[Derridale]

Ok - the reply from Radiopoppers to my email enquiry:

Hi Pete

Thanks for the email. We do not currently have compatibility with the Pentax camera body. You could use the Metz flashes with a hot shoe adapter and our JrX system. We do not provide or sell these adapters. You might find them online at places like B&H or Paramount. The JrX system offers triggering capabilities only for the Metz flash. Something else to keep in mind is that our JrX line does not do TTL or High Speed Sync. You should also be aware that we do not currently ship outside the United States and Canada. We are working towards releasing in the EU and Australia as quickly as possible. We hope to release our EU and Australian units sometime this year. If you are interested in being notified when we are prepared to release you can visit the contact section of our website (radiopopper - contact) and sign up for our email updates list. This way you don't have to keep checking in with us to find out an exact release date. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me.

Regards,
Carlene
/////// RadioPopper - Radio TTL
/////// info@radiopopper.com
/////// radiopopper - home
360.713.0776

My Sekonic still hasn't arrived - any day now I guess. Meanwhile, I've printed off the manual as per Woof's post above. The grey cells are in waiting....

[Derridale]

OK - the Sekonic has just arrived. But what the heck do I do with it? The manual is about as clear as mud. It doesn't even tell me what all the numbers mean.... What do they mean by "Aperure Value? When this is displaying something like 0.74?

And how do I measure flash exposure with it - do I have to fire the flashes while the meter reads? How do i do that without taking a picture, when I'm using the onboard flash as master for the Metz flashes off to the side via optical wireless?

And how do the numbers relate to what I actually have to set? On the camera? and on the flash units themselves? Is there a nice, EASY, tutorial somewhere about all this manual control of multiple flashes thing?

Ooooweeeee - my brain is hurting already. I have absolutely NO idea where to start even trying to work this thing out....

The main consolation is that this little Sekonic acts as a normal incident and reflected light meter as well as with flash, and it cost about a qharter of what they sell for here in Australia.


Heelllpppp - Woof, anybody???

[Digitalis]

okay, there should be a big button on the side somewhere labelled as measure(most likely on the left side of the meter), when you press this the meter is taking readings. there should be a mode button somewhere on the device and that lets you tell the meter if it is taking ambient readings or readings from a flash connected the the PC sync plug on the meter, or if it is metering flash without the cord connection.*

you will want to use the non cord flash metering option, where the meter waits for a bright pulse of light from your flash and it will tell you the aperture you will need to expose correctly for your chosen ISO and shutter speed.


Michael Reichmann has a tutorial that may be of use to you. Even though he is using a older model, the essentials still apply.

and if you need help on using the meter with wireless set ups Strobist.com should have a few tutorials that might help you.

*Inevitably there will be differences between flash models I use the L 608 and 358 and there are noticeable differences between the two,but the basic functions are identical.

[Ben_Edict]

OK - the Sekonic has just arrived. But what the heck do I do with it? The manual is about as clear as mud. It doesn't even tell me what all the numbers mean.... What do they mean by "Aperure Value? When this is displaying something like 0.74?

And how do I measure flash exposure with it - do I have to fire the flashes while the meter reads? How do i do that without taking a picture, when I'm using the onboard flash as master for the Metz flashes off to the side via optical wireless?

And how do the numbers relate to what I actually have to set? On the camera? and on the flash units themselves? Is there a nice, EASY, tutorial somewhere about all this manual control of multiple flashes thing?

Ooooweeeee - my brain is hurting already. I have absolutely NO idea where to start even trying to work this thing out....

The main consolation is that this little Sekonic acts as a normal incident and reflected light meter as well as with flash, and it cost about a qharter of what they sell for here in Australia.

1. for taking a flash output reading: the flash should allow to trigger the flash. There should be a pc-socket somewhere (sorry, I only use Gossen meters, so I cannot be specific about your modell). You can use a sync cable or you add a radio or IR trigger to that lightmeter output. If you switch your lightmeter to flash mode, the big Metrering button should trigger the flash. – Soem lightmeters offer an asynchron read mode for flash: You set the lightmeter to flash mode, push the Metering button and then have a limited period (20 secs or so) to manually fire the flashes and the lightmeter will measure these. In this case you don't necessarily need a sync cord or trigger.

2. To take a reading you should set the ISO (that of the camera) and the sync time you use on the camera on the lightmeter. Than you push the Metering button, the flash fires and you will get the aperture readout on the display. Digital lightmeters give reading in 1/10 f-stops usually - which leads to strange numericals, like 0.74... . So you have to set the approximate aperture on your camera.

3. For the reading, aim the lightmeter from the position of your subject towards your camera. I usually aim it at about half the angle between the lines of sight towards flash and camera, as in my experience, aiming straight at the camera often leads to underexposed images.

4. Better lightmeters can sum several flash pops. So, if you are in a dark environment and need f/8 on your camera, but the flash gun is so weak, it will only give enough light for f/4, you simply fire it three or four times, until the cummulated output will reach f/8 on your lightmeter. Then you know how often you need the flash to fire for your real exposure.

5. Most lightmeters will also give you a contrast range, either with numerical output or with a graphical display, which gives you an idea about how much fill light you'll need to add, for instance.

But there is no substitute to read a more substantial manual.

BEN

[Derridale]

Ahh - Digitalis (from the foxglove) and Benedictine - the two drugs of enlightenment

Thanks guys - your help very much appreciated. That tutorial looks good, D, so thank you for that. I'll go through that over the weekend (we're away for the next 5 days, flyfishing in Tassie). In between fishing, reading, and sleeping, I'll have a good browse through that tutorial and also the Strobist.com site.

And Ben - thank you for your explanation - that has cleared up a lot of my foggy-brain stuff... Especially the bit about the readout being 1/10 of the f/stop. Why would they even think about doing that? Why not simply have the f/stop setting on there? Too hard? Too easy?

I presume that you set the aperture to the nearest setting - so when i was playing with the Sekonic, and it read 0.74, I should use f/8, yes?

I'll have to get myself a sync cord, I think. The Sekonic has an input for one.

And yes, the buttons as Digitalis described are all there, but the manual (to flatter it by using that title) is awful. I think it is a translation, and not a good one. It assumes that one knows and understands all about light meters, EVs, etc to start with. Which, as should be apparent, I don't.

So thanks again for the help - much appreciated

[Ben_Edict]

A
And Ben - thank you for your explanation - that has cleared up a lot of my foggy-brain stuff... Especially the bit about the readout being 1/10 of the f/stop. Why would they even think about doing that? Why not simply have the f/stop setting on there? Too hard? Too easy?

I presume that you set the aperture to the nearest setting - so when i was playing with the Sekonic, and it read 0.74, I should use f/8, yes?

Some lightmeters show a analogue scale with a needle (well, similar to analogue at least) on their LCD, just below the big digital numbers, which makes the aperture reading more intuitive (one of the reasons I use Gossen lightmeters...).

If your meter shows 0.74, that would correspond to a f/1.0 (assuming you don't have one of the illustrous f/0.7 lenses)… So, try to get your light output to a more manageable level of at least f/1.4 For a near-f/8 aperture your lightmeter would show something like "7.4".

Ben

[Derridale]

Ben - now you've really confused me. You said above that the Aperture Value number was in 1/10 f/stops. So f/8 would show as 0.8, yes? And 0.74 would be close to 0.8?

If you are saying that f/8 would show as 8.0, then the numbers are in FULL f/stops, and not 1/10 stops... I think....

Which one is correct? 0.74 being close to f/8, or close to f/0.7?

Help.... again....

If I don't reply immediately, it will be because I'll be travelling from sunny Queensland to the snowy Tasmanian Highlands tomorrow. But I'll check the forum as soon as I get there.

[Digitalis]

"now you've really confused me. You said above that the Aperture Value number was in 1/10 f/stops. So f/8 would show as 0.8, yes? And 0.74 would be close to 0.8?"

no it would be displayed as f/8.0 - what metering in higher than standard precision (1/10th stops) means is that you but you can encounter values such as f/8.3 or f/8.5 - such precision is necessary with digital because the highlights are so easily blown out. some transparency films had more latitude than digital sensors have.

Derridale, I agree the manuals for a lot of photography equipment are absolutely abysmal. That is why forums like this exist. I'm sure you will find Michael Reichmanns tutorial useful. Michael is a very good educator on the subject of photography, and not a bad photographer himself. I often point my students to his site and forums for reference.

[Ben_Edict]

Ben - now you've really confused me. You said above that the Aperture Value number was in 1/10 f/stops. So f/8 would show as 0.8, yes? And 0.74 would be close to 0.8?

If you are saying that f/8 would show as 8.0, then the numbers are in FULL f/stops, and not 1/10 stops... I think....

Which one is correct? 0.74 being close to f/8, or close to f/0.7?

Help.... again....

If I don't reply immediately, it will be because I'll be travelling from sunny Queensland to the snowy Tasmanian Highlands tomorrow. But I'll check the forum as soon as I get there.

I am sorry, for causing more confusion. Digitalis is ofcourse correct. What I meant was, that digital lightmeters usually can provide even 1/10 of an f-stop as a readout. The Seconic seems to even show 1/100 (0.74), which is utter nonsense.

I hope you have a pleasant trip to Tasmania - oh, how much I wish to visit NZ!

Ben

[Derridale]

Thanks guys - that's cleared that up I think. So it displays the actual f/stop value, but to an accuracy of 1/10 of a stop. I think I got it now

It's still dark here as I write this, just before shutting down the computer and heading for the airport. Will catch you later

And thanks again for the help - very much appreciated

That's why I love this forum!