please help me with my L-358

[North Dude]

Hi all,

I have a sekonic L-358, and read the manual many times. Exposure compensation on the meter is set to 0, and calibration is also at 0. I'm using it in Auto-reset cordless flash mode, I'm setting iso at 200, shutter at 1/200 and adjusting my strobes to get f8.0. I'm using the meter with the lumisphere out and pointed towards the lens. After adjusting the strobes and once I get the correct value, I fire the strobes a couple of times to make sure I have a constant exposure, I get 8.0 each time. But when I shoot the image with my camera in manual mode set at iso 200, 1/200 and f8.0 I seem to get an underexposed image. Here are two tests images, the first one is at f8.0 and the second one is at f5.6, (without changing the power or position of the strobes) I created the jpg files in LR3.6, the only thing I changed is that I used the camera standard profile and enabled the lens correction. I did not touch any of the exposure parameters. When I chimp, I also notice that the histogram seem to indicate underexposure. I shot this with my 70-200, I also tried with my 18-135 and got the same results.

Am I doing something wrong here? What do I don't understand?

[s2kennyc]

When you say strobes...I'm assuming you mean more than 1?

If so, just for testing purposes, can you just use 1 strobe and see if you can get a correct exposure with one? Just want to eliminate some variables here.

[North Dude]

I'm using two strobes.

[Bob_A]

Hi Ian.

Sounds to me like you're using the correct approach.

Without being there it's pretty hard to tell if the first image is under-exposed or if the second image is over-exposed Any chance you could repeat the shot with a grey card and white card framing the stuffed animal?

Also try what Ken suggested. Starting simple can help get to the bottom of things.

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by imorisse

I'm using two strobes.

And my 580 for hair light. (in manual mode)

The first tests I did, I did not have the 580, but I got the same results. I did not try it with only on strobe.

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by Bob_A

Hi Ian.

Sounds to me like you're using the correct approach.

Without being there it's pretty hard to tell if the first image is under-exposed or if the second image is over-exposed Any chance you could repeat the shot with a grey card and white card framing the stuffed animal?

Also try what Ken suggested. Starting simple can help get to the bottom of things.

Here is a test shot with a grey card and a piece of white cardboard...

[s2kennyc]

Try it with one strobe first to make sure that your meter is functioning correctly. Post up the result so that we can see that.

[Bob_A]

Originally Posted by imorisse

Here is a test shot with a grey card and a piece of white cardboard...

When I look at the image in ACR it appears to be 1/2 to 3/4 stop under-exposed. Here it is bumped up by 0.75 so that the whites just start to clip:

[Bob_A]

Ian, does the L-358 have an ISO 2 setting that can be used for "filter compensation"? If it does, and you have it set up that way, is it set to zero? My L-558R has that feature.

[110yd]

How are you triggering your strobes? If you are using a wireless trigger to fire your strobes, is there any chance that you are not firing the strobes at the right time? I recently had a situation where I set up two lights with a trigger, and used another trigger to fire the camera. Everything worked fine on day one. On day two I set the equipment up, but I managed to get the TX units swapped. The photos were under exposed, and I was stumped for a minute. Eventually I figured out that the transmitters for the triggers got swapped.....The lights were firing, but they were not synchronized with the shutter on the camera.

Hope this helps,

110yd

[Ron McQueen]

You may also be doing nothing wong. Your 358 and 7d may not be with the same calabration zone. if you caint find any thing wong try seting up 1/2 to 2/3rd hotter than you want to shoot. York it from there untill you find the spot that it maches up. you can test this with a friends 358shooting side by side and see if they match.

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by Bob_A

Ian, does the L-358 have an ISO 2 setting that can be used for "filter compensation"? If it does, and you have it set up that way, is it set to zero? My L-558R has that feature.

Yes there is an iso 2 setting, but the way I understand it, is when I press the iso2 button after my measurment, I shows me the equivalent fstop with that iso.

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by 110yd

How are you triggering your strobes? If you are using a wireless trigger to fire your strobes, is there any chance that you are not firing the strobes at the right time? I recently had a situation where I set up two lights with a trigger, and used another trigger to fire the camera. Everything worked fine on day one. On day two I set the equipment up, but I managed to get the TX units swapped. The photos were under exposed, and I was stumped for a minute. Eventually I figured out that the transmitters for the triggers got swapped.....The lights were firing, but they were not synchronized with the shutter on the camera.

Hope this helps,

110yd

I'm using FR603's to sync, but I aslo tried connecting a sync cable to my meter and having my other strobe on optical slave, I got the same results...

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by s2kennyc

Try it with one strobe first to make sure that your meter is functioning correctly. Post up the result so that we can see that.

Ok, I"ll try this tonight

[North Dude]

Originally Posted by Ron McQueen

You may also be doing nothing wong. Your 358 and 7d may not be with the same calabration zone. if you caint find any thing wong try seting up 1/2 to 2/3rd hotter than you want to shoot. York it from there untill you find the spot that it maches up. you can test this with a friends 358shooting side by side and see if they match.

This is what I think I have to do, I was just wondering if it was normal...