Vision 500T

[Mat Newman]

For what it's worth, I'd recommend using a spot meter for starting out.

 

I'm a film editor who didn't know anything about light / shutter speeds / f-stops and ASAs.

 

I borrowed a digital sekonic lightmeter from a DP. I pointed the sekonic, it told me what f-stop to use, I did what it said. I didn't learn anything about light, except this: the sekonic is always right.

 

The same DP then give me his old Pentax Spotmeter V, and after three hours I actually had a clue what all these different values meant and how they were interrelated.

 

The Pentax has a manual series of dials whose relative values (asa/shutter speed/f-stop, etc) visibly interact when you change the value on any one of them. You don't just get a reading; you discover the reading as you click the wheel into place. It is a subtle and crucial distinction.

 

The whole business of reading light became intuitive. The pentax system demystified a lot of the mathematics for me very quickly.

 

They keep their value, too; they're old but still sell on ebay for an average of £200.

[Joseph Winchester]

I do agree with you about spot mters being great (i use one myself) but I think Matthew needs to start with an incident meter. Spots give very specific results on what they're looking at not taking into account the surrounding average, which an incident will give. You can get an add-on spot meter for the L358 in the future when you're ready. Start with the dome, it will give an overall average. All light meters (most anyways) are telling you how to expose for middle grey. A spot meter in this situation can be dangerous if you don't understand Zone system and are able to adjust exposure accordingly. Just my advice.

Edited May 7, 2007 by Joseph Winchester

[Matthew Buick]

I'll be ordering one within the next few days.

 

Thanks, everyone. This has all been really informative.

[Patrick Cooper]

To complicate things more ever so slightly, most super 8 cameras have a beam splitter prism in the viewing system which robs some of the incoming light away from the film. So if you are using a seperate hand held light meter, you would have to open up the aperture from the recommended reading by a certain amount. And since negative film benefits from a little overexposure, I would say open up the aperture by at least two thirds of a stop or more from the reading indicated. I just hope that you have a lot of light to begin with.

 

Also, are you shooting at 18 or 24 fps? Whichever you choose, you must know the shutter speed at the particular running speed. Whereas the majority of 16mm cameras have a 180 degree shutter angle, I do notice that the shutter angle in many super 8 cameras varies a bit.

[Alessandro Machi]

I vote for the spot meter, you can stand by the camera and get your readings rather always walking up to what you are shooting to take an incident reading.

[Bryan Darling]

When I started shooting film at 17, my first meter was a Sekonic Studio Deluxe L-398. I bought it second-hand from a camera store. I now use a L-508 cine. The L-398 is a great analog meter and I used it constantly with my Bolex H16 Deluxe, it never failed me. Side-by-side the L-398 and L-508 give exactly the same readings as incident meters. It was great in learning because you can see the relationship of shutter and f-stop- very beneficial to a beginner. I've seen them on ebay for around $60. I've bought them for other people to use, they are very reliable and last forever. That's my two cents.

 

When shooting Super 8, you just have to realize you'll need to compensate about 1/4 to 1/3 stop or so for the camera's specific shutter angle and the light used for it's own meter and viewfinder. You should figure it out after a roll or two of testing.

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

I have a Sekonic L-358 and it's great. It has cine modes and I reaaaaallly think its a handymeter. Much better than spectra ones I've used in the past. I recently shot something very similar to what youre describing on the same speed, albeit the fact that it was 16mm. I just opened up the lens all the way and push processed it 2 stops. I'm not sure about Vision, but what 5218 vision2 is great with is it's 5 stops of latitude so you'll get a lot more out of the stock. good luck