|
With the Polaris, I setup my lighting the way I want, fire the flashes (either one at a time or all at once), and the meter gives me correct exposure information that's always 100% spot on. It can also help me achieve certain specific lighting ratios, such as making sure the background is subdued or helping me know one part of my subject isn't in too-deep shadows - in effect, you just fire the flash a few times, metering all the key parts and noting how far apart the exposures are. There are so many types of flash attachments - big diffusers/soft boxes, snoots, barn doors, gobos, etc etc etc - that just don't work with the compact flashes Nikon and others make. There are also flashes like the Nikon Creative Lighting System that actually do integrate with certain camera metering systems, even when multiple, off-camera flashes are used. This would simplify situations where you have a mix of different light sources and you want to set the white balance for a particular effect. These are wonderfully flexible units, but I still find myself using my somewhat old-fashioned (by CLS standards) studio strobes to get the power and light quality I want. Frankly, the meter in most of my cameras are so good under most non-studio flash conditions, I tend to only rarely use it this way.
About the only thing the Polaris doesn't do is include built-in color temperature metering. This means there aren't too many exposure combinations, and you can probably home in on it trial and error if you want. The display is large and easy to read, even in dim light, and it runs quite a long time on a set of batteries.Recommended as a low-cost alternative to some of the other more expensive brands. Otherwise, it's a small, compact and lightweight unit. Or, you can do it the old-fashioned way by knowing the guide numbers of your flashes and dividing by flash to subject distance. Inexpensive high-power studio flashes generally don't work with your camera's TTL metering system, and when you bring in multiple lights, complex diffusers and so forth, calculating exposure gets to be a challenge. For calculating studio flash exposure, the Polaris can't be beat, especially considering the price.
Still, having a meter like the Polaris makes this much faster and more precise, especially if you tend to shoot under lots of varying conditions. The Polaris makes using these setups almost as easy as having a TTL flash. It doesn't seem particularly rugged, but since I tend to wear mine around my neck on a lanyard, I'd rather have lightweight than a unit built like a tank. I have one of these that I use regularly with my studio flash setup. Of course, these days you can achieve good results with digital cameras by simply taking lots of test exposures.there's no film cost, and most photographers tend to have a few lighting setups that really don't vary all that much. The Polaris can, of course, also be used as a more conventional exposure meter under nearly any condition.
It is a product with excellent price and easily to handle, though it does not have other superficial functions.
Captured great images both on film and digital using both reflective and ambient measures. Of course if money is not an issue or you can wait I'd say go for one that gives you temperature in Kelvin. Specially for the price. Still this works like a charm. The light meter works great. Love it. Much more useful.
I think the accuracy rate of this meter is 3 out of 5. Or maybe it's my cheap background lights, not sure.
Great item, works well with the type of photography i do. Great price, well worth the money.
|
