Hasselblad metered prism VS. ligthmeter?

[chef_IBK]

hi ,

I was wondering wich is the best solution between having a lightmeter in the cam, and a normal one. Pricewise maybe more affordable...I dont even own a hassy yet.but soon...
peace

check out my blog!
peace

 

[jolefler]

I would imagine,

that the metered prism would be more convenient. You, obviously, would have to take care with what you metered more than say an incident meter.
Hassy had a winder knob meter that is convenient, also. It has reflected and an incident capability. Handy because it eliminates carrying a separate meter. Maybe not no good for really low light situations, though.

Jo

 

[benjiboy]

I would prefer to have either a waist level finder or a plain prism, and a separate hand held digital light meter with incidental, spot and flash metering facilitys that you can use with all your cameras.

 

[Pinholemaster]

Get a handheld light meter.

Never need a meter in my Hasselblad prism.

"A meter in the hand is worth two in the camera."

 

[pgomena]

My Hassy kit came with a metered prism finder that I don't use. If you have a 503cx or similar model, I believe the meter works in conjunction with a Hasselblad (or other?) flash for automatic exposure control. The guy that sold it to me used it for flash wedding photography. I just use it as-is.

Peter Gomena

 

[MattKing]

If you plan to do a lot of macro work, metered prisms can be very handy.
Otherwise, I find a hand-held meter to be more flexible.
I do, however, use both.

Matt

 

[JBrunner]

I find 1 degree spot meter far more useful than incident or in camera meters. It certainly isn't as convenient, but I feel the trade off is worth it for the type of photography I do. For some kinds of photography the prism meter will doubtlessly be more useful. For the things I do, landscapes, portraits, still life, etc. the accuracy and flexibility of the HH spot trumps convenience, at least in my little world.

 

[Q.G.]

My Hassy kit came with a metered prism finder that I don't use. If you have a 503cx or similar model, I believe the meter works in conjunction with a Hasselblad (or other?) flash for automatic exposure control. The guy that sold it to me used it for flash wedding photography. I just use it as-is.

The metering electronics inside the prism are not linked to anything else.
TTL-flash metering is achieved by hooking a sensor inside some Hasselblad camera bodies, through the appropriate adapter, up to the electronics inside suitable flash units.



The Hasselblad meter prisms are very easy to use, and dead accurate. If you want to use a prism anyway, no reason (except perhaps financial ones) not to make it a metered prism.

Hand held meters are very fine tools. But there is no reason why you couldn't get the same excellent results using a built-in meter. The biggest contributing factor to getting good results is you knowing what you are doing, not the meter, or what type it is, itself.

So in the end, it is a matter of personal preferences. Some people like spot meters, other people incident metering. To each his own. They all work

 

[Brandon D.]

I faced the same dilemma earlier this summer. At first, I was strongly pulling towards a metered prism because of the obvious convenience of having a meter on camera. But I ultimately decided on just a handheld meter that gives incident meter readings and reflective meter readings. Since I do quite a bit of flash photography, I would need a handheld meter even if I bought a metered prism (that only does reflective readings). Plus, now I've learned that I favor incident meter readings over reflective meter readings because it seems to be a lot easier to fool a reflective meter. And ultimately, I saved more money by buying one meter that does both types of meter readings rather than buying two different types of meters. I did buy a PM45 prism to improve on the Waist Level Finder and so that I could mount a flash to the hot shoes on the prism.

 

[Q.G.]

A PME45 would have given you both a spot and center weighed reflective metering, and incident light metering, all in a single, convenient unit that doubles as a prism finder and shoe mount flash mount.

 

[Brandon D.]

The PME45 does flash metering? :confused:

 

[cowanw]

The PME45 does flash metering? :confused:

No: but I do put it on the back of my large format cambo for a Ground Glass meter and also use it to meter through my Hasselblad mounted Imagon. I like it. Besides you can never have too many meters.
Regards
Bill

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have a 503 CX and I use a metered prism, PME.

1. The prism gets rid of the left-right reversal.
2. The meter is very accurate.
3. Some times I will take a reading without the sky, to check the center weighted reading. Usually, the readings are the same or close.

I tired using a Sekonic handheld meter and I found that it was easier and more fun to use the all in one solution.

When I need a spot meter I use my Nikon F-100!

Steve

 

[chef_IBK]

thx guys for the advices....ciao

 

[tinyfailures]

I would never trust a camera meter unless I had to. A great light meter is the best investment you can make in photo.

 

[Ed Sukach]

The metering electronics inside the prism are not linked to anything else.
TTL-flash metering is achieved by hooking a sensor inside some Hasselblad camera bodies, through the appropriate adapter, up to the electronics inside suitable flash units.

Small correction: The flash metering is OTF - Off-The-Film, with an internal sensor directed toward the film, rather than Through-The-Lens. Potentially more accurate (taking note of the differences in film surface reflectivity) and immune to stray light coming through the viewing system.

The independent Haaselblad system is GREAT - I absolutely love it for "fill" work!!

 

[Kent10D]

I would recommend having both, if that's financially feasible.

I have a metered prism on my 503cx that lets me travel light and easy. With that setup it's just a matter of grabbing the camera and some film and heading out the door.

But when weight and clutter-factor aren't an issue I'll also take my Sekonic 758D (which is what I use for flash metering as well).

Having the options can really be an advantage at times.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I would never trust a camera meter unless I had to. A great light meter is the best investment you can make in photo.

You can trust a working Hasselblad metered prism. It will not give you tiny or large failures. Pun intended.

Steve

 

[Q.G.]

Small correction: The flash metering is OTF - Off-The-Film, with an internal sensor directed toward the film, rather than Through-The-Lens. Potentially more accurate (taking note of the differences in film surface reflectivity) and immune to stray light coming through the viewing system.

Correction?
O.K. Here's your correction!

"Rather than Through-The-Lens" makes, of course, no sense.
Before the light can bounce off the film, it has to come through the lens.

So if you want to be pedantic, call it TTL OTF.

Because it is influenced by the differences in film reflectivity, it is potentially less (!) accurate than non-OTF metering.


Tinyfailures,

The meter prism is "a great meter".
Your distrust of built-in meters may be no more but a reflection of your past choice of camera(s) with built-in meter. Bad luck!

 

[tinyfailures]

My distrust of built-in light meters is for indoor situations where I know whatever the meter is telling me will be 1-3 stops underexposed. And I'm not talking about 1+s exposures where you get into reciprocity. I've never used a 503 series Hassy. (The ones we have at school are 500 C/Ms.)

 

[Brandon D.]

I would never trust a camera meter unless I had to. A great light meter is the best investment you can make in photo.

All of my in-camera meters exactly match the spot meter readings of my Sekonic L-358 handheld meter.

I trust my camera in-camera meters just as I would my handheld meter.

 

[benjiboy]

I dont "trust" any meter Brandon because they see the world as 18% gray, consequently any reading should be subject to some consideration and interpretation, IMHO the secret of getting the best out of any meter is learning to recognise the situations that will fool it. I have a Sekonic L-358 and the 1degree spot agrees with the spot meter in my Canon T90 but knowing the correct tone to point them at is a different matter.

 

[Robland]

I took it a step further, got the 203 FE with internal focal plane shutter and built in 20% coverage light meter w/Aperture priority (there is a 1% spot version, 205 TTC). It has TTL/OTF metering, fast 2.8 (even 2.0) glass. I can adjust the ISO to compensate for film and lighting conditions (fill etc). The OTF sensor shuts down the flash ensuring proper exposure or fill. Overall I've been really happy. The disadvantages are increased price and flash sync at 1/90 and below/slower. The shutter goes to 1/2000 which is nice in bright sun and use of larger aperture for better control of DOF etc. I find it shoots more like a "35mm SLR", which is good and bad, I have a lot of bad candids that would be more structured if I was using a light meter etc. Dialing it all in with some test rolls should be your 1st assignment, stated well by "benjiboy" above.

 

[Terry Breedlove]

Very old thread I know but I am wondering if the PM45 will meter properly when using a10 stop ND filter.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Very old thread I know but I am wondering if the PM45 will meter properly when using a10 stop ND filter.

I learned in Alan Ross' workshop in Yosemite it is not a good idea to meter through a filter [other than a polarizer], instead use the filter factor.