Good post, Tom. You nailed it.
Paul
T Rittenhouse wrote:
>
> Glad to.
>
> This has been bantied about the internet for some time. First let's consider
> what middle gray is. Is it an abitrary shade of gray? No it is the average
> scene in mid-northern latitudes in the morning or afternoon on a sunny
> summer day. That happens to be about 18% gray. That is why it was selected.
> Grass, trees, etc. have about that reflectance.
>
> Now about meters and 18% gray. I use a Sekonic incident meter, when I read
> on the internet that it measured 12% instead of 18% I wrote Sekonic, they
> rightly didn't bother to answer. Why? Because when I checked it against a
> gray card it got exactly the same reading in both modes. So it is calibrated
> at 18%. Shots on slide film confirmed that reading.
>
> Why this internet myth that meters are calibrated at 12%? Well the first
> thing I notice is they always tell you to hold the gray card at 45%. That is
> wrong, and will give you a wrong reading. You are supposed to hold the card
> vertically, and point the meter at it. When you hold the card at 45% you get
> a higher reading, and when they compare that to an incident reading or
> properly processed slow slide film it seems to be off.
>
> The other thing is that Sunny 16 rule. 90% of the time it will give you one
> or two stops of underexposure, because the light is usually less than that
> due to smog, haze, dark surroundings. So it is not an accurate way to check
> your meter. I often like to challenge someone to see which of us get a
> closer estimate using it. I use sunny 11 compensated by my estimate of the
> surroundings and the haze level, almost always I am too high by a 1/2 stop
> or so, but mosty well within the film latitute that is much closer then an
> unthinking sunny 16 estimate.
>
> Just because everybody says it is so, don't make it true, especially on the
> internet. Don't take my word, go out and experiment a bit.
>
> Ciao,
> Graywolf
> http://pages.prodigy.net/graywolfphoto
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Feroze Kistan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> > I don't know enough about grey cards to comment but I did find this site
> > when trying to research it:
> > www.camerahobby.com/E-Book/EBook-Metering_Chapter3.htm. At the bootom of
> his
> > site he makes the comment that grey cards are actually 1/2 stop off
> (12-15%
> > grey). Anyone care to comment.
> >
> >
