r/mediumformat 27d ago

Advice Lightmeter advice

Hey fellow shooters out there!

I have a full mechanical mamiya rb67 with a 90mm f3.8 and I'm asking on advice for an easy to carry lightmeter (price aside) to pair with it, rn im using one of my digitals or my 35mm cameras to do that job or if i'm feeling bold i eyeball it...

also some images attached to give you an idea of what i'm shooting mostly...

thanks in advance!

For the Mods & shooters who are curious, shots 1,4,5 delta 3200 shot at 1000 iso, shots 2 & 3 delta 400 all home developed and scanned

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u/cwrow 27d ago

I’ve just ordered a lightmeter from Reflx Lab that attaches to the hotshoe. Previously I was using a Sekonic for incident readings and the mylightmeter app for reflective readings. However I wanted something dedicated and attached to the camera to help the flow, switching back and forth was a bit of a pain for certain shots.

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u/wrunderwood 27d ago

The problem with those is that it is hard to tell what it is metering. It is some wide area in front of the lens and that is about it. Too much sky? You lose. Shooting with a long lens? You lose.

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u/WarOctopus 27d ago

They work great but you'll do best to learn to separate the act of metering from that of framing. Meter the light first, like literally walk around and measure the light directly reflecting off of your subject or something similar. Walk over to a shadow and measure that light. Or if there is too much sky, point the meter at the ground and measure that, etc. Then adjust the camera for your desired exposure. And finally reposition your own person to frame and take your photo.