Thinking in terms of the Zone System - "N" value is the exposure you'd set for Zone V, no? And when applying this system to digital sensors we understand that there are values below II and above VIII. It's really about training your eye, isn't it, and proper use of a light meter. I've seen far too many people spending too much time looking at a monitor and not understanding that what they see there may not actually be reproduced in the deliverable...
Basically it is the zone system. Of course the latitude is much wider and given most cameras are set at base 800/1600/3200 these days most lightmeters are pretty much unable to detect the low levels in a meaningful way. Once you get used to working like this, and you understand the latitude you are working at, it becomes an intuitive exercise to build ratios around your key light. To start however you do need to use the lightmeter to help train your eye to evaluate the low levels we can now work at. The other value of lighting this way is you are able to maintain contrast ratios accurately rather than guessing. For me it is all about going into post as close to what I want to see as possible....same as with film.
@@robdraperacs-S35 I find that if I use my Spectra Pro (I know it's an antique) in foot-candle mode I can get damn close to the exposure I'm looking for. I know I could drill down a lot more with a spot meter and not have to walk all over the set but my Minolta was stolen and I haven't replaced it. I'm looking froward to your chapters on getting the "look" established on set (the way we worked with film) so that there's little room for it to get effed up in Post.
Thinking in terms of the Zone System - "N" value is the exposure you'd set for Zone V, no? And when applying this system to digital sensors we understand that there are values below II and above VIII. It's really about training your eye, isn't it, and proper use of a light meter. I've seen far too many people spending too much time looking at a monitor and not understanding that what they see there may not actually be reproduced in the deliverable...
Basically it is the zone system. Of course the latitude is much wider and given most cameras are set at base 800/1600/3200 these days most lightmeters are pretty much unable to detect the low levels in a meaningful way. Once you get used to working like this, and you understand the latitude you are working at, it becomes an intuitive exercise to build ratios around your key light. To start however you do need to use the lightmeter to help train your eye to evaluate the low levels we can now work at. The other value of lighting this way is you are able to maintain contrast ratios accurately rather than guessing. For me it is all about going into post as close to what I want to see as possible....same as with film.
@@robdraperacs-S35 I find that if I use my Spectra Pro (I know it's an antique) in foot-candle mode I can get damn close to the exposure I'm looking for. I know I could drill down a lot more with a spot meter and not have to walk all over the set but my Minolta was stolen and I haven't replaced it. I'm looking froward to your chapters on getting the "look" established on set (the way we worked with film) so that there's little room for it to get effed up in Post.
How can we know about the exposure values