Recommended reading

12 comments on Recommended reading
1 minute

💻 The Oscars are tomorrow. Did you even know? I didn’t, until I read TV writer and director Ken Levine‘s post in which he basically declares the Oscars dead. Read Are the Oscars dead?

Unknown
Nikon F3, 50mm f/2 AI Nikkor, Kodak Plus-X, 2015

💻 Obesity, cryptocurrencies, and lonely young men: three emerging internal threats to the United States. So posits Scott Galloway in a compelling read. Read Threats

💻 Ben Cotton tells a sad story about the time when he was small that his family’s house burned down — and how The Monkees got him through it. Read Cursed house: The Monkees

💻 I’m a total nerd for television history. Bobby Ellerbee unearthed a newsreel film of the first broadcast of the NBC television network — on July 7, 1936! Read NBC First Television Broadcast…July 7, 1936

📷 The light-meter app on my phone is both convenient (as it is always in my pocket) and a pain to use. I think often about buying a dedicated light meter, a good one. Dante Stella shares a compact but comprehensive look at light meters with advice on how to choose one. Read I think I see the light (meter): how to buy one

📷 We’re living in a golden era of analog photography, posits Kenneth Wajda. He makes a compelling argument! Read Golden Age of Analog Photography

Do you enjoy my stories and essays?
My book, A Place to Start, is available now!
Click here to see all the places you can get it!


Comments

12 responses to “Recommended reading”

  1. Andy Umbo Avatar
    Andy Umbo

    You gotta have a hand-held meter! I have three… When you understand how in-camera meters work, you’ll see why. You can point your camera at three different scenes, in the same light, and get three different exposure suggestions, and yet, the same light is shining on it so theoretically, the exposure should be the same. I hand meter anything anyone is paying me to take a picture of!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I have two vintage handheld meters, both old GEs. I’ve used one of them a number of times:

      https://blog.jimgrey.net/2010/03/08/ge-pr-1-exposure-meter/

      I wouldn’t mind having a good basic newer handheld meter though, for the old meterless cameras I sometimes shoot. Most of my shooting is handheld, walk up to the subject, frame, snap, and my onboard meters usually do a good job in those situations.

      1. Andy Umbo Avatar
        Andy Umbo

        I’ve got meters that cost a ton of money, and have “feature bloat” that makes them impossible to use fully, so much stuff I don’t even care about. I’m not reading an encyclopedia to learn how to use it. I have to say, the best and easiest for the money is the Sekonic L-308 (or whatever new version they sell of this). Dead on, strobe and daylight, incident and reflected. Just a good meter for $219.00. I’ve actually been thinking about buying another for a back-up. That’s make 4 meters!

        https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1390250-REG/sekonic_401_305_l_308x_u_flashmate_light_meter.html?sts=pi-ps&pim=Y

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          The L308 is the one I’ve kind of had in mind to buy. It’s not an urgent purpose. I’m thinking I’ll watch eBay for a good used one.

        2. Kodachromeguy Avatar

          Jim, I suggest you buy a new meter. If you do not have a recent (modern) meter that you trust, you will not have a way to check if a used meter is linear over its range or needs a constant EV shift. The Sekonic products are excellent.

        3. Jim Grey Avatar

          All right, I’ll take your tip. Thanks!

  2. Jerome (EarthSunFilm) Avatar

    Jim, nice collection. Having recently had my own metering troubles, I found the metering post interesting, if a little long. He doesn’t seem to think much of metering apps, but it depends on how one uses them. As reflected light meters, they have the same weaknesses as camera meters that do wide-area metering. However, when testing metering apps as incident meters, they did far better than I expected. But I find having spot metering in-camera to solve many problems. For example, photographing red or yellow flowers with in-camera spot metering always yields much better results than wide-area metering. Now I have a wallet-size 18% gray card and an 8×10 version, just to be sure.

    https://earthsunfilm.com/metering-revisited-or-the-story-of-why-i-have-an-18-gray-card/

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Carrying a gray card in your wallet – now that’s dedication! I really ought to devote some time to learning metering and lighting and color temperature. Someday.

  3. seatacphoto1951 Avatar

    I was not planning to spend an hour this morning reading your recommendations and now am behind schedule for the day. I would have not done it if they weren’t thoughtful and interesting to read. Thank you.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Down the Road: hindering productivity since 2007!

  4. kennethwajda Avatar
    kennethwajda

    Thanks for the mention, Jim. Very much appreciated. I enjoy your weekly roundup of articles!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      It was a solid article and I was pleased to include it!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: