Advice needed, 4 strobes but no meter.

[Mick_I]

Hey now,
I am undecided and am looking for some advice. I have two 430's and two 580 exII strobes. I am PW less and am going to use one 580 exII as a Master, k on to my question.
I need a Meter!! now I am looking @ the 358 and the Sekonic L-758DR please take into account this will be my first meter of this caliber, can I sync it to my Master 580? do I need to? what else may I encounter than it not working on my Intel mac? I have searched through a ton of wealth here on POTN and have gotten alot of great advice.

Thanks in advance!

[sparcd]

I use the L-358 and it's perfect for what I need. I use the PocketWizard module, but you can also connect it to your flash using the sync port (if any of the flashes support this), or you can fire your flashes manually.

[SkipD]

Hey now,
I am undecided and am looking for some advice. I have two 430's and two 580 exII strobes. I am PW less and am going to use one 580 exII as a Master, k on to my question.
I need a Meter!! now I am looking @ the 358 and the Sekonic L-758DR please take into account this will be my first meter of this caliber, can I sync it to my Master 580? do I need to? what else may I encounter than it not working on my Intel mac? I have searched through a ton of wealth here on POTN and have gotten alot of great advice.

Thanks in advance!If you use the Speedlites in any form of automated exposure mode (ETTL), a meter will be useless. The reason is simple. When Speedlites are used in ETTL mode, they emit a pre-flash for the purpose of determining how to control the light output of the main flash burst. A flash meter would be reading the pre-flash and not the main flash.

Even if you could get the meter to ignore the pre-flash and read the main flash, there's no way to do anything with that information.

On the other hand - if you use the Speedlites and the camera all in fully manual exposure mode, then a handheld flash meter can be very useful.

[PacAce]

Hey now,
I am undecided and am looking for some advice. I have two 430's and two 580 exII strobes. I am PW less and am going to use one 580 exII as a Master, k on to my question.
I need a Meter!! now I am looking @ the 358 and the Sekonic L-758DR please take into account this will be my first meter of this caliber, can I sync it to my Master 580? do I need to? what else may I encounter than it not working on my Intel mac? I have searched through a ton of wealth here on POTN and have gotten alot of great advice.

Thanks in advance!
If you have 4 Speedlites that will work very well in an ETTL wireless configuration, what do you need a meter for? The camera can do all the metering for you if the flashes are in ETTL mode.

Or did you want to work all the flashes manually? If so, to use a meter, you'll need to set the power output of each slave on the slave unit itself. You won't be able to use the master to control the slave outputs. And you'll need to manually fire the slaves, too, when you want to meter them. When meter the master, you'll need to temporarily get it out of Master mode (but still keep it in manual mode) so that you can manual fire the master to take a reading. Once you have determined the power level you need to set the master to you can then return it to Master mode. It's a pain but that's the only way you're going to be able to successfully meter all your flashes.

My take on anything I buy is that I buy the best of what I can afford. If you're looking at the L-758, then I'm assuming that you can afford it. If so, if I were in your shoes, I'd buy the L-758 instead of the L-358. I did the math once when I was looking at the L-358 vs the L-558 and to load the L-358 with the some of the features that came with L-558, I'd end up spending just a few dollars short of what I'd spend on the L-558 so I went with the L-558 as a no-brainer. Maybe that'll hold true for the L-758, too, if you did the math.

BTW, here's another reason for getting the L-758 instead of the L-358. Two paragraphs earlier I said that you'd need to meter the slave individually. You do this by pressing the Test button on the slave flash. Since you're going to be behind the flash and the meter needs to be in front of you where the subject is, you can mount the L-758 on a light stand or tripod because is has a tripod screw hole. The meter is then set to Auto-Reset mode.

The L-358 does not have such a screw hole so you can't easily mount if on a stand. You would need to find a creative and dependable way of having the L-358 pointed at the flash from the subject location so that you can meter your flash with it. ;)

[Mick_I]

Skip Thanks for the tip.

Or did you want to work all the flashes manually? If so, to use a meter, you'll need to set the power output of each slave on the slave unit itself. You won't be able to use the master to control the slave outputs. And you'll need to manually fire the slaves, too, when you want to meter them. When meter the master, you'll need to temporarily get it out of Master mode (but still keep it in manual mode) so that you can manual fire the master to take a reading. Once you have determined the power level you need to set the master to you can then return it to Master mode. It's a pain but that's the only way you're going to be able to successfully meter all your flashes.

This is what I am trying to work with. I find other wise I am emitting to much light and am not pleased with the end result. I work alot of location shooting indoor and outdoor from confined spaces to wide open spaces. I'd rather take the five extra minutes to create a more natural fill.

My take on anything I buy is that I buy the best of what I can afford. If you're looking at the L-758, then I'm assuming that you can afford it. If so, if I were in your shoes, I'd buy the L-758 instead of the L-358. I did the math once when I was looking at the L-358 vs the L-558 and to load the L-358 with the some of the features that came with L-558, I'd end up spending just a few dollars short of what I'd spend on the L-558 so I went with the L-558 as a no-brainer. Maybe that'll hold true for the L-758, too, if you did the math.

BTW, here's another reason for getting the L-758 instead of the L-358. Two paragraphs earlier I said that you'd need to meter the slave individually. You do this by pressing the Test button on the slave flash. Since you're going to be behind the flash and the meter needs to be in front of you where the subject is, you can mount the L-758 on a light stand or tripod because is has a tripod screw hole. The meter is then set to Auto-Reset mode.

The L-358 does not have such a screw hole so you can't easily mount if on a stand. You would need to find a creative and dependable way of having the L-358 pointed at the flash from the subject location so that you can meter your flash with it. ;)
I am with you on the buy once cry once and I was not aware of the mounting issuse :D
Thank you very much for your advice guys I'm sold.

[Wilt]

If one 580EX can be set to Master, and Group B slaves can be ratio'd to A, and Group C slaves can be ratio'd to A (via the Master), why would you need a flashmeter?

[PacAce]

If one 580EX can be set to Master, and Group B slaves can be ratio'd to A, and Group C slaves can be ratio'd to A (via the Master), why would you need a flashmeter?
Because he is going to work the flashes in manual mode. In manual mode, setting the ratio is not setting the lighting output relative to each other but what's actually being specified is the actual power level desired for each group, eg. 1/2 power, 1/4 power, etc. On top of that, if he wants to meter his lights, he won't be able to set the level from the master using the "ratio" feature. He has to do it on each flash individually.

[Wilt]

Because he is going to work the flashes in manual mode. In manual mode, setting the ratio is not setting the lighting output relative to each other but what's actually being specified is the actual power level desired for each group, eg. 1/2 power, 1/4 power, etc. On top of that, if he wants to meter his lights, he won't be able to set the level from the master using the "ratio" feature. He has to do it on each flash individually.

In that case, I agree...regulate the power down with manual output control, fire each light individually (for light output ratio determination) or collectively (for exposure determination) and read with a handheld flashmeter.

A flashmeter need not have PW capability...simply use it in Uncorded mode, where you press the button to make it ready to read a flash, leave it in place and walk to the light and trigger it manually, and the meter reads the burst of light.

[Double Negative]

If you have simple needs, even the Sekonic L-308 will do. A little Velcro on the back and you can stick it to a tripod, lightstand or whatever.