Light meter

[Denis]

You know....the hand held type, how useful today are they for digital photography? Do the more advanced  photographers on here use them? how exactly do they work in respect of telling you what settings to use.....and the big question do I need one? If so what one

 

Or does the meter on my camera do the same job?

[Black Pearl]

For studio work that are a god send as you can easily balance lights independent of where your camera or they are pointing.

For general work then I know some people who still love them but for me the meter in my camera (with experience of understanding how it works) is all I need.

[JHFoto]

I agree with BP...........

[FUJI]

And I do......

I had this very conversation with a pro friend, he too says that for studio use they can be useful, but otherwise stick to the in-camera one....

The reason I asked him, is because a local charity shop, had a Nikon film camera, plus three expensive looking light meters, for just £5 each.

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

They are particularly useful for one thing these days - and that is 'incident light' readings; that's where you stick the white plastic thing over the meter itself, go to your subject and point the meter directly at the light source (sun or whatever). That tells you the light falling on your subject, and was always believed to be the best way of metering rather than using the normal 'reflected light' method all cameras use today. Perhaps it really was the best way back then, when camera meters weren't what they are now, but as BP says, they would still come in useful for studio work.

[Denis]

cheers all, then bother not shall I