How many photographers use an external light meter? Shoot in A or S mode?

[Gina9942]

Back when I was in college taking photography classes, they had us purchase a sekonic light meter, I'll be honest, it has been living in the bottom of my camera bag since then, I was thinking of resurrecting it but I was curious as to how many people use an external meter as opposed to the in camera one, what are the advantages of using an external meter?

Also how many of you shoot in A or S mode as opposed to fully manual? I always shoot in manual, but it was recently brought to my attention that A mode might be better in some instances, such as those that aren't controlled, if I am walking down the block and i see something i want to take a pic of, if I am in A mode, I can snap, if I am in manual theres a chance I will have to adjust settings, how do you handle this? Those that shoot manual when you do things like that are you still in Manual or for walks and even family photos where people are constantly moving is it easier to shoot in A.

Sorry it was so long I am just trying to get a feel of what is going on out there and how other photographers handle certain things.

TIA

Gina

[nobbies]

I tend to shoot in manual mode mostly, but if I am expecting something to happen quickly I do use A mode and sometimes an external meter also

[OsmosisStudios]

Light meters were great with film, where taking your time to get it right the first time was crucial as there often wasnt room for do-overs. With digital, though, you can see how something looks as soon as it's shot, so there's less of a need for light meters. Many pros still use them, but it's usually not necessary.

Of course, this applies pretty much only to studio work.

For general use I'll sometimes use A or S, depending on the circumstances, but most of the time its in full manual.

[zona5101]

I only use a meter in studio and only to read lighting ratios. I have to admit that beyond that application for a meter I usually just chimp and adjust. Walking around and moment-of-action-shots I have no quams shooting in program and using the thumb wheel to slide the shutter up or down to get the combination I want and the finger wheel add or subtract exposure comp. But the most important thing is what you are comfortable with - know your camera and how to get it to do what you want it to no matter the mode you chose...

[kencaleno]

Flash/exposure meters are still very handy to have, for certain situations where your camera's meter cannot help you-

#1. For incident (light falling on subject)readings, especially for wedding images where you want detail in both the bride's dress and the groom's tuxedo.

#2. For real estate photography,where a flash meter can tell you how many times to fire your flash to light the area properly.

#3. For studio/product/still-life images where you need to control several lights at once.

A Meter can give you readings in tenths of a EV stop-no camera's meter can do this. Ken

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

A Meter can give you readings in tenths of a EV stop-no camera's meter can do this. Ken

All very well and good, but no camera or flash can be controlled in 1/10th EV, so who cares?

[kjonnnn]

I still use one. When you're using strobes, and external meter is necessary. External handheld meters measure the light falling ON a subject, not reflected by a subject. They are very helpful when photographing images with bright white and black. The idea that handheld meters are obsolete, is misplaced.

[WooD]

I use my meter every time I'm using strobes.

Both my cameras stay in manual mode. I shot a 9 school marching band competition last Saturday. It was windy with scattered clouds, I had to do a lot of adjusting, but I still like the control.

[Jim Poor]

Actually, certain flash units can be controlled in 1/10th EV, but it isn't very common.

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

All very well and good, but no camera or flash can be controlled in 1/10th EV, so who cares?

[ttosifa]

Originally Posted by Jim Poor

Actually, certain flash units can be controlled in 1/10th EV, but it isn't very common.

Actually, many studio flash units have continuous EV control.

And in response to kjonnnn, many external meters can measure both incident light (light falling on a subject) and reflected light -- mine does.