ABSTRACT
The lightmeter became part of the photographer’s toolbox about 100 years after the invention of photography. Beforehand, photographers relied on empirical methods or a set of reference tables to determine the correct film exposure. Early exposure meters consisted of a holder for light sensitive paper and comparison step wedges with increasing densities. The paper was exposed for a given time to the same lighting conditions as the scene and then compared to the step wedge. The step, which was the closest to the exposed paper in density, gave an indication of the required exposure. Lightmeters have come a long way since then and have evolved to be accurate and dependable tools no photographer wants to be without. A serious Zone System practitioner has little or no alternative than to use a spotmeter capable of reading subject luminance within an angle of 1°. This narrow angle of acceptance permits convenient tonal placement of small but important subject detail. It may not be a coincidence that the invention of the Zone System followed the introduction of the first spotmeter in 1945.
