light meter

ok i am in manuel mode set my camera at 125 sec iso 100 took a reading with my seconic light meter for flash. it is telling me that i should set the f stop to f 9. so i set the camera to f9 and took a picture and it came out almost black. i had to drop down to f3 to get enough light for a decent photo. can anyone tel me what i am doing wrong. i tried pointing at the flash and at the model came out the same. it's driving me nuts. followed the instructions to the letter. any advice would be great thanks guy's.

There are about a 1/2 dozen things that could have gone wrong. Sorry for asking dumb questions. What mode is your flash on - manual or ETTL? Did you match the meters ISO and shutter to the camera? Which flash mode are you in - Ambient, Auto -Reset Cordless, Cord? If you were on Auto- Reset was the flash icon flashing when took the test shot? How are the batteries in the meter? You sure the flash fired the first time?

Just asking because it is going to be something simple.

i was taking a reading from a soft box. the camera was in manuel mode 125 sec iso 100. when i triggered the soft box the meter reading said f9. so i set the apature to f9 took a picture and it came out vary dark almost black.

Place the meter with the dome out at the subject location (under the chin if a person) and aim it at the camera, trigger the flash to take your meter reading.

windpig wrote in post #12673552
Place the meter with the dome out at the subject location (under the chin if a person) and aim it at the camera, trigger the flash to take your meter reading.

Correct. In the film days apparently they used to point the light meter at the light source. With digital they recommend to point directly at the camera and as stated under the chin.
Let us know what happened.

The way one uses a meter has nothing to do with digital or analog capture.
Aim the incident dome at the light to get the light reading at the subject point. Repeat for each light used in the setup. Now you have the information needed to setup ratios, kicker light, background lighting etc.

Once all the lights are set, place the meter in subject position with dome aimed at the camera position and take a reading with all the lights firing. Now you know the camera settings necessary to get a proper exposure with the lighting design.

Worked for film, works for digital.

As for the OP's problem. Increase ISO or open aperture with lighting as setup until you get a proper exposure. Now compare that to meter reading.
If it takes more than a stop of adjustment there is something either improperly setup on your meter or the meter is way out of calibration. Start with fresh batteries and then trouble shoot one setting at a time. If you change two things at once you will never be sure what is wrong.

Agree it's going to be something simple, but missing something. Was the meter in flash mode? Using a lightbox and the meter in flash mode, not sure you would get the exact same reading pointing at the subject as pointing at the light.

Regardless of correct setting, exposure may not be perfect, but don't see f9 being almost black if the flash fired.

How are you firing the flash?

That is my guess, the flash is out of sync with the camera.

The way the problem is verbalized, it is difficult to say where the problem is. Are you using triggers of any sort to trigger the flash or the camera? If so, that could easily be a problem. Here is the link to the Sekonic L358 manual.

http://www.sekonic.com​/images/files/L-358.pdf

Here is a link to a tutorial.

http://ilovephotograph​y.com/L358.html

Hope this helps,

110yd

i am using on camera flash to fire the light box, i think maybe the light meter took a reading of the on camera flash instead of the light box.

dedsen wrote in post #12673870
That is my guess, the flash is out of sync with the camera.

charliechuck wrote in post #12674126
i am using on camera flash to fire the light box, i think maybe the light meter took a reading of the on camera flash instead of the light box.

We have a winner!

The on-camera flash fires a pre-flash for E-TTL metering. This fires the softbox before the shutter opens.

If you hit the * button to fire the pre-flash, wait a few seconds for the other strobe to recycle, then take your shot, it will work (technically). Of course this method isn't very practical, so you'll need either a sync cord or a radio-based triggering system of some sort.

You are not helping much. Is "on camera flash" the popup or a shoe mounted external flash? Is that flash in manual mode? If not you are measuring the ettl pre-flash with your meter and then the pre-flash is triggering the slave flash too early and it is not in sync with the shutter. You have to trigger only the flash that you are using for exposure for the meter reading. Then your trigger flash will have to be in manual mode to fire the slave or your slave needs a mode that will ignore the ettl pre-flash when triggering or the slave will fire too early to light the scene.

Curtis beat me to it. There are a couple of Canon cameras that allow the popup to be placed in manual mode. The 7d and the 60d. The newest Rebel might also. If you have that capability put your popup in manual mode. It would help us help you if you would tell us the exact equipment you are using.

pop up

i got a 7D

not sure how to put the flash in manual mode will have to look at the distructions