3 replies to this topic

[Donk]

I have a question about my camera's light meter.  When I'm in manual mode I am having trouble understanding if the meter is working correctly or if that's just how it operates when using a flash.  Here's the situation:  D600 with the SB700 mounted on camera (turned on and in ttl).  I make all the adjustments to have the correct exposure but it seems like the light meter does not account for the flash.  Is that because i'm in manual and i'm supposed to adjust for that or something else?

[Merco_61]

The meter measures ambient light. This is important when shooting in manual as you probably don't want a well lit foreground in a black nothingness. If you measure ambient light one or two steps low, you will get a nice balance between foreground and background as the camera will fire a test flash to meter how much flash to add in addition to the available light.

[etphoto]

What Merco said.

 

The meter inside the camera mearues the available (ambient) light.  The meter inside the flash measures the output of light from the flash and works independent of the meter inside the camera.  How well the meter inside the camera works depends on your meter settings and lighting conditions. 

 

[Donk]

Thank you