Bob St. Cyr was granted the Canadian Association of Photographic Arts Maple Leaf and Associate Fellowship Awards for photographic achievement, service and exceptional contributions to photography. Bob has also won national and international awards for his photography. Although Bob is familiar with digital photography and employs it from time-to-time, he primarily prefers to work with medium and large film format lens and pinhole cameras. He also enjoys the challenge of constantly working to better himself not only as a photographer but as a darkroom craftsman from processing his film to black and white printing. His work has appeared in Canadian Camera Magazine, Pinhole Photography, and Photo Life Magazine, among other publications. What follows are his thoughts on measuring light for pinhole photography.
©Bob St. Cyr
Even before I added pinhole imaging to my fine-art photographic practice, I saw the value in having a handheld light metre. My first light metre was the Sekonic L-408, which is a great metre with a fixed 5° spot as well as the incident dome. Some of the things I like about this metre aside from its technical offerings is the fact that it operates with a simple AA battery, is light-weight and of modest size. Eventually, I traded up to the L-508 and finally to the L-608.
Because I work with medium and large format lens and pinhole cameras, I purchased the L-408 again, so I have two meters to work with, depending upon which gear I am working with. However, I tend to keep the L-608 primarily with my Toyo large format gear because of the 1° spot option. Both metres cover most of my exposure needs and do so quite readily and easily.
With the launch of Amazon.com in 1995, the online retail experience had arrived to stay. What the launch of that site also heralded was the decline of the tactile shopping experience. Without being able to hold a book or garden tool or necktie, the importance of excellent product photography was more evident than ever.
