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How to Meter With a Manual Lens

Metering a picture is the process of establishing the correct shutter speed and aperture that are required to create a well-exposed picture. Many of today's cameras have automatic lenses that adjust their aperture to match the camera's internal meter. Older manual lenses need to adjusted by hand each time the light in the photograph changes. The aperture of a lens refers to the opening inside the lens where the light passes through.

Instructions

- 1
  Turn the shutter speed dial to match the speed of the film that is loaded into the camera. If you are using a digital camera, turn the shutter speed dial to match the ISO (light sensitivity) setting you set your camera to. If you set the ISO to 100, then turn the shutter speed dial to 100 or the closest setting.
- 2
  Hold the camera that has the manual lens attached to it to your eye and look through the viewfinder. Depending on the type of camera you are using, either you will have to press the shutter release slightly to activate the light meter or it will already be on.
- 3
  Read the numbers across the bottom of the viewfinder. Depending on your camera, the light meter will display the aperture needed to match the shutter speed you selected. If you are shooting outside on a bright day, the aperture number will be around f16.
- 4
  Take the camera away from your eye, locate the aperture ring on your lens and turn the ring to the number 16 or whatever the number is that you read in the viewfinder. You have now metered and set the manual lens to take a properly exposed picture.

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