Basic Light Meter

Can you guys recommend a basic light meter for a narrative(Horror) short?

-chad

Sure: Your camera.

-Stu

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The DV Rebel's Guide

Hey Chad,

Light meters range from $60 to over $1000. What you want is an INCIDENT light meter. Also very helpful, but less necessary is a SPOT meter, but they are more expensive. The meter I suggest, as it is a good meter but not very expensive is the Sekonic 308. (Technically the L-308S) Brand new this meter runs about $180, but I just checked eBay and there are some "Buy Now" auctions for $130. Checking B&H, there are a couple brands lower than this, but I have never used them. I've used high end Minoltas and this one - the first meter I ever bought. (I'm a professional still photographer.)

Still cameras are great as they have built in light meters, and the better ones have SPOT meters which is a necessity when judging an exposure reading by REFLECTED metering. If you have a still camera, even an old manual film SLR, you can use that as your light meter. I DPed a film a couple months ago and I left my meter at home so I borrowed an old Canon manual film camera that was owned by the owner of the location we were shooting at. Not the greatest solution, but it worked in a pinch.

Unfortunately, video cameras do not have built in meters. You have auto exposure, which will take the entire scene, average the brightest with the darkest then determine what it thinks 18% grey is. That's your auto exposure. But you are never given a real reading. With a still camera, you set your ISO, point the camera, half press the shutter, and a pretty reading is superimposed over your view. The best you can hope for with video is ZEBRAS, if your cam has them, and even then, you will only know what is CLIPPING, or close to being clipped. And as a well respected author I know said, you cant always trust the zebras.

Then you have your display LCD, but it is not calibrated to anything and is mostly just there for framing. You definitely cant trust it for exposure and it can not always be trusted for focus. So you have an external LCD that you have hooked up. Unfortunately, they are usually less reliable than the built in, depending on the monitor you use. I hear the $1500+ monitors are pretty good. I dont have the scratch to get one of those. Even then, it wont be exactly what you'll get in the final file.

You can just point the camera, adjust some settings and hope you have usable lighting. I did that for 75% of my film, but that's only because my meter stays in the studio with my still camera gear and not with my film(video) gear.

If you really want to take control of your lighting, get the 308. Research as best you can what the average ISO rating of your camera is. I say "average" becasue it turns out that few video cameras are a solid, single ISO. They drift a bit as part of their function for exposure. The DVX100B is 640 ISO.... most of the time. (Which is a pretty good rating.) Here are instructions to figure out your camera's rating - http://www.ttop.com/rating.html. Then you want to figure out your camera's DYNAMIC RANGE so you know how many stops of exposure you have to play with. Here is an article written by Juan Pertierra, the genius behind the Andromeda mod for the DVX. http://www.reel-stream.com/DynamicRangeAndLatitude.pdf

Then, you set your light meter to your ISO and shutter speed (1/48 or closest), light your scene, meter your subject, then meter the brighest, and darkest areas that you dont want clipped. There will be areas that you want black, and areas that you dont mind being blown or cant help from being blown. Dont measure THOSE, only measure the areas you NEED/WANT within the camera's range. If those readings fall outside your dynamic range, then kick up the FILL on the dark areas, FLAG off, ND, or DIFFUSE the light on the bright section, until you are within your range. Be sure to recheck the reading on your subject. The easiest thing to do now is turn your zebras on, open the IRIS until your "brightest area" burns, then back off until the stripes are gone. Now meter you main subject. Hopefully your actor (if that is your subject) reads the same as your camera iris. If not, adjust the lighting. This process is not as difficult as it sounds.

I've mentioned in other threads that the Lowel Pro 250w w/ softbox is my favorite light. The reason is that it isnt crazy bright. It is very subdues and very soft. This allows me to start at an almost wide open aperture for "best" DOF, and then the rest of the scen can be lit from there. I've been lighting long enough that for stills I can just set the lights and usually be within 2/3-1 stop off from proper exposure. Film(video) is a little trickier due to more complicated scenes and moving through those scenes.

Of course you can spend $1400 on a cheap Waveform monitor to monitor exposure, or get DVRack/OnLocation and a laptop and plug your camera in to monitor it live - IF your camera supports that.

But really, the light meter method is much easier than it sounds. And DVRack is nice. But dont trust your LCD, unless you are just playing around. If your film matters beyond YouTube, do it right.

Yeah, I'm trying not to rely on the zebra bars in my HV20. The Sekonic L-308s looks like it will be perfect.

Thanks,

Chad

Chad:

Bear in mind Stu's observation that shots might be blown out just below the no-zebra level. By all means, enjoy using the data from the Sekonic, but test your camera to make sure that you're getting what you expect.

Unexpectedy blown out white areas are no fun, I can assure you.

-- Paul

Yes, blown out areas are no good. And from what people are saying, it turns out that the ISO for the HV20 is around 100. So people are using 120 to prevent any sort of blowouts. I will be testing the camera with the light meter and lighting kit that should arrive at the end of the week. I ended up buying the Lowel DV Creator 55 4 Light Kit. I would have loved to go with 4 Arri Fresnels, but my budget wouldn't allow it. And this kit has a Softbox as well.

-chad

Clinco is correct. So always use the SAFER zebra setting. I notice the HV20 has 70% and 100%. Use the 70. The DVX has 80.