Metering Techniques in Avail. Light

[Mark Sperry]

I'm using a Bolex for reportagé style work. There is no lighting, or even light modifying. I have a Gossen Digisky meter that has a great cine mode, with incident and reflected measurements (but no spot). I'm wondering though what would be the best route or techniques for metering in available light? Should I be taking an average reading of the scene with the reflected meter or should I be taking incident measurements when ever possible? My background is mostly photography which is a little bit different and I use the zone system a lot, or with internal camera meters which average the frame when I'm shooting fast. But with the Bolex I don't want to wast film. I find myself not entirely trusting the reflected measurements for some reason.

 

What is the popular technique for available light shooting with a hand held light meter? Also is it possible or advisable to use a digital camera, take a shot using the same shutter speed and ISO as my Bolex and film and use that to measure the scene?

 

I wasn't totally sure which thread this belongs in so feel free to move it...

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I find Incident readings are always the most useful. I'll meter the Key and then the fill, and sometimes other areas of the room which interest me (dark spots/bright spots) and park exposure where it belongs based on that.

I'd not use a DSLR as a meter. I use them often as a quick reference, but they're not light meter in my opinion.

In truth, metering for film isn't much different than metering for a still; you get an idea of what the light is like, and then expose based on how you want that light to read.