Recommended Light Meters

Rolfe Klement · February 26, 2005

One producer I worked with once said "every film day starts out like "Barry Lyndon" and ends in a rushed mess. How late in the day it turns to a mess it a measure of how good and experienced you are"

So I use the 608C

and it is expensive but when you are shooting for a 1 stop push at weird frame rates with non standard shutter and an 85 on - you press one button and it gives you the ability to relax - and also view on the screen exactly what you are exposing for (although how it displays push and pull info takes getting used to) and it does all the 508C does but with some additional stuff as well

At the other end of the equation you can figure it all out before (shutter, filters, fps etc) and adjust the ISO rating on the cheapest, simplest meter - but be aware when the director suddenly falls in love with slo-mo (as they do :rolleyes: ) then you need to change everything again

but always keep spare batteries and at least 2 meters - cause there is nothing worse than having the meter battery die

thanks

R

Chris Keth · February 27, 2005

One producer I worked with once said "every film day starts out like "Barry Lyndon" and ends in a rushed mess. How late in the day it turns to a mess it a measure of how good and experienced you are"

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A friend of mine says it, "Casablanca in the morning, Dukes of Hazzard in the evening.":)

Anyway, I just bought one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

on ebay and I really like it. No batteries, reads in footcandles without a slide in and direct stops with a slide. Tested it against several calibrated meters and it's right on, even though it's so old the inside of the case is deteriorating.

J.M. O'Malley · March 5, 2005

I got a used Luna Pro for I think $150 or so. It's a basic meter which has done me pretty well. My advice is to also buy a sturdy (plastic) gray card. The only thing about the Luna Pro is if you are using it to place zones it covers a relatively wide angle. You can get a spot attachment for it, I'm not sure how much. You can probably get one of those used.

March 5, 2005

Real men don't use meters, that's for sissys.

Just eye ball it! :D

Frank

PS: When would you use a meter for video? That I don't get. You look in your monitor, if you like it you shoot. There's no neg to expose.

Rik Andino · March 5, 2005

Real men don't use meters, that's for sissys.

Just eye ball it! :D

Frank

PS: When would you use a meter for video? That I don't get. You look in your monitor, if you like it you shoot. There's no neg to expose.

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Well I use a meter when I want to measure ratios...

See how much different the wall is from someone's face

Or to see how much under the interior of a car is from the exterior...etc...

But really there's no point if it looks okay in the monitor--for the most part

Kevin Zanit · March 5, 2005

I mainly use it in video for location scouts, pre-rigging, etc. While shooting, I rarely will use my meter. Sometimes on day EXT work without a good tent for the monitor I will double check with my meter if I don?t trust the display.

Kevin Zanit

Sam Wells · March 5, 2005

When I first began filmmaking, I got so I could shoot color reversal films pretty much without a meter; I couldn't afford the Spectra I wanted and didn't trust the Gossen I had (I was wrong about the Gossen I discovered later, it was pretty good).

Now with years more experience, and I'm typically shooting wide range color negative stocks, it's probably harder to do. Why ? Because when I was in my twenties my mind was pure, but now it's filled with all kinds of detrius, pin numbers, passwords, is my cell phone charged, appointments and so on. So I like my digital "aide de memoir" - think of it as outsourcing !!

I mean if I drop my meter in the river I'm not gonna give up and go home by any means, but...

Also, maybe what I've lost in brain cells is redeemed by photocells :lol:

-Sam

Patrick Neary · March 5, 2005

I shot a low budget feature for a two producers who told me about their previous DP who didn't use a meter at all on their first film.

I was wowed, they were aghast, and that's (one reason at least) why they didn't hire him again.

Stephen Williams · March 5, 2005

I shot a low budget feature for a two producers who told me about their previous DP who didn't use a meter at all on their first film.

I was wowed, they were aghast, and that's (one reason at least) why they didn't hire him again.

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Douglas Slocombe never used a light meter, He won an Oscar for Raiders of the Lost Ark! I did a motion control shoot for him once. I did not dare take a reading! The labs phoned me and said "we cant print this film its so overexposed" well they did at 49-47-49 and it looked fantastic! I think he did not calculate we were shooting at 8 FPS.