Which meter sekonic 358 or 558

[saycheez]

I am looking to buy a light meter. I will be using for landscape shoots this summer. Going to Grand Canyon, California, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore....
I have taken a basic photography class and light meters were recommended. Then I went to an all day outdoors workshop where instructor used light meters and gray cards for every shot. Anyways, any input on which one to purchase or any other suggestions would be helpful
Thanks

[tim]

I think you should come up with a better reason for buying one than "he said so" first. The Canon cameras are pretty good at metering, the only reason I can think of using one is if you want spot metering - but i'm not an expert.

[Deckyon]

The other thing to think about is this - was the instructor using a "modern automatic camera" with built-in metering or an older fully manual camera? A light meter is useful more for the manual cameras or using a camera in a studio with multiple strobes. If you just set your camera to Aperture Priority, take your grey or white card and get a custom WB, everything should work well.

I only use my 358 (no need for any more - it will more than suffice) when I use my 4x5 view camera where it is almost as manual as you can get... You will not need a light meter if you shoot RAW and let the camer do the metering.

[Todd Jacobsen]

I am looking to buy a light meter. I will be using for landscape shoots this summer. Going to Grand Canyon, California, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore....
I have taken a basic photography class and light meters were recommended. Then I went to an all day outdoors workshop where instructor used light meters and gray cards for every shot. Anyways, any input on which one to purchase or any other suggestions would be helpful
Thanks

Since you're focus is landscaping photography, a light meter will predominantly be used to measure "reflected" light (at camera location) vs incident light (at subject location). Your camera already provides you a meter to conduct reflective light measurements. A light meter can, in some instances, perform better, via spot measurements, than some DSLRS (which don't always come with spot metering capability). But since you're talking "Grand Canyon" not sure if you're too interested in spot measurements.

The primary utility a light meter provides with todays DSLRs, is their ability to measure INCIDENT light - which is primarily studio scenarios and multi-light setups.

A grey card (Whibal, Gretamcbeth, Kodak)will, in most scenarios, provide a good test exposure to compensate for the appropriate White Balance, but the WB at your camera location may or may not match your landscape view (ie primary subject may be in shade while your vicinity is in the sun - or vice versa).

Exposing to a grey card, and adjusting WB via CWB, may cause more harm in your landscape photography then help. I would recommend using AWB with a test shot of the grey card and compare the variance in PS (Camera Raw) to determine if the camera's metering system did a better job than your grey card.

In addition, outdoor lighting fluctuates quite a bit so cloud cover will determine your frequency of grey card test shots (totally overcast or no clouds, limited grey card shots needed - every 30 minutes; increase frequency for other cases).

I always recommend shooting RAW. If you prefer, shoot JPEG+RAW. JPEG only risks the chance of getting WB wrong. Levels just doesn't cut it for WB correction.

[saycheez]

Thanks for all your input. Maybe I spend my money on a new lens