Matching meter reading to camera speed

[stradibarrius]

When your meter reading is off about 1/3 stop compared to shutter speed available should I go to the over or under speed?
Ex. if at f/5.6 my meter tells me the shutter speed should be 1/40. My camera has 1/60 or 1/30.
Which would you select and why?

[holmburgers]

What kind of film are you shooting with, what kind of subject are you dealing with? All important questions.

If you're shooting negative film, opt for overexposure if it's convenient. If shooting slides, slight underexposure is often preferred (Kodachrome 64 at ISO 75 is a widely recognized example) as it can make colors more saturated and rich.

Then again, depending on the range of brightness in your scene, maybe your meter isn't giving you the whole story to begin with.

[tkamiya]

It really depends. If I want to favor shadow I'll go to 1/30. If I want to favor highlight, I'd go to 1/60. Also, "a meter reading" assumes 18% reflectivity even if you are reading incident. It's just that the reading isn't affected by it.

[stradibarrius]

I generally like my photos a bit under-exposed opposed to over-exposed.

[bobwysiwyg]

I'm not sure I would recognize a 1/3 stop difference. Maybe I should take up another hobby.

[Paul Sorensen]

I generally like my photos a bit under-exposed opposed to over-exposed.

I still think, however, that if you are shooting negative film you would be better off overexposing the negative and then compensating in printing if you want a darker look. Negative film tends to have much more latitude toward overexposure. If you under expose the negative, there may be dark parts of the scene that do not get enough light to print well.

[MattKing]

I adjust the aperture by 1/3 stop.

[Diapositivo]

I am with Matt. Supposing you really want to use 1/40 @ f/5,6, you consider it 1/3 EV closer than 1/30 @ f/5,6, e.g. you just turn the aperture ring "a little bit" past the 5,6 value. With most lenses you are not bound to the "click positions" of the aperture ring. The aperture ring moves continuously, and the clicks are only there for convenience: in the old times, when shooting manual and having no indication in the viewfinder, you could modify exposure by just knowing how your camera is set and "counting" the clicks, without moving the eyes from the viewfinder. For street shooting, having click positions means you can modify speed and aperture without looking at your camera, while keeping it in your hands, before bringing it to your eyes.

Older lenses do not have clicks and diaphragm moves continuosly. Still older cameras don't have clicks even on the shutter selector. While I would advice against using "half positions" for shutter speeds, I think that using half positions for apertures is safe with MOST lenses.

Fabrizio

[Jeff Kubach]

Do both and see what happens.

Jeff

[holmburgers]

I agree with Diapositivo actually. Canon FD lenses have 1/2-step clicks, but I think one could put it in between those w/o fault.

Do NOT however use intermediate steps on shutter speeds, unless you have a Nikon F or one of the rare cameras that can handle that.