Light meter

[Karl Johnston]

Seeing as I know nearly nothing about how to properly light :lol:

I was having a discussion with lazuka a day ago now 'bout what a light meter was and how great they were...so I started looking into buying one (expensive mofos....)

My question is, what light meter is right for me? I shoot indoors and outdoors, though I also recently shoot at night. For an outdoors shooter shooting in limited light (visualize overcast, evening light) would a Light meter work properly?

Are they mainly built for in-studio or are there many on-location guys and gals that use them as well?

Anyone got any recommendations or nice links to read into the issue?

[k_strecker]

sure, it's marketing, but it's also very informative

http://www.sekonic.com/classroom/classroom.asp

In my opinion the sekonic 358 is the best middle-of-the-road meter out there.

[Curtis N]

First, recognize the limitations of your camera's light meter.
1) It measures reflected light, so its reading is affected by subject luminance (white wedding gown vs. black tux). Its readings need to be interpreted in the context of the scene.
2) It cannot measure flash.

Handheld meters address both of these limitations. They are made to measure the light hitting the subject, not reflecting off of it. They give you true readings, unaffected by subject luminance or background brightness. They also are made to measure flash exposure and will give you an aperture setting, based on a selected ISO and shutter speed.

The Sekonic L-308S is a good, basic meter without much for bells and whistles. For a few bucks more, the L-358 will give you the percent flash when you're mixing ambient and flash, has an Av mode for ambient readings and a few other features that are mostly for convenience and making the math easy.

I use my meter whenever I'm using manual flash, indoors or outdoors.

Light meters really haven't changed much in the last 20 years. A good one will last a long time.

[buurin]

I use a 308S and have no real desire to upgrade. Its light & portable and does its job. Some people complain about not being able to set Av -- but its not a big deal.

You take the reading, then tweak the settings (ISO/Shutter) in the meter until you get what you want.