Light meter

Hi Pete,

When Paul comes back he will give a proper explanation, but basically, the incidental light measurement is the reading FROM the subject. I.e. If you measure amount of light actually falling on the face of a person for example. It can be useful to render natural skin tones, and other features you want a really accurate reading from. You fit the filter over the lightmeter and place it near the subject pointing towards the camera, then measure the reading and adjust accordingly.

Ray

Hi Ray---thanks for brinig up the incident light reading;  I'd just posted the above as I was leaving for work.

As Ray mentioned Pete----incident light readings are measuring the light falling on the subject rather than, as above and your camera does, measuring light being reflected by it.   If your light meter came with a (often) round/conical transluscent cover to fit over the sensor, then incident light readings will be an option too.  But, in this case, it's going to the subject's location---not always practicable---and pointing the light meter towards the camera's position.  Useful also in situations where the image to be taken isn't really like to the average 18% , and could be more useful to get a more accurate reading. i.e. a high contrast situation.