Many photographers are trying out film these days and I somehow they find light meters more complicated as their own digital camera which has over 500 settings. I wrote this post to show you how I use my light meter and how I know that I’m picking the correct settings. My way of exposure metering has never failed on me, okay in the beginning I had some trouble with the color casts on my negatives but after some research I found out what the best way was to use a light meter for myself.

So the first step is made, you are the proud new owner of a Leica M3, Hasselblad V, Nikon F or even a Rolleiflex… No matter how fancy the brand or how expensive the model you’ll need an external light meter when there is none build-in. There are 2 lines of exposure meters on the market, the digital ones and the analog meters. Both work exactly the same only some of the analog ones don’t require a battery.

- Digital or Analog -
Digital or analog whatever you choose it doesn’t really matter digital has the benefit that the settings are easier to read and that you can sync them with your external flashes. Analog meters don’t feature flash sync but they do a good job in most common situations. Plus you cannot run out of power with the old ones that don’t required a cell battery. So whatever you choose its up to you…

Analog meter
This is my Weston euro Master light meter that I use as a back up meter or whenever I feel like going retro. Don’t feel intimidated about the calculator dial, you’ll only use a small part of it.

Digital meter
And this is my digital light meter, the Sekonic 308 the smallest digital meter from Sekonic and uses a normal AA battery. Gossen is making decent light meters as well and the Digisix is a very good alternative.

- Reflected or Incident metering? -
The most frequently asked question of all new analog shooters… Incident light metering is what I prefer to use. Reflected metering means that you expose the sensor of your light meter without anything in front of it. The sensor will measure the amount of grey tones reflected from the scene and it’s base the right values on that. Incident metering is done with a white sphere that covers the sensor and causes the sensor to read the average light that falls on the scene/subject, black will be black and white will be white when you use the incident method.
I’ve tried both methods a few times and learned quickly that the incident method is most useful when you’re shooting color negative film. With the reflected method you can easily create a color cast on the photo because you’ve read the exposure from the wrong object. I always use the incident mode and only use the reflected mode when I’m not sure about the right metering and take value that sits right in the middle of both.

- Shutter speed and F value or EV steps? -
EV (exposure value) steps for sure! Why? Its easy to read / set and after sometime you don’t even need to use your light meter any more because you already know which number matches with the type of scene/lightning that your about to shoot.

- How do you hold your meter? -
I always point the meter to myself at a 45 angle towards the sky when I’m using the incident method, I do however point in several angles to see what the average value is when I’m not sure about the reading. With reflected metering I usually point at the object that has the average lightning so not the shadow area and defiantly not the bright sky, just in between.

- And what about the ISO/ASA value -
In the beginning you are best off by using the same ISO value as your film so Fuji PRO 400H is ISO 400 and Fuji PRO 160NS is ISO 160. When you’re more experienced you can try to under or over expose the film to get the effect that you want. I’m always shooting my 160 on ISO 160 and sometimes on ISO 100. The Fuji PRO 400H is mostly taken on ISO 320 or 250 to get a brighter look on the image.

_ Wait there is an app for that! -
Dream on, Ok there are light meter apps for the iPhone but seriously? As a beginner I highly recommend you to use a good meter that gives you the right values until you know which EV value fits the scene. Only use the iPhone when you have no other choice but do never depend on it.

- Long story short -
Use the incident mode whenever is possible, analog or digital its up to you and use the EV steps to keep things simple and fast. Because its better to be off 1/2 step than to loose the shot.

I also released 2 new preset bundles, Filmpan Pro for Photoshop is finally available and you can get your hands on a free bundle of Mattebox presets!

Mattebox is designed to work exactly like the old 35mm rangefinder cameras, and it does that job quiet well. It doesn’t give me the real rangefinder feeling but it truly stands out in it’s simplicity. The camera has a dual stage shutter release button that locks the AF and Exposure just like your compact camera or DSLR. It all works like a charm but the photos are no different as the ones from the standard camera app.

So what makes this app so special? The adjustment controls! Mattebox features 6 adjustment controls to process your photo and you won’t need any more. With those adjustment options you can add a subtile color change or a heavy post processing within seconds. Your adjustments can be saved in a preset, like a photoshop action or Lightroom preset. Nothing special but it becomes more valuable when you know that you can exchange them with the Mattebox web app. With the web app you can export the preset as a unique url that you can share with the world or load into your iphone by a simple click on the url.

Just go to Mattebox and become a fan.

It was a great first year so let the 2nd be the same or even better. New Photoshop products are in development and they’ll bring your photography to the next level. “Filmpan Pro” will be the first new Photoshop pack that will appear in the store this year, a Photoshop pack filled with natural and subtile color gradings.

Keep an eye on the Google+ for sneak peeks and updates on the development of new Photoshop packages.

If you take a closer look at the beer you will notice that there is only one single string of bubbles rising from the bottom to the top in the center of the glass.

Duvel is the Belgian name for Devil and that string of bubbles is a constant reminder of the devil that lays beneath the crisp white foam. Duvel is one of the stronger Belgian beers and it will get you drunk in a short amount of time.

This is a beer that you should try at least once in your life. It is cheaper as a Trapist and I guess that it is available world wide.

The photo above is taken through the prism viewfinder of my Hassy as you can see here. It’s the most natural way to shoot with the Hasselblad because it corrects the mirrored image and you are looking through the viewfinder the same as you do with any other camera. Don’t get my wrong here, the original folding viewfinder is great, the magnifier allows you to get the focus spot-on but the top view limits the angles that your able to shoot.

Here are 2 snaps from grand café Hangar 41 taken with the 503CW on 400H. (first roll taken with the new hassy)

Here’s my personal recipe, follow the steps and you’ll never fail ;)

- Boil 1 liter (33fl.oz) water together with about 50-70ml (1.7 – 2.3fl.oz) vinegar
- Once the water boils you need to lower the heat and keep it just below the boiling point
- Get the egg out of the fridge and break it open into a small coffee cup
- Steer with a spoon in the water and wait till the swirl almost stops
- Grab the cup and let the egg glide into the pot slightly out of the center
- Put the timer on 2.50 minutes and lett the egg sit in the water
- Fill the bowl with cold water and dissolve a spoon of salt in it
- Grab the skimmer and put it under the egg and slowly lift it out of the water when the timer goes off.
- Put the skimmer and egg in the bowl of cold water and lift the skimmer back out of the water after 4 second.
- Grab a 2 pieces of paper towel and put the towel on top of the egg that is still on your skimmer.
- Hold your hand on the towel and turn the skimmer around so that your egg rests on the towel in your hand.
- Gently rinse of the water and put the egg on your toast (unless you like soggy toast)
- Put some rock salt / pepper on top of your egg and enjoy the best egg you’ve ever had!

It’s not a problem to use the water a few more times if you need to make some more.

Poached egg on toast with curried chicken salad. (you’ll need a bypass after this)

Film photography is still a hot topic. More and more digital photographers (amateur and professionals) like to mimic the color grading that we know from film. There are a few Photoshop plugins on the market that will apply the film processing to your photos, but not all of us like to invest or simple have the money to purchase one of those $100+ plugins.

I developed a simple photoshop action pack that contains the most popular types of film. The actions aren’t 100% accurate to the original film or as perfect as the $$ plugins (like VSCO), but it’s a nice base to get you started.

» Download the Filmpan package for free
Ps. please spread the word after downloading by Twitter, Google+ or Facebook.