Sekonic L-358 and 580ex

[blinking8s]

i dont know squat about the tech behind this wireless stuff, but will the wireless module for the Sekonic L-358 trigger a 580ex for flash metering? or does it only apply to pocket wizzards?

Im looking at buying a light meter and noticed it can trigger strobes...and this meter seems to get the most thumbs up

[jbradc]

No, the Sekonic L-358 has a built in Pocket Wizard transmitter which uses RF to communicate with the Pocket Wizard receiver. The 580EX has a built in IR receiver, so the 2 will not work together out of the box.

[blinking8s]

ah...thanks for clearin that part up

so lets say I have a shoot this weekend, and will be shooting with my 580...how would the light meter help me if I cant sync it to the flash? or would i need to get some super long cable to connect the camera to the meter?

[SkipD]

You normally don't need to use a meter with the 580EX, as the camera communicates with it and the combination of the camera and the 580EX will do a superb job of exposure control. If you want to remove the 580EX flash from the camera, then you will need either a cable or an IR transmitter to make the communication connection between the camera and the flash. You still could not trigger the flash with the meter, though, and there still wouldn't be any reason to do so.

The primary use for a flash meter is to measure the levels of flash units that are not communicating with the camera. A typical example is using studio flash units. The camera and flash units need to be set manually to achieve the desired results. For this, a meter is extremely useful.

That said - the L358 is a great meter for both conventional (non-flash) lighting situations as well as for flash situations where it makes sense to use it.