Inexpensive light meter

Perrone Ford · May 7th, 2010, 09:20 PM

Nice to see I am not the only one! The shoot I am on now, I signed on just to "advise" a first time filmmaker. His videographer backed out last minute, and either I was going to operate (which I friggin hate) or the movie was dead. I asked all the usual questions. Got back the usual answers. There is 1 professional actor out of a cast of nearly 40. I asked about lights, I was told that one of the crew had "floodlights". I expected the worst on Day 1, and was still disappointed. As for sound, there was none, so I supplied the mic. There was no boom the first weekend. I had to sort that out too. The shoot I worked on last fall was quite a bit better as there was a professional sound guy, and I just mostly DPed. That shoot was a 5D, this one I am using the EX1.

Charles, I did camera tests on the EX1 to relate it to my meter. Essentially the equivalent of film tests to test the responses. I usually only shoot 1080/24p 180 angle -3 gain, so it's very very consistent. Occasionally I will shoot 720/60p for slo-mo so I worked that out too. I spent some time with the 5D working out some things that did ok for me. I shot that like I would a film camera with 2 stocks. ISO 320 indoors, ISO 100 outdoors. Usually F2.8 since the focus puller was working blind with only marks to rely on.

It's nice to see you guys doing work down in the trenches. I learn so much from you and these discussions.

G. Lee Gordon · May 12th, 2010, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

Given these conditions, my light meter is the most valuable tool I have as DP. It's the ONLY consistent means I have to get anywhere close to the shots I want. It's not perfect, and if I had other methods such as those described here, I'd certainly be using them. But it's important I think, for beginners to realize that even though the light meter is not a perfect tool, it's certainly of value and can save your butt on shoots where you are trying to get something specific, and more modern, and dare I say, accurate, tools are not at your disposal.

Can you share your metering workflow? Back to my original question; can I use an inexpensive light meter to get the necessary results?

Noah Yuan-Vogel · May 14th, 2010, 01:35 PM

For inexpensive light meters, I got one of these and it seems to work well.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/368226-REG/Sekonic_401_309_L_308S_Flashmate_Light_Meter.html
I got one used on craigslist for about $100. Seems like a good inexpensive option and much more useful than the analog ones which are a bit slower to read and adjust.

I find it quite useful for scouting and for quantifying the output of certain lights and modifiers as well as lighting ratios, to know what will work before I even start lighting a set. Of course I use a DSLR and tape measure to judge some of these things as well.

Charles Papert · May 15th, 2010, 12:12 PM

Tape measure???

May 7th, 2010, 09:20 PM	#16
Perrone Ford Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 4,100	Nice to see I am not the only one! The shoot I am on now, I signed on just to "advise" a first time filmmaker. His videographer backed out last minute, and either I was going to operate (which I friggin hate) or the movie was dead. I asked all the usual questions. Got back the usual answers. There is 1 professional actor out of a cast of nearly 40. I asked about lights, I was told that one of the crew had "floodlights". I expected the worst on Day 1, and was still disappointed. As for sound, there was none, so I supplied the mic. There was no boom the first weekend. I had to sort that out too. The shoot I worked on last fall was quite a bit better as there was a professional sound guy, and I just mostly DPed. That shoot was a 5D, this one I am using the EX1. Charles, I did camera tests on the EX1 to relate it to my meter. Essentially the equivalent of film tests to test the responses. I usually only shoot 1080/24p 180 angle -3 gain, so it's very very consistent. Occasionally I will shoot 720/60p for slo-mo so I worked that out too. I spent some time with the 5D working out some things that did ok for me. I shot that like I would a film camera with 2 stocks. ISO 320 indoors, ISO 100 outdoors. Usually F2.8 since the focus puller was working blind with only marks to rely on. It's nice to see you guys doing work down in the trenches. I learn so much from you and these discussions. __________________ DVX100, PMW-EX1, Canon 550D, FigRig, Dell Octocore, Avid MC4/5, MB Looks, RedCineX, Matrox MX02 mini, GTech RAID, Edirol R-4, Senn. G2 Evo, Countryman, Moles and Lowels.

May 15th, 2010, 12:12 PM	#19
Charles Papert Wrangler Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 6,810	Tape measure??? __________________ Charles Papert www.charlespapert.com

May 14th, 2010, 01:35 PM	#18
Noah Yuan-Vogel Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: New York City Posts: 613	For inexpensive light meters, I got one of these and it seems to work well. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/368226-REG/Sekonic_401_309_L_308S_Flashmate_Light_Meter.html I got one used on craigslist for about $100. Seems like a good inexpensive option and much more useful than the analog ones which are a bit slower to read and adjust. I find it quite useful for scouting and for quantifying the output of certain lights and modifiers as well as lighting ratios, to know what will work before I even start lighting a set. Of course I use a DSLR and tape measure to judge some of these things as well.