pentax spot meter, they were amazing, thanks for sharing
Thanks Tony 🙏
when it shows you the EV value is that based on the EV value from the average amount of the readings?
You made this much more complicated than what it is.
Ok, so it wasn't just me. I was like, am I back in my summer microbiology class?
This is great.
Thank you so much for this contents.
Your welcome 🙏
here’s the easiest way
if you’re outdoors, do an incident reading, then go one/two stops over for details in the shadows
applies for negative film only
Ok tell me if I have it , when I take 4 readings then press AVE then go back and check the + and - of the 4 reading and if it says +1.2 you will add that as compensation and use that value?
Take the EV reading from what you want to be middle tone and then add exposure compensation to achieve 0, or higher to suit your taste.
Great explanation 👍🏻
Thank you 🙏
Is it possible to tell the lightmeter what nd i am using on the camera?
When metering the light, let’s say i am exposing k light for 1.4 f stop on my human subject and I want the fill light 4 stop less. Does it go negative f mesuremente?
On the 858D, yes
I don't understand... for slide film you have 5 stops of dynamic range so -2 stops from 0 (middle gray) would be Zone III, not Zone I. Right? And if Zone 0 is 5 then +2 stops is only Zone VII, not Zone IX. Am I missing something? Same for negative film. From my understanding if you place your spot meter to a rock and say you want it to be Zone IV, then you move your given exposure 1 stop down... giving you a dynamic range from Zone II to Zone VI or 5 stops of dynamic range
No you’re right. I think he was just confused by where the arrows were in his slide.
Thanks, moving one stop doesn’t mean you are moving 1 zone. If your film only has 5 stops, it is spread over all the zones.
@@StephenMilner Sorry to disagree. If I take a reading of say a shadow area, the meter will give an exposure of middle grey (zone V). Now if I want to place that particular part of the scene in its correct zone, I will need need to adjust the exposure by shifting the exposure from zone V to zone IV or zone III (depending on how much detail in the shadows is required) by closing the aperture by one stop (to zone IV) or by two stops (to zone III).. You can, of course, adjust the shutter speed accordingly. The reverse applies to where you want the highlights to land. One zone is one stop. Ansell Adams in his book 'The Negative' explains it much better that I can.
@@DavidWilliams7037A Thanks for sharing your experience with metering. Using your logic, how can you use slide film when are shooting a sunrise or sunset and there is direct light on an already bright object, like snow for example, and there are deep shadows in the rocks? Slide film only has 4-5 stops but the scene I have explained and have experience in shooting has zone 1 up to zone 9.
@@StephenMilner no, it doesn't work like that, 5 stops of dynamic range are not spread across all the 9 zones. How can you explain the dynamic range of negative film? spread across the same 9 zones?
If your meter tells you 1/500 at f/16 ISO 400 for Zone V and you want to make that Zone IV, then what would do? How would you move 1 zone down?
Using your logic of 5 stops across the entire 9 zones... where do you place Zone V, Zone IX, and Zone III? If you use your meter and check and the dynamic range is 7 stops... from Zone III to Zone IX that's 7 stops. You'd need a ND filter to bring the Zone IX down.
I'm so confused, I've never heard that that the 5 stops are spread across all the 9 zones of light. Google hasn't shown any information about that. Can you explain it some more, please?
Can you tell me on the L858D-U what is your compensation preference, do you set it to exposure level or measured value?
To the averaged value.
@@StephenMilner The compensation preference does not have averaged value
You average your meter reading and then add the compensation
Thanks, but you need to explain about the other films and show them on the light meter. For some of us we learn by seeing.
im confused.....if you have 5 stops of range that would be -2 to +2 right
Sorry about that. Moving one stop doesn’t mean you are moving 1 zone. If your film only has 5 stops, it is spread over all the zones.
Thank you Stephen, love all your work and videos. Keep them coming!
Thank you! I will look at writing a blog on my website to try and explain it more. Some reference images might help explain it.
@@StephenMilner Yeah that would be great I’m having a hard time for some reason comprehending this and I’ve been a photographer for 26 years. I’m taking a trip to Acadia national Park and shooting slide film. I just don’t understand how to fit a scene into the amount of stops I have with the film. Like when to add compensation or not from the average meter reading. I know once I get this it’ll be like a lightBold going off in my head. I keep wanting to make each zone one stop.
I’ll pull some worlds together. The light bulb moment for me was when I realised what is critical for a correct exposure. The only zones your really need to be aware of are zone 1, 5 and 9. Zones 1 is you shadow meter reading, zone 9 is your highlight meter reading. Average out gives you zone 5. The most important part is you have to decide what you want to be zone 5 and then you add exposure compensation to suit. You will need a graduated filter if the highlights have increased, which is most likely if there is sky or snow capped mountains in your photo. If the highlights have gone up by 1 or 2 stops use a 2 stop grad. If it’s 3 stops then use a 3 stop filter. It might be easier if we do a conference call to talk it through?
Good diagrams but I found the explanation almost impossible to follow, even though I understand the issue.
For example: If snow forms a large part of the image but you want good rock and people detail; your auto exposure camera or averaging spot readings (simply done), will result in grey snow due to underexposure.
So you need to measure the light values and decide on which bits you want to expose best, ie do it in your head.
You may wish the snow to be white so then make sure the snow is at box 9. This may require + 2 , 3 or 4 stops compensation.
Anyway if using film you will probably also use at least a Skylight filter 1B or you will probably end up with blue snow. Digital cameras do not normally require filters for this issue.
Your understanding is correct.
“im a landscape photographer based in new zealand”
…well thats just cheating
I don't think Adams created 10 zones. I think zones 0 and X were assumed, but I believe Ansel only had 8 zones officially in his scale (at least initially). I believe the scale he used ran from 1 to 9 but the assumption that a zone 0 wouild be completely black and 10 would be completely white (with both containing no detail information and thus not really relevant in photographs other than they lacked detail.
i am so angry because that meter is not sensitive enough and cant be used for night photography!
The older Gossen light meters are great for night time photography