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Metering in the 7D ???

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Bonnie G

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I've had my 7D for 2 months, and am a novice photographer enrolled in the NYIP professional photography class.

Which metering mode should I use in which circumstances?

Do I need to buy a hand held meter? If so, what are the favorite recommendations?

Does anyone use the grey card for exposure settings with the 7D?
 
Hi, As you will have seen, page 103 shows the basics. Ambient in-cam metering type is set from the top plate. Flash metering type is set from within the flash menu. They all rely on 'reflected light' metering, measured TTL.

Its well worth understanding 'incident light' metering with an external handheld meter (usually with a white sphere or invercone over the sensor). They are usually 'ambient & flash in one' designs.
I'll try to add a few links to illustrate the above.

Something like Sekonic's 308 or the Polaris 2 covers the basics very well, though you can easily spend a lot more!

Under tricky lighting, using the central 3% spot metering off an 18% grey card can be very effective. Under flash, using FEL over-rides the flash metering mode in use & imposes central 3% spot & lock. But remember the system assumes you have read from an 18% grey card or exact tone/reflectance equivalent. (If you hav'nt, then it's up to you to compensate by dialling in appropriate FEC.)(...or EC if ambient.)
Cheers, Donald
Here's one - Chuck G has a whole bundle linked;
http://super.nova.org/DPR/BasicMetering/
 
Thank you Donald for taking the time to reply. I appreciate your help!
 
Before investing in an incident light meter I think you should use the tools digital photography avails us of. Let the camera do the metering and use your LCD and histogram to evaluate each picture you take. In the tricky-light situations there is no better tool than the LCD. It doesnt lie. Add to that, bracket your exposure where you think you might need to. Also you can click on the 5x and 10x magnifier when looking at the LCD. This will also verify focus.

The most that is going to happen between the various metering modes is a simple ev adjustment. In other words, either the aperture or shutter speed will change. Nothing else will. Armed with this knowledge now take a picture of the exact same scene in each of the metering modes and then view the aperture and shutter speed of each.

In tricky/difficult lighting do this: pick out a spot in your picture and spot-meter it and lock the exposure value then take the picture. Similiar to focus and recompose when dealing with difficult focus situations.

The above suggestions regarding using the camera LCD assumes you have a high enough resolution LCD such as a 50D or 7D....

Also, you say you are in a class. They might require that you learn and use a incident light meter. They did so in my classes. They also made us put hoods over our heads. (4x5 view camera)

Bill
Bonnie G said:
I've had my 7D for 2 months, and am a novice photographer enrolled in the NYIP professional photography class.

Which metering mode should I use in which circumstances?

Do I need to buy a hand held meter? If so, what are the favorite recommendations?

Does anyone use the grey card for exposure settings with the 7D?
Click to expand...
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img7d
 
I would agree that unless your course requires you to use an incident light meter, there really isn't a reason to get one at this time. I happen to be a proponent of incident light meters but they have their limitations. I do believe if you are going to be doing portrait photography they will save you a great deal of time over taking a shot, reviewing on the LCD, adjusting the settings, taking the shot again and so on. This is especially true in a studio environment or other situation where you may be using multiple lights or need to balance the strobe ratios. Light meters can minimize much of the trial and error work which can save lots of time. But if you are just starting out, learning how to use the features of the camera will be more important than adding another tool into the mix (at least to start with).

On the occasions that I do portraits (i am not a professional), i do feel it is very important to set the white balance correctly (I do a custom WB as opposed to the presets). Yes, you can correct it quite in post if you shoot raw but it is just so much easier to get the shot as close to perfect when shooting it as opposed fixing each photo later.
ktownbill said:
Before investing in an incident light meter I think you should use the tools digital photography avails us of. Let the camera do the metering and use your LCD and histogram to evaluate each picture you take. In the tricky-light situations there is no better tool than the LCD. It doesnt lie. Add to that, bracket your exposure where you think you might need to. Also you can click on the 5x and 10x magnifier when looking at the LCD. This will also verify focus.

The most that is going to happen between the various metering modes is a simple ev adjustment. In other words, either the aperture or shutter speed will change. Nothing else will. Armed with this knowledge now take a picture of the exact same scene in each of the metering modes and then view the aperture and shutter speed of each.

In tricky/difficult lighting do this: pick out a spot in your picture and spot-meter it and lock the exposure value then take the picture. Similiar to focus and recompose when dealing with difficult focus situations.

The above suggestions regarding using the camera LCD assumes you have a high enough resolution LCD such as a 50D or 7D....

Also, you say you are in a class. They might require that you learn and use a incident light meter. They did so in my classes. They also made us put hoods over our heads. (4x5 view camera)

Bill
Bonnie G said:
I've had my 7D for 2 months, and am a novice photographer enrolled in the NYIP professional photography class.

Which metering mode should I use in which circumstances?

Do I need to buy a hand held meter? If so, what are the favorite recommendations?

Does anyone use the grey card for exposure settings with the 7D?
Click to expand...
--
img7d
Click to expand...
 
I use center-weighted pretty much always...but this will require you to develop your skills on which area to meter on in a scene and lock exposure while you recompose your shot. Not the quickest way to do it, but I shoot mostly landscape and I find it to be more efficient.
 
I suppose they will dive into this matter in your class, won't they? And if you've enrolled there, they will have given you a course document which states what equipment you need to have to follow the course. If you need a gray-card, or a lightmeter, you will know while following the course and can purchase one then.

Advantage of an external light meter is that you can measure how much light is caught by an object, instead of the reflected light that your camera measures. But you almost exclusively see this kind of metering in studio setups. In most cases the metering options in your camera work just fine.

The grey card is not so much for light metering, as for setting the white balance on your camera to avoid color casts. You can also use it in a program like Photoshop to correct the colors afterwards.
 
but I have been blown away by evaluative in single point AF mode. I shot almost exclusively in single point, and the 7D will lock exposure on the active AF point in evaluative metering. It's effectively spot metering on the active AF point. The 50D does that too, and the 40D I think. However, ALL of the AF points are more sensitive and accurate, so I'm not "afraid" to use the, and the 7D has a new metering which is working extremely well. This new combo is very, very, accurate.

So for me, it's evaluative metering when I'm shooting single point AF. I never thought I was say that, that's for sure.

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http://www.pbase.com/clknight
Colin
 
Thank you Bill, for the great tips! I will try these out today.
 
Thank you! I've not used white balance yet, nor am I into the Unit on portrature in the studio. So far, I'm just trying to learn and understand the basics...including the 7D. I appreciate your advise very much!
 
Bonnie G said:
I've had my 7D for 2 months, and am a novice photographer enrolled in the NYIP professional photography class.
Click to expand...
Hmm, from your own admission should you have enrolled in a lower level class first instead of jumping into the "professional" photography class since you are a novice?

Or is this April Fool's joke?
 
It IS a beginners class...it teaches you everything from the basics up, and gets you ready to be professional...I wouldn't have enrolled in a class that wasn't intended for beginners. That was a really rude comment to make without knowing anything about the class. And I DO intend to be a professional...in time.
 
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