Light meters measure the amount of light in an area, so other equipment can be properly calibrated to compensate. The two types of light meters in production today are reflected-light meters and incident-light meters. The most common use of light meters is in photography; however, light meters are also used in greenhouses to grow plants properly and in environmental management to determine the level of light pollution.
Photographers use light meters to control light exposure, or how bright or dark a picture looks once it is developed. Modern light meters can be stand-alone devices or built directly into cameras. Most retail cameras for amateurs, for example, have light meters built ...
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Light meters measure the amount of light in an area, so other equipment can be properly calibrated to compensate. The two types of light meters in production today are reflected-light meters and incident-light meters. The most common use of light meters is in photography; however, light meters are also used in greenhouses to grow plants properly and in environmental management to determine the level of light pollution.
Photographers use light meters to control light exposure, or how bright or dark a picture looks once it is developed. Modern light meters can be stand-alone devices or built directly into cameras. Most retail cameras for amateurs, for example, have light meters built into the camera that can determine when the user should use the flash. Professional photographers use hand devices with photovoltaic sensors. The sensors generate a pulse voltage that is proportional to the amount of light in the area.
All light meters built into cameras are reflected-light meters. They measure the light that is reflected off of subjects. Professional photographers use incident-light meters, which measure the light falling on subjects. Incident-light meters can measure variations in light that reflected-light meters ignore. Read more about light meters from the links on this Business.com page.