Achieving Perfect Exposures in Digital and Film Photography 275
7. When you change lenses, the measuring area adjusts automatically to the area coverage of the
new lens.
8. All the information you need to know about exposure and lens settings is visible in the view-
fi nder while you are evaluating the image.
9. Warning signals may appear if a problem exists.
10. The light is measured through accessories placed in front of the lens such as fi lters, or accesso-
ries that are between the lens and camera, such as extension tubes, bellows, and teleconverters
so you do not have to consider fi lter or exposure factors.
11. In H cameras and 200 models lenses and fi lm magazines are or can be electronically coupled
to the camera body, which offers the ultimate solution for speed, convenience, and accuracy.
12. A metering system in the camera or viewfi nder eliminates the need to carry and worry about a
separate meter.
METERING MODES
Any exposure meter, handheld or built-in, can provide correct exposures only if you under-
stand how the meter measures the light and how it must measure the subject or scene. All the
exposure approaches discussed here apply in digital and fi lm photography.
There are two methods of metering. You can measure the light that falls on the subject,
known as incident light metering, or you can measure the light that is refl ected off the sub-
ject or scene, known as refl ected light metering.
The Incident Light-Metering Approach
As the name indicates, in an incident meter reading you measure the light that falls on the
subject through a diffusion disc on the meter that measures the light falling on the subject
from all directions. You take incident meter readings by holding the meter in front of the
subject to be photographed (or in another location with the same amount of light) with the
metering cell facing the camera lens so that all the light that falls on the subject also falls on
the metering cell. Since incident meter readings usually have to be made where the subject is,
the photographer must move away from the camera position. This is a time-consuming proc-
ess and impractical in handheld photography.
Incident meter readings are unaffected by the color and brightness of the subject. They
give the same reading whether held in front of a white, gray, or black subject, and the reading
is correct regardless of the color or brightness of the subject (see Figures 15-1 and 15-2).
Incident meter readings can be made with handheld meters but not with metering
systems in cameras. There is one exception: the PME 90 and PME 45 viewfi nders, which
have a domelike disc on top for incident meter readings. While incident metering with these
viewfi nders works, it is impractical. You must either remove the fi nder from the camera to
take a reading at the subject location or take the entire camera there for the reading. The
reading on the prism fi nder can be locked.
Many professional photographers are confi rmed users of handheld incident meters and
often feel that it is the only professional metering mode, especially when compared to built-
in meters. There is nothing wrong with this approach and feeling, especially as it is not the
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