Questions about exposure

MMOexp: However, success in Path of Exile 2 requires more than just a solid build. Understanding how to optimize skill combos, and navigate the revamped Ascendancy system are essential for POE2 Currency crafting a powerful Monk. This guide will cover the core skills of the Monk, and Ascendancy pathways.

One of the Monk's most promising skill combinations in PoE 2 involves Falling Thunder and Siphoning Strike. A skill designed to deliver devastating lightning damage while generating Power Charges. These charges boost critical strike chances and can stack for even greater impact. Falling Thunder is a natural choice for builds focused on charge stacking, especially those looking to maximize burst damage.

This skill synergizes perfectly with Falling Thunder, as it generates charges when you shock enemies. Maintaining shocks on enemies especially bosses ensures consistent charge generation, fueling your build's offensive potential. This early-game combo is particularly appealing for players who want an aggressive, fast-paced playstyle. The key to success will be maintaining shocks on enemies reliably, which can be enhanced with specific support gems and gear. 

The Monk's Ascendancy system in Path of Exile 2 offers multiple paths to tailor your character to your preferred playstyle. While the specifics of the Ascendancy options may vary, the Monk is expected to emphasize agility, elemental effects, and charge stacking.

Focuses on enhancing lightning damage, shock effectiveness, and charge generation. This path pairs exceptionally well with Falling Thunder and Siphoning Strike, as it amplifies the core mechanics of cheap POE 2 Currency the combo. Designed for mobility and precision, this path offers bonuses to evasion, attack speed, and critical strike chance. It's ideal for players who enjoy a fast-paced, hit-and-run playstyle.

I've had the same issues as metering can be tricky but thing to remember is it's all trial and error anyway.

I use a handheld meter (Minolta Autometer IV) set to ISO 3 to take a reading at F/16 or F/8. I've then done some maths and made a spreadsheet with corresponding exposures times when corrected to ISO 2 for Harman paper.

I've printed out and taken with me. I adjust slightly on the fly but gets me pretty close.

I'll see if I can upload and share the spreadsheet here later. Might be useful as a starting point.

I am using pinhole assist and find it helpful. Make sure you have all your settings in there correct, including whether you preflashed. But in general, with a digital camera, I tend to expose for the highlights in a scene and bring up the shadows in post-processing. With film photography, it’s generally recommended to expose for the shadows. I find this is definitely true for the Pinsta with harman direct positive paper, preflashed or not. I meter near a shadowy spot that I want exposed. If it’s a landscape, I usually also meter for the whole scene and make an exposure somewhere between the two numbers, but closer to the shadow exposure number. Unless you are using a filter, be prepared for your best exposures to lose detail in the sky.

I found it an interesting exercise to just walk around with the pinhole assist app open even without my camera and see how various settings register.

Yeah, unfortunately f stops don't work like that. To go from f/8 to f/16, you need to double it twice. It's two stops between f numbers that are twice the size. So, to get to f/256 from f/16 is 256x not 16x...

Hey! This is the constant fun of photography :) Firstly, yes, any averaging light meter will assume you want the scene to be 18% grey and will adjust accordingly. If you point it at a dark scene, it'll make that black look grey. If you point at a bright scene, it'll make those whites look grey. You can try to find a mid-tone to meter from, or notice that the meter is likely to be tricked and compensate accordingly.

I tend to use a digital camera set to ISO 100 f/16. As the Pinsta pinhole is f/229, I decided that this is near enough 256 for Rock n Roll :) Every 2 stops doubles the f-number, so f/16 to f/32 is 2 stops, or 4x the exposure time. Say we start with time x at f/16:

f/16 = x

f/32 = 4x

f/64 = 16x

f/128 = 64x

f/256 = 256x

so, to get from f/16 to Pinsta pinhole size, we need to increase the exposure time by 8 stops, so double it 8 times or multiply by 256.

Next, the ISO. The process I use (BW reversal) has an ISO of about 3, but Harman Direct Positive is usually around 2. Let's do the maths.

ISO 100 = y

ISO 50 = 2y

ISO 25 = 4y

ISO 12 (ish) = 8y

ISO 6 = 16y

ISO 3 = 32y (I'd stop here for my BW reversal, but we need around another half stop to get to 2)

ISO 2 = 32y x 1.5 = 48y (you may notice that this is about 50.... but there's a reason I've done it this way, which I'll explain in a minute)

so, to get from ISO 100 to ISO 2, we need to increase the exposure time by 5 1/2 stops, so double it 5 times, then multiply by 1 1/2, or multiply by 50.

Putting all this together, you can just take the exposure time and multiply it by 256, and again by 50 (which is the same as multiplying by 12800 in one go) or... (the reason I did it the long way):

you can do it in your head by progressively doubling the metered time 8 times, followed by 5 more times, followed by adding 50% :)

In other words if your metered time was 1/100 you could jump straight to a time of 128 seconds or you could go:

x = 1/100

double it 8 times:

1/100 --> 2/100, 4/100, 8/100, 16/100, 32/100, 64/100, 128/100, 256/100 (which I'd simplify to 2.5s)

double it 5 more times:

2.5s --> 5s, 10s, 20s, 40s, 80s

then add 50%

80s --> 120s

which is near enough :)

By the way, I picked 1/100s because that's the "Sunny 16" speed. In bright sunshine, that's roughly the time you'd want.

For this example, it's probably easier to jump straight to 128s, but for more complicated times I find it simpler to do the progressive doubling on my fingers!

Hope that was helpful and not confusing(!)