Meters Don't See 18% Gray

11 years 10 months ago #242998 by Conner
I just found this older article from 2003 and wondering if there is much merit to this? www.bythom.com/graycards.htm

"This reminded me that we've all been brainwashed into believing something that isn't true: light meters don't measure 18% gray."

He talks about 12% being the magic number.


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11 years 10 months ago - 11 years 10 months ago #243033 by hghlndr6
This discussion has been going on for years and I find it of no import. I subscribe to what the author himself said: "The bottom line, however, is that whatever method of setting exposure works for you, use it."

I've tested my camera's meter using a gray card and got results exactly opposite of what this author is saying. My histogram was skewed to the right. Compensation -0.3 brought it slightly right; -0.7 brought it very slightly left. So center would seem to be about -½ stop.

(It was an old card; I should get a new card and run the test again.)

I also tested some of the "tricks" I used to do:
Meter the grass: minus 0.7 was perfectly centered.
Meter my left palm: minus a full stop was perfectly centered.

Interesting. Both of those "tricks" results are exactly opposite of what I used to do with my old film Nikons. But it doesn't matter; once you know which way your meter is skewed, you adjust accordingly.
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11 years 10 months ago #243035 by Joves
Well they are set to ANSI Standards so no they do not read in 18% gray. The argument over gray has been going on way before digital when people were using meters to measure. I use my Expodisc so I really do not care, all I care about is that the WB is right when I shoot.


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11 years 10 months ago #243082 by KenMan

Joves wrote: Well they are set to ANSI Standards so no they do not read in 18% gray. The argument over gray has been going on way before digital when people were using meters to measure. I use my Expodisc so I really do not care, all I care about is that the WB is right when I shoot.



Does that work in all lighting situations?


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11 years 9 months ago #243226 by Joves

KenMan wrote:

Joves wrote: Well they are set to ANSI Standards so no they do not read in 18% gray. The argument over gray has been going on way before digital when people were using meters to measure. I use my Expodisc so I really do not care, all I care about is that the WB is right when I shoot.



Does that work in all lighting situations?

The only time it has not worked is with street lighting. Of course neither did my white card, and the gray card kept coming up no good on the measurement, so I think it was the camera itself. Also none of Nikons Preset WBs nor Auto got it right at all. I had to set my D300 to 2500K for it to even be close. Under all other lighting the Expodisc has never let me down.


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