Recommendation for Flash Meter

[flyfishnj]

Can anybody recommend a good, yet inexpensive flash meter? Doesn't need all the bells and whistles. I know the Sekonic L 358 will be a popular recommendation, however $250 may be too much to spend for how often I will use it. How is the is the L-308B II? Any good competitors?

[DaveG]

Can anybody recommend a good, yet inexpensive flash meter? Doesn't need all the bells and whistles. I know the Sekonic L 358 will be a popular recommendation, however $250 may be too much to spend for how often I will use it. How is the is the L-308B II? Any good competitors?

I like and use the Minolta Autometer IVf. It's very dependable and would suggest it for anyone looking for a light/flash meter. It has been replaced by the Minolta Auotmeter Vf which should be even better. The older Autometer IIIf was a dog and shoul be avoided at all costs.

Minolta call their inexpensive flash meters AUTOMETERS and their expensive ones FLASHEMETERS. The FLASHMETERS are a lot more expensive, do more; but aren't all that great a value as far as I'm concerened.

The bigger problem with ALL of these meters have is that they WILL NOT work with the Canon E-TTL system. Although the camera/flash on the Canon will take care of business most of the time, it would be nice to see what an independent flash meter reading has to say. But no flashmeter that I know of - and someone correct me if I'm wrong - will ignore the first "informational" pulse that the E-TTL flash puts out. The meter reads THAT and then ignores the real lighting pulse. That's also why you can't use an E-TTL flash to set off a light slaved strobe. Wein does make a special light slave that ignores the first E-TTL light pulse (somehow) but I know of no flash meter that will.

[iwatkins]

Dave,

I'm interested, why would anyone want to use a flashmeter if you are using E-TTL ? Or the flip side, why would you use E-TTL if you are going to set everything up manually after consulting a flashmeter ? Or do I misunderstand ? (Highly likely)

To answer the original question, I've always used Sekonics or Gossens, but as lightmeters, *not* as flashmeters, so cannot really advise.

Cheers

Ian

[scottbergerphoto]

I noticed in your gear list that you have the SP Excalibur Monolights. I do too. I use them with the Sekonic L358. It's consistently accurate, allows you to get flash ratios, and gives you the percent of light contributed by each strobe and ambient light. For $25, you can add a Pocket Wizard module that fits in the battery compartment and works with the Pocket Wizard system to fire your strobes for metering.
If you go the inexpensive route first, then upgrade, you wind up spending more in the long run.
Regards,
Scott

[DaveG]

Dave,

I'm interested, why would anyone want to use a flashmeter if you are using E-TTL ? Or the flip side, why would you use E-TTL if you are going to set everything up manually after consulting a flashmeter ? Or do I misunderstand ? (Highly likely)

To answer the original question, I've always used Sekonics or Gossens, but as lightmeters, *not* as flashmeters, so cannot really advise.

Cheers

Ian

Because when I have an aperture selected on my 10D, I'd like to see what the flash is actually outputting. Yes I can tell if it's an under or over exposure with the histogram, but I'd like a specific number to tell me how much? Then I could stay in E-TTL and bias the exposure using the +/- control.

It wouldn't be a tool that I'd use a lot but it would be nice to be able to do this once in awhile.

[scottbergerphoto]

Dave,

I'm interested, why would anyone want to use a flashmeter if you are using E-TTL ? Or the flip side, why would you use E-TTL if you are going to set everything up manually after consulting a flashmeter ? Or do I misunderstand ? (Highly likely)

To answer the original question, I've always used Sekonics or Gossens, but as lightmeters, *not* as flashmeters, so cannot really advise.

Cheers

Ian

Because when I have an aperture selected on my 10D, I'd like to see what the flash is actually outputting. Yes I can tell if it's an under or over exposure with the histogram, but I'd like a specific number to tell me how much? Then I could stay in E-TTL and bias the exposure using the +/- control.

It wouldn't be a tool that I'd use a lot but it would be nice to be able to do this once in awhile.
Dave,
If you hit FEL, that fires the pre-flash but not the flash until you depress the shuter button. So, if you wanted to, you can hit FEL to fire the preflash, then meter the flash output by depressing the shutter button. If you make any changes to the camera settings as a result of your measurements, except FEC, the ETTL will try to compensate to undo the changes you made.
Scott

[DaveG]

Dave,

I'm interested, why would anyone want to use a flashmeter if you are using E-TTL ? Or the flip side, why would you use E-TTL if you are going to set everything up manually after consulting a flashmeter ? Or do I misunderstand ? (Highly likely)

To answer the original question, I've always used Sekonics or Gossens, but as lightmeters, *not* as flashmeters, so cannot really advise.

Cheers

Ian

Because when I have an aperture selected on my 10D, I'd like to see what the flash is actually outputting. Yes I can tell if it's an under or over exposure with the histogram, but I'd like a specific number to tell me how much? Then I could stay in E-TTL and bias the exposure using the +/- control.

It wouldn't be a tool that I'd use a lot but it would be nice to be able to do this once in awhile.
Dave,
If you hit FEL, that fires the pre-flash but not the flash until you depress the shuter button. So, if you wanted to, you can hit FEL to fire the preflash, then meter the flash output by depressing the shutter button. If you make any changes to the camera settings as a result of your measurements, except FEC, the ETTL will try to compensate to undo the changes you made.
Scott

That sounds good. But I've enabled Custom Function 4 so that the * on the back of the camera focuses the lens. How can I get the FEL to pop when the camera is configured like this?

[scottbergerphoto]

BTSOOM. (Beats the s--t out of me!)
Scott