L-758DR Calibration with Strobes question

Hi there,

I hope someone can help. I am calibrating the Sekonic L-758dr with my camera using Studio strobes and a Color Checker Passport, with the DTS 3 Software. (Using the Sekonic Exposure Profile Targets also apply to this question.)

After taking Incident and Reflected readings off the Color Checker Passport with the Strobes firing and dialing in the values to my camera settings, do I also need to fire the Strobes to take the three different (+/-3EV) pictures for calibration, off the Color Checker Passport, or do I take the pictures for calibration without using the Strobes?

Regards,

D.

Hi D,

The Light-Meter readings are always far more accurate than the Camera's.

There are 2 aspects to your question here:
1.> The colour-checker for dynamic range calibration with your camera body capability
2.> White Balance settings for those specific studio lights

In a nutshell, YES - forget the strobes for the colour calibration. Simply, mount your camera on a very sturdy tripod and undertake the colour-calibration steps.

Regarding 1.> check-out the various YouTube videos, the ones i recommend are these:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=QoLTL88c-DI
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=tdyosItw3Mk


You should not really need to undertake this colour-calibration again on that specific camera-body. This activity allows the L-758DR light meter to understand what the camera's overall dynamic range is.
This means, when the light meter determines an exposure setting (based on ISO/Aperture/Shutter), it can accurately instruct you to change your camera setting(s) to match.
This means that 'Shadow-clipping' & 'Highlight-clipping' can be fully utilised from the Dynamic Range of your camera.

2.> For your Studio strobes you will always need the L-758DR to ascertain the actual lighting for a correct exposure.
You will 'always' need to check/change your White Balance based upon the available source(s) of light. The White-Balance itself will affect how the colours are seen/captured/rendered​.
However, when shooting in RAW, this is not really an issue. Because all the captured image information is retained for you when you eventually manipulate those images in your Software (Aperture/Lightroom/CS​'x'). Check out this video:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=4C5s8bapVEs