sutherla@qtp.ufl.edu (scott sutherland) (11/29/89)
Okay, with all this talk about photographing computer screens, I have a somewhat different question. I have an Olympus OM4 35 mm camera which has a spot meter, the capability of multi-spot metering (up to 8), and highlight and shadow buttons which can be used in conjunction with the spot meter to make blacks BLACK (not dark grey) and whites WHITE (not lite grey). So, does this change anything in regards to the determination of optimum exposure times, Gamma corrections (WHAT ARE THESE ANYWAY??) and the other parameters associated with photographing computer screens?? Any comments would be appreciated. Scott Sutherland sutherla@qtp.ufl.edu
hucaby@ms.uky.edu (Dave Hucaby) (11/30/89)
In article <798@orange9.qtp.ufl.edu> sutherla@qtp.ufl.edu (scott sutherland) writes: > > Okay, with all this talk about photographing computer screens, >I have a somewhat different question. I have an Olympus OM4 35 mm camera >which has a spot meter, the capability of multi-spot metering (up to 8), >and highlight and shadow buttons which can be used in conjunction with >the spot meter to make blacks BLACK (not dark grey) and whites WHITE >(not lite grey). So, does this change anything in regards to the >determination of optimum exposure times, Gamma corrections (WHAT ARE THESE >ANYWAY??) and the other parameters associated with photographing computer >screens?? > The answer (at least in my case) is 'yes', spot metering does change the determination of optimum exposure times. I have an Olympus OM-4 and have tried using it many modes of exposure metering on various monitors (standard NTSC and Sun). When spot metering takes over, the exposure is very unpredictable. This may be due to the raster scanning thru the small area of the spot meter as the metering is done. Several exposures of the same screen and image produced different results, even though I had spot metered in basically the same area of the screen. I also tried to spot meter on bright and dark areas of images in order to darken the background area of the image. This didn't turn out like I wanted at all. In summary, stick to the OM-4's averaging meter (AUTO mode). As long as you're in a darkened room and you close the aperature down to where the shutter speed is forced under 1/30 sec, the auto meter mode will always give great results -- hence, NO need for snapping test images of +/- f-stops.