Hand held light/flash meters

fotodude

Hi Moose, I have recently watched a few video's on light meters. Some say do, some say don't. I'm starting to believe that the on-board meter can be fooled by bright or dark portions in the subject area. Where would a guy go to get more info on this? Playing with the ISO or moving the on-board meter to over/under expose will do it but I'm thinking the hand held might be the way to go.

Moose

Howdy Fotodude,

To be honest, it really depends on what you're shooting. If you're shooting in a studio with controlled lighting, an incident light meter can be useful to get spot on accurate exposures.

An incident meter measures the light that hits it. If your subject is the eagle at the top of a redwood tree, metering at the eagle's location isn't so easy.

Personally, I feel that for non-studio shooting it's best to have an understanding of the zone system and utilizing the T2i's spot meter in the right situations. Luminous Landscape has an excellent article on the zone system if you're interested. Happy shooting! :)