Meters

Light Meters

The basic purpose of light meters is to calculate the amount of ambient light in correspondence to the amount of light you want for the correct exposure to your photo. They can be helpful, but they require time and money, and they’re kind of hard to use. The hardest part would be figuring out how to use the meter itself, and also how to do the calculations necessary when using the meter. The purpose of the meter is to give you the equation and the numbers in relation to themselves, and some meters calculate the exposure. You would enter what you’re looking for in the meter, use the meter to measure the light, and you’ll get an automatic calculation. The advantage of this is that you don’t have to do any math. The drawback of this is that these meters are fairly expensive and more complicated to use, and the machines can always make slight mistakes that can be crucial to your exposure. If you learn to calculate these equations yourself, it will open many doors for you and other options when it comes to exposures of your photos. You can always try out different things. Also, you can do this digitally. Some meters can plug in to a computer, and others have software that you need to install. When you’ve gotten your equation from the meter, you can enter the data into the software and you will get a calculation.

Flash Meters

Flash meters calculate the amount of light from the camera flash in relation to the amount of other false light inside your studio, or ambient light outside your studio. These are very helpful, but are mostly only used in very professional photography, and also in flash photography, which is also normally professional. Again, with these meters, you must do your own calculations, unless you have a meter that will do them for you. Flash meters also help out with the look of your picture, but you need to make sure you know what you’re doing with them. Otherwise, you can mess up your exposure and the meter, and it can waste valuable time and money.

Meter Makers

Vivitar is a company that makes light meters. They are a trusted company with good reviews. Companies like Bowens and Elinchrom also make light meters, and they’ve joined together on some products. The top company for flash meters would be Minolta. They’ve got great reviews, and their products are very dependable.