How Often Do You Use It?

RyanT

RyanT

Veteran
So, I was always taught that the light meter is your friend. At the very least you should meter the lighting ratio and keep that consistent throughout the scene. However, after being on a number of pretty professional shoots I can confidently say I've never seen a light meter anywhere to be seen. Is this just a personal preference sort of thing, or are they just not commonly used? Could it also be that I've just been working on shoots where we've been using video and not film, making it not so much of a necessity?
 
The video-film difference is probably the biggest reason. Since you can see your image before recording it when using video, light meters aren't as all-important as they are when shooting film. A lot of people still like to use light meters when shooting video, just to maintain an even ratio of light throughout the image, but new camera technologies are making it easier and easier to do so without draggin out the ole' lumasphere.
 
If you have a nice monitor, you can usually get away without a meter. If you're working on a set with a team of guys lighting it, I'm sure one of them has a meter.
 
i have only seen them on film shoots so far. Good monitors for video are pretty much all you need. I just wish they made a mini wireless monitor that I could carry around while lighting so I dont have to keep running over to the main monitor and keep me from sweating my balls off on bigger sets.
 
Its cos you're working with video. All film projects I've worked on or seen there has been a light meter in use all the time, even on higher budget tvc's.
 
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