I'm with you. I've heard 18 percent for a LONG time. Here is another
link you might want to check. Quotes info from National Geographic
Photography Field Guide.
"Scientific studies now indicate that an average scene actually
reflects 13 percent (not 18 percent) of the light that falls on it.
For the sake of consistency, gray cards have continued to be 18
percent gray, as is the one in this book. When using any 18 percent
gray card for substitute metering, increase exposure by a half stop
(+0.5 compensation factor) for most subjects, as Kodak recommends."
--- In Nikon-D70%40yahoogroups.com">Nikon-D70
yahoogroups.com, Michael Eric Berube <photog...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Thanks for the great link. I'll check that out. I love Hogan's site.
> 20+ years of shooting for dollars and I didn't know that 12% was the
> standard for meters. (Why not just use 12% gray card then?) The 18% was
> always all that was ever stressed in Photo School as the base to
work from.
>
> As long as they are all on the same standard and we can individually
> calibrate them when they are out (preferably not using +/- EV on the
top
> plate, but seamlessly from the fine tuning custom menu setting) I'm
happy.
>
> Since I've calibrated through the B7 menu in my D200, the camera's
matrix
> meter generally matches my incident meter almost every time and now
gives
> me correct exposures as a base to work with creatively to get the image
> that I want.
>
> --
> Be well,
> Michael Eric Berube
> GoodPhotos.com
>
.
