Sekonic Apex L-218 User manual

BETOREUSI]IGSEKO]IICAPEX
                    |.  Ze ro Selting r                          2,  Mercury Botlery:





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  XOillCco..rro.    i4AOTIN JAPAI{

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                                           The meter requireso     voli mercury bottery such
                                                os  Mollory  PX-13,  RM-625 or  the equivolent,
                                               which norrnolly losts for obout o yeor ond o holf.
                                          Keep the bottery out of the meter when the meter
                                                                    is not in use in order to ovoid possible domoge
The needle should indicote zero when the light is    from corrosion of the bottery.
completely shut oft ihe meter held upright.   To    To test the bottery for sufficient strengih, press the
set the needle to the zero, remove the bottery ond   ON/OFF switch ond olso the red button on the
                                              bock of the meier ot the some time ond see if the
slowly turn the zero odiusting screw on the bock    needle swings up to ihe red mork on the scole
of the meter while pressingthe ON/OFF switch.      olote.
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2 .  H i gh o r L o w B rig htnessRonge:          3.  Reod i n g l h e S c o l e :





                   for High Ronge



                                                                   for High Ronge

                                           Aim ihe meter ot the subject ond press the ON/
                    for Low Ronge               OFF Switch Button to permit the needle to deflect
                                           ond indicote o certoin point on the light scole.
Sliding Switch chonges meosuring ronge of  brigt-   Then, remove your finger off ihe button to lock
ness.  In dim condition, slide the switch fully to    the needle ond note the reoding on the scole.  The
                  "L"the right showing    mork on the frome for the    figureson ihe upper side of the light scolefrom'l
                                                                                                      "   "low ronge.  Oiherwise, keep the switch to the left    to 1 1 following  L  ore for low brightnessronge
        "    "                                                                                         "1"with  H  mork to oppeor on the frome.     lt is    to reod when the Sliding Bor Switch shows
odvisoble olwoys to try the high ronge first unless   os described in the preceeding porogroph.   The
it is very dork, ond switch to the low ronge only    figures on lhe lower side ore for high brightness
when ihe needle foils io defleci.                    ronge.
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4.  Colculotionof Exposure:
                                           Rototeihe lorge knurledouter diol to show the
                                            reodingof the needleon the light scoleiust under
                                              the Arrow Pointeron the diol.

                                          For exomple,if the needleindicoiesI3 on the
                                           high ronge,with the ASA Indexset ot I00, then,
                                    show this reoding(i3) right under the Arrow
                                              Pointerso ihot you con get ony combinotionof
                                          , . t ' J                          ShutterSpeedond {/Stop indicotedon the diols,       , I t                 l,l                                for exomple, 11250 secondot f12.  Any com-                .'t5
                                               binotion of shutterspeed ond f/stops opposite
                                        eochother on the exposureconirol diol will give
                                              the some correctexposure; 1 ll25 second,f/2.8 ;
                                            1/60 second,ll4t 1130 second,f/5.6 etc.  The
                                          combinotionyou selectdependson whetheryou
                !s,,                        wont o fost shutterspeed (with its corresponding
                                          lower f/stop number)to stopoctionoccurringin
                                              the scene;or depth o{ field with o higher f/stop
                                             c,!tP          numberond its slowershuttersoeed,    K;

" 2 "        " I 1 2 "5 .  T h e    o n d     P o s i t i o n :         6.  Motion Pictures:

                                                                                                                   I lso
                                                                                          Gps.)                                \I             L.
       "    "         "The  2  ond  112" positionswhich represento
 brightness rotio of 4 to  I con be of greol volue
 in exposing for color ghots. Attempt to hove                                             the                                                                      "    Meosure the light ond set the diol os instructed                                                                  "primory         colors of interest foll between the   2       in the porogrophs 2-4.    Cine speeds ronging     "1/2"
ond        positionsfor most foithful rendering   from 8-64   fromes-per-secondore given in the
of those colors.  While most color films now hove    shutterspeed scole,os illustrotedobove.
o  lotitude thot exceeds                           this                                 rotio,                                                             if the primory    Find the cine speed used by your comero ond reod                                 " 2                                     "                                                 "
c o l o r s f o l l w i t h i n t h e      o n d   1 1 2 " p o s i t i o n s  the correspondingfigure on the f/stop scole. This
you con then be ossured thot the bolonce of the     is the proper f/stop for your comero.
scene will be properly exposed within the limits of
the film you ore using.                         Stondord speed for Regulor-8is l6  fps., ond for
 In cose of block ond white film, the point morked   Super-8 1 8 fps. "  112" provideso convenientwoy of holving nor-                          "      " mol exposurefor   flot  scenessuchos londscopes
where there is no extreme controst between high-
                                                           " lights ond shodows. The point morked  2"  pro-
vides double normol exposure ond  is used for
scenes of very high controst such os bocklighted
subiects.  In these instonces,set the light scole to
          "             "    "either 112" or  2  insteodof the orrow Dointer.
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7 .  R e f l e c t e d L i g h t o r   I n c i d e n t L i g h t :
     Reflectedlight is light reflectedfrom the subjectto the comero.  Incidentlight is the light which octuolly
       folls on the subiect before it is reflected. Meosurementof either reflectedor incident light con be used
       to determine correct exposure.
     Sekonic Apex  is bosicolly designed for reflected light, but con olso be converted to reod incident light
     simply by sliding the lncidentLight Filter.





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     To toke incidentlight reoding, move the opoque,   To toke reflected light reodings, slide the filter
     semi-circulorfilter fully to the left covering the    bock to the right, uncoveringthe CdS cell.  Hold
    CdS cell.  Hold the meter in the some olone os    the meter in the some plone ond direction os the
     the comero lens ond ooint the meter fowqrd the   comero lens, ond  point the meter loword lhe
     camero.                                              subiecl.
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2 .   T h e C l o s e - U p M e t h o d :

This method should be used for portroits or
ony scene where there is but one obiect of
interest ond the bockground is of no  im-
porronce.

In generol,the meter reoding should be token
obout six inchesfrom the subiect, but in no
cose should the meter be held forther owoy
thon the subiect'ssmollestdimension.
Set the normol orrow on the- exposure con-
trol diol to this reoding ond selectony com-
binotion of {/stop ond shutterspeed opposite
eoch other.
When the meter reoding is token from o
                               "    " person'sfoce set the  2  positionon the diol
 to  the reoding insteod of  normol orrow.
 Select the comero settingsin the usuol mon-
 ner.     lf the shodow of the meter or your
 hond is cost on the subiect be sure not to in-
 clude it in the reoding.

3 .   T h e B r i g h t n e s s R o n g e M e t h o d :

This is the most occurote method for deter-
mining the correct exposure of scenesconsist-
ing of o wide ronge of bright ond dork light
vo lues.

Toke two close-upreodings,one for the dork-
est obiect ond one for  the brightest.   ln
 color photogrophy, block ond white ore not
consideredcolors ond should not be meosur-
 ed.  Set the normol orrow midwoy between
 the two volues meosured.  This will give on
overoge exposure.
 For exomple, ossumethe dorkestobiect reods
 I I (A) ond the brightestl5  (B).  The normol
 orrow is set midwoy between (A) ond (B) ot
 1 3 .





L 2

4 .  S u b s t i t u t e R e o d i n g s :

        lf your subiectis inoccessiblefor o close-up
     reodings,substitutereodingsof neorby similor
     obiects in the some light.
    Neorby trees tor trees in the scene,rocksfor
     rocks, etc.
    For this reoding, incident light method is
    more convenieni.



    5 .  E x t r e m e L o w L i g h t R e o d i n g s :

          lf the needle  does  not move  even  ofter  the
     reodin g    r o n g e  h o s  b e e n  switch e d o ve r  to
    LOW, set the ASA scole to  115 the ASA
    number for your film ond then ploce o white
   (-'1
     poper on the surfoce of the subiect.   Next,
   (i   meosure this ot o distonceof 4 to 6 inches                                                                                                                          t                                                                                                                                                         fl
 O  from  the subiect, using the reflected light                                                     * o0 meosuringmethod.
   li   Exomple:  In cose of ASA 400 film, set the
 V,          ASA index ot 80 ond toke reoo-
.v              ing from white poper.
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6 .  C o p y i n g :

Arronge two floodlights ot o 45o ongle to
the work to  be copied, so thot the  light
from eoch folls evenly on the subiect to be
photogrophed. Then cover the surfocewith o
piece of wihte cordboord of opproximotely
the some size.  Point the meter downword,
directly ot the subiect, obout 6 inchesfrom
it.  Move the meter over the entire oreo to
be photogrophed, wotching for needle de-
flection.  Re-orronge your  lights until the
needle stoys in one position os the meter
scons the subiect.

Toke o close-up reoding on the white cord-
boord, using the reflected light meosuring
method. And divide the film exposureindex
                                            "by 5 (refer to the porogroph  Extreme Low
Light Reodings").





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