[daacon]

How many here use a light meter ? Are they a useful accessory ? I am starting to take some photography lessons and he suggested I get one. Specifically a Sekonic L358 light meter. Just curious how many here use one and more importantly find it usefull.

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Last edited by daacon; 06-04-2009 at 05:27 PM.

[Peter Zack]

Dave I have one and only use it for studio portrait work. I don't know if us telling you this or that is really productive to help with the course. If we suggest other than the instructor's ideas, that may interfere with you getting 100% out of the course.

Now that being said. What are you trying to learn? Indoor shooting with flash or studio work? Then I think a flash meter is valuable. If this is mostly outdoors, then I don't think so. The spot meter on the unit can help you learn zone metering but frankly you can do that with the spot meter on the camera. Hand held metering was much more important with the fixed center weighted meters that older film cameras had. Today we can select the metering from spot, center or multi and then have a histogram to check the results.

Plus a 358 is not a cheap meter. It was primarily designed for flash and studio uses though but will work outside as a spot meter as well. I'm not sure how much better than the camera though. The advantage a camera has over a meter like the 358 is the lens. The camera lens (with the meter on spot) has a hood and can eliminate any stray light of the scene or section of the scene you need to meter. A unit like the 358 is pretty accurate but without being able to eleminate any stray light (Like a Pentax hand held spot meter can) I wouldn't rely on it being perfect outside on a bright sunny day.

So it leads me to believe your doing a lot inside. If you want to persue that aspect of photography, then get the meter. If I was going to buy another meter today it would be the 758DR

[daacon]

Thanks Peter , makes sense. I was wondering how much more accurate it would be than the camera's meter outdoors. Initially I think I will concentrate on outdoor portraits so as you suggested a light meter is not really necessary.

I think next I may get into some studio indoor photography. I am not looking to change careers or anything but would like to have a small studio one day where I can take some shots for friends and family kind of thing. This is where a light meter would come in handy.

Is that 758DR a Sekonic as well ?

[Tom S.]

I have an old Gossen Luna Pro that I only use for extended exposures at night. Otherwise, I stick with the camera's meter. This was true even when I shot film with my ME Super.

[Peter Zack]

Dave the 758 is a Sekonic as well but runs around $500 USD. Like Tom, I don't use my meter much at all other than studio work. I used one for night shooting but even there, if you do it enough, you don't need the meter and can guess the exposure. My LX could meter night shots very well and I didn't need the meter. The new K-7 can go up to 30 minutes I think so again not much use for a meter there.

[woof]

How many here us a light meter ? Are they a useful accessory ? I am starting to take some photography lessons and he suggested I get one. Specifically a Sekonic L358 light meter. Just curious how many here use one and more importantly find it usefull.

+1 on Flash meter if you have the need or use for it. Seconic L-308 Flashmate is a great flash meter.

I also use it all the time as an incident/ambient meter with my 1950's and 1960's era cameras that do not have their own light meters. Very accurate.

Seaain

[and]

I have one too and use it when I setup lights because I use manual nikon flashes. It makes it a hell of a lot easier.

Its also good for getting to know the correct exposure in a still life by using incident metering.

I havent used it for landscapes altho I dont take many, some like to use spot meters and use the zone system for landscapes.

I like the meter because it gives you the ability to do something more correctly and thoroughly when you need to.

but I dont know if I would get one just for general shooting with on camera flash

[tlwyse]

Chiming in with the others......I use the much less expensive Sekonic L-308s. The L-358 is a heck of a meter but probably overkill, especially if you're not likely to use it after your lessons/classes are over with. Look into the L-308s and see if it would meet the needs of the class. Main differences I see are that the L358 supports wireless flash triggering (L308 needs to be tethered to the PC sync cord) and the incident dome can be retracted for narrow field mesurements (L308 requires that you snap on/off between the sphere and the flat disc). I've gotten by with the L308 for a lot of years and it hasn't cramped my style. If I spring for a new meter, it would be the L758DR.

I use the L-308s for studio strobe work (incident metering of course) and also use it outdoors for HDR landscape photography, also in incident mode. Frankly, I trust incident metering to give me more consistent results. I've never trusted in-camera averaging metering regardless of how sophisticated it is.

Meter is a good investment, just don't break the bank if you're not sure how you'll use after you finish with the classes/lessson.

My 2 EV worth,
Terry

[séamuis]

I use a Sekonic L-398M with both my SV and my K-m.

[OregonJim]

An external meter does make for a good learning tool. You can concentrate on light and exposure without the pressure and distraction of actually taking a picture. The '358 is a good choice if you can afford it, but may be a bit of overkill if you're not interested in studio flash.

[woof]

Main differences I see are that the L358 supports wireless flash triggering (L308 needs to be tethered to the PC sync cord)

Umm... my L-308S does not have this requirement. You CAN tether it, but you do not have to. You can set it to wait for a flash and when the flash fires it records the level.

Manual here: http://www.sekonic.com/images/files/L-308S_Instr_Manual.pdf

Page 16. Auto reset cordless flash mode.

I just LOVE mine.

woof!

[kenyee]

ditto gossen luna pro for studio and night exposures (it meters into hours but the K20D limits you to 30s)...

If you're doing landscapes (except for star/mooon shots), you probably don't need it. Just bracket and run a few shots on a tripod is what I normally do.

[Red]

I use one for portraits with an external flash unit. Kids don't seat still long.


Also I use incident metering for subjects that are very dark/black or very light/white.

[Mike Cash]

I have the Sekonic L-208, which is nice-n-tiny and comes with a shoe mount. It does both reflective and incident lighting. I have several older cameras without meters and it comes in handy for those. Most of the time I will just go Sunny 16 with them, but on especially overcast days or when in the woods it comes in very handy. Oftentimes I slide the incident dome over the sensor, stick it out my truck window with the sensor pointed straight up, and just see how many stops off Sunny 16 an overcast sky is. Then I use that as a baseline for adjusting exposure for shooting items in the shade and whatnot.

I have another much older Sekonic I bought in the 1980s and which only does reflected metering. It is quite slim and doesn't take up much space, so I leave it stuck in a corner of my camera bag just in case I go out and forget the bring the L-208 with me.

Someday I'd like to have a flash meter, but that is way down the list of stuff to get.

[Nesster]

I ended up with one of these Spiratones. Really simple to use: turn it on, flash, and the LED next to the stop lights up... one stop too small but as that's constant, it's easily adjusted for.