I cant get the light meter to work properly, when i point it at anything the only settings that work are 1.4 and 1/1000 shutter speed otherwise it just says that its underexposed. Its not broken cos i got it from my photography school and they check all the cameras before they check them out, any advice?
2006-09-26 09:26:41 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Photography
1. check the battery
2. Make sure that the leafs in your lens are operating correctly
3. If the battery check does not show the battery bad, change it anyway.
4. regardless of the checking by the school, something could be wrong now that was not wrong then
5. Best option, buy a hand held light meter, you can get a Gossen Pilot from www.keh.com cheap - or Wings Camera in Atlanta has one - I saw it the other day. Those are a bit better because they use no batteries, you can look at the dial and see that several shutter speeds and several stops, all of which will give the same exposure value, are right before your eyes.
I don't know how old your camera is or what brand that you have. Older cameras use a CS metering system and that can lose it after a few years if it is not closed all the time. That is keep your lens caps on when not using it AND turn it off.
I had a really old 35mm twin lens reflex made by Zeiss. It had been wrapped in its case when I bought it from about 1944 when it was taken off a dead German photographer. The meter was perfect. My young est camera is now 32 years old, but it does not have, and never has had a meter, so I use outboard metering. I have a $250 meter and an old Gossen Pilot and they both read the same when I try both. The Gossen is about as big as a pocket change purse, maybe 4" square and about 3/4 inch thick, the other is twice as large.
Once you get used to the light meter and the conditions of the days, you can get along with out one, that is what I taught my students to do. There is always the rule of 16s on sunny days with minimum clouds. That is to set your lens at f16 and then set the shutter speed as close to your film speed, and shoot your head off.
So if you are using 200 speed, you would set the speed at 250, the lens at 16, or open the stop one because the shutter speeds available to you are probably either 125 or 250. With 400 speed film, you can set the speed at 500 and the aperture at f16, then open it a stop, or two.
You will have to figure on your own how to handle cloudy days, say setting it at f8 and 200 or f5.6 at 200 for 200 speed film.
Always bracket your shots, get your light reading and then shoot at what the meter says, then stop it down a stop, or two, then open it below your original a stop or two, soyou might be taking 5 shots, but one of them will be the best and you can use that.
You will soon be able to figure out how to set it for any conditions without even using the meter.
2006-09-26 09:55:19 · answer #1 · answered by Polyhistor 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
my camera does this, have a look for a medium size round button looking thing, what you do is push it in and turn it, thi turns the light meter on, at least in my camera
might be next to the timer handle
2006-09-26 20:20:54 · answer #2 · answered by jobe j 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my digital digital camera does this, have a glance for a medium length round button looking situation, what you do is push it in and turn it, thi turns the gentle meter on, a minimum of in my digital digital camera may opt to be next to the timer manage
2016-12-02 03:01:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out the battery. Or it's broken. What? You think your photography school is infallible?
Or did you dropped it and are trying to cover it up??????
2006-09-26 09:42:19 · answer #4 · answered by letem haveit 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only thing I can suggest is changing the battery!
2006-09-26 09:32:05 · answer #5 · answered by namazanyc 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋