Light meters

[patticakes]

Does anyone use one, and if so which would you recommend? I've never used one before, but it's come highly recommended that I use it to decrease time in post. So far I have heard good things from Minolta and the Sekonic.

I usually just use my histogram, but am not apparently nailing them, as I still have a lot of adjustments. I'm also hoping by better nailing exposure, the noise won't be as much of a problem.

Anyway, just looking for rec's. TIA!
patti

[eduardofrances]

what is your budget? a great lightmeter is the Sekonic L358 and it is not expensive.

[tcadwall]

patti,

Are you shooting raw? What ISO and how long are your typical exposures? look at the exif info to know this. I am not sure whether the D200 defaults to an auto-iso like my d70s did, but that caused me to get some ugly noise, until I shut it off.

IOW, I would take a test shot, in "M" mode, think to myself that I would rather under expose it a little more (certain times this would be good) so speed up the shutter speed just a bit, and then take the shot again. Only to find out later, that auto ISO had kicked in and I ended up with more noise than bargained for.

If that is the problem it can be fixed by turning off auto iso.

I have found that with raw images it takes me only a second or two to tweak any exposure issues (sometimes you will get blown highlights AND need to bump up the shadows a little in the same image). Most raw editors can quickly handle these issues - I have been very pleased with the current version of Bibble in this regard. Bibble also includes a stripped down version of NoiseNinja, which can make a big difference in noisy shots as well.

I don't find that it takes me long to tweak images at all in Bibble.

[patticakes]

Thanks for the comments :) Yep I do shoot in RAW, and I have actually found an increase in noise since doing so. From what I have read and talking with some other photogs that I must be not nailing the exposure properly. I generally shoot families or small children and shoot no less than 1/125 and whatever ISO the situation requires. This time of the year indoors so around 400 likely. I have noiseware which does help, but I hate the "plastic" look that it gives to faces... this is my dilema and why I was hoping that a light meter may make a difference. Would love to hear any thoughts/input???

[Esoterra]

What do you mean by the D200 histogram not nailing the exposure? Are your pictures consistently blown out or under exposed? From my experience the D200 in-camera light meter is very accurate and any error in exposure is more from my error than the camera (backlit subjects or hot spots in the picture ect.) Also, I use spot metering when shooting portraits.

[TNB]

Anyone else besides me checked into or purchased an Expodisc? If you have, have you used the Expodisc for light metering and how does it compare to the light meters that you have used?

http://www.expodisc.com/

[patticakes]

What do you mean by the D200 histogram not nailing the exposure? Are your pictures consistently blown out or under exposed? From my experience the D200 in-camera light meter is very accurate and any error in exposure is more from my error than the camera (backlit subjects or hot spots in the picture ect.) Also, I use spot metering when shooting portraits.

no no, nothing wrong with the camera, the error would be my fault

[eduardofrances]

Thanks for the comments :) Yep I do shoot in RAW, and I have actually found an increase in noise since doing so. From what I have read and talking with some other photogs that I must be not nailing the exposure properly. I generally shoot families or small children and shoot no less than 1/125 and whatever ISO the situation requires. This time of the year indoors so around 400 likely. I have noiseware which does help, but I hate the "plastic" look that it gives to faces... this is my dilema and why I was hoping that a light meter may make a difference. Would love to hear any thoughts/input???

When you shot in RAW Noise handling is not done by the camera image processor, it is up to the photographer to do it -also wb, sharpening, etc-:)