Light meters - Do you use them or not? If so, which do you use?

Hello all,

I'm looking at light meters again. I've always just chimped. But more and more I'm starting to want to try a light meter to get a better chance of getting exposure right the first, or second time. It mainly is an issue for me because I use older cameras mostly with my lighting equipment that have super poor LCD's that do not show exposure really, nor much else, and are pretty much just histogram viewing tools. But that's now always a good tool to know if flash exposure is right or not. I often use an old LCD and get a bright look on there, but later realize it's really under-exposed. I rarely over-expose, I seem to always under-expose if anything. So, I've avoided the light meter for a while, thinking I can get by without it, but, I'm starting to get back to it again and thinking a light meter might be a good tool to finally add to my lights, as I'm happy with my lights currently.

That said, do you use a light meter? No? If so, what do you use and for what application (inside, outdoor, with which gear, etc)? I'm interested to hear something from this year, instead of what's in the 2007/2008 stickies ().

And lastly, I'm curious what's out there that is older but solid, newer with bells & whistles, etc. I know a few common light meters, but maybe there's stuff I'm unaware of that meet what I'm looking for.

I most commonly shoot outdoor, and some minor indoor studio type stuff (product and 90% portrait indoor studio).
I use a 600Ws portable strobe outdoors often (Rovelight 600B). I often use this with HSS, but for this, let's say I just use normal mode and just stack an ND filter if needed.
I generally use Yongnuo transceivers (RF603's for a manual setup; YN622's for the HSS/ETTL stuff; 560 protocol (TX560) commonly for my manual flashes).
I use a fleet of 6 speedlites often both indoor & outdoor (Yongnuo 560III's and a few 565EX II's for TTL); but let's just focus on manual flashes tops (I sometimes gang two speedlites into one modifier).
I commonly shoot at F2.8 outdoor for portraits with telephotos.
I commonly stop down indoors for studio type stuff (F4, F5.6, F8, nothing wide and nothing super small).

I'm curious what light meter would suit me most, for the outdoor stuff with wide aperture, where I'm commonly at F2.8 or F4, rarely at wider, with a powerful strobe, or sometimes just ganged speed lights. I was looking at light meters and didn't really see one that specifically was able to be programmed with an aperture and shutter speed and ISO and tell me which flash power to use. I can work around that of course, I'm fine with setting shutter speed, ISO and whatever flash level and then using a light meter to tell me aperture (I can then just take the stops of aperture and adjust flash power appropriately based on that). I'm sure there are all kinds of tricks and ways to do this. I'm just curious if any light meters are smarter these days than the older ones, if anything can actually cope with HSS, etc, or more variables. I'm happy to use a basic one and work around it's readings.

The common Sekonic L-308S comes to mind. The L-358 is always the recommendation it seems.

Not looking to go the cheapest route (but I do favor getting bang for buck). Not looking to get the most exotic either, but I'm interested what's out there these days!

I mainly just want to speed up getting exposure right with my lights outdoors at wide apertures.

Looking forward to your thoughts & suggestions. Would love to see examples too!

Very best,

I do not, but now that I'm doing more portraiture I'm seriously considering it. My friend has a Sekonic that triggers his strobes and it's plenty convenient. With one or two exposures his settings are perfect. For me it takes about twice the time to chimp and adjust. Part of my hesitation so far has been the initial cost; it seems silly to spend $300 on something that's already built into your camera body.

Sekonic L 358

bought it used for 190 bucks through POTN after breaking my old meter. They go super fast and I missed out on a couple before I was able to pick this one up.

I don't use it all the time but for setting up lighting ratios it is very nice to have. For single light use it is nice to dial in settings quickly, but not a requirement. It also has a mode that tells you lighting ratio between ambient and flash which would probably help you out, but i've never used it. Of course i've only had it for a few months

I feel it is more professional of me to not just use the meter but to be able to have the client come into the set up shot without me having to change things up after they arrive.

I've been needing to look up the manual and this thread reminded me to do so, here it is:

http://www.sekonic.com​/downloads/l-358_english.pdf

FarmerTed1971 wrote in post #17845210
Part of my hesitation so far has been the initial cost; it seems silly to spend $300 on something that's already built into your camera body.

until you've used one you won't realize this, but they are not even close to the same thing.

having been brought up in the film age, a meter was required for any kind of serious photography so I was exposed to it early on. While I don't use it on every shoot, for me, not owning one is not an option. Especially if you are using more than one flash in a creative way.

Sekonic L 358 for me also.

Bought it a few years back but never really started to use it much until I bought strobes. I like the the ability to balance or ratio the lights as need be.

Gart

Count me in the amen choir, sekonic L-358. It's a nice package, easy to use and has most things you need short of a spot meter. The percentage of flash to ambient is a godsend and makes repeating results under differing light conditions easy.

Heya,

I commonly see the L-358 Sekonic bounce from person to person. I'm curious about it's advantages over the L-308S, or competing stuff that I'm not aware of.

I do think the idea of being able to relate ratios of ambient to strobe light would be helpful when trying to do ambient blends quickly. I do a lot of near sunset work, so the light falls fast, and speeding up the exposure process without wasting a bunch of time chimping would be helpful.

I am not adverse to something that is $300. If that means speeding it up and it lasts 4~5 years, that's a lot of time and shutter acutations and strobe pulses saved for nothing more than a binned photograph as I figure out exposure.

For me, the primary use would be outdoor portrait at wide aperture (F2.8 for example; rarely wider really even though I have it). Sometimes I use ND filters if there's a lot of ambient light. Sometimes I just move to HSS and use my 600Ws strobe to go brute force if there's a lot of light and don't want to use filters. I very often use manual speedlites (Yongnuo 560 III's, several of them, with a TX560 controller) behind large modifiers (47" octa, 60" umbrella) outdoors with gels. I gang them up for faster recycling, but also for generally larger and more even spreads at lower powers. I favor them over the strobe for portability and simplicity. I use my 600Ws strobe (Rovelight 600B) when I'm in bright ambient light and want to stop down ambient and still expose with the strobe, so most commonly use it in HSS mode with Yongnuo YN622 transceivers. Sometimes I use it in manual mode, with other lights, and use the simple Yongnuo RF603 system as it works on all of them in manual mode, and I can mix any lights I want, and in these cases I use an ND filter if I need to drop ambient without using HSS.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #17845232
Heya,

I commonly see the L-358 Sekonic bounce from person to person. I'm curious about it's advantages over the L-308S, or competing stuff that I'm not aware of.

go here:

https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=17795783

The flash/ambient percentage is the biggest difference between the 308 and 358. The 358 also accommodates the pocket wizard trigger module but that's increasingly irrelevant.

Heya,

That looks like it pretty much sums up the main difference, being able to meter and get a shutter instead of just aperture and to be able to analyze mixed lights is a big deal considering I'm always in ambient light.

Looks like the L-358 is a no brainer. I will not need the pocketwizard module, as I don't use them.

Anyone have any competing units that compare to the Sekonic L-358, from another competing maker?

Very best,

I think you'll be happy with the 358. I'm not sure why sekonic discontinued it. It's replacement doesn't seem to have the same following.

Hrm,

Yea, I rarely see anyone talking about the L-478, and the L-358 is almost always the one I see talked about or recommended and also pretty much the only one I see being sold around at any frequency (at least here).

I'm not sure if I would like an LCD and touch screen outdoors here in Florida on the meter, vs something with physical buttons. Though I like the AAA batteries and it seems to have similar functions and is the effective modern replacement for the L-358 (talking about the L-478).

I guess the L-478 after reading about it also manages mixed metering of ambient/strobe just like the L-358.

I can get either for roughly $250 or so it seems on the used market.

Very best,

I use the Sekonic L478D. Having grown up using medium and large format film cameras and the darkroom, I still use the zone system for my landscape work. With the 5 degree spot attachment, I can read all the values in a scene easily.
Also great for flash/ambient ratios and adjusting my monolights output ratios in the studio.

ThreeHounds wrote in post #17845264
I use the Sekonic L478D. Having grown up using medium and large format film cameras and the darkroom, I still use the zone system for my landscape work. With the 5 degree spot attachment, I can read all the values in a scene easily.
Also great for flash/ambient ratios and adjusting my monolights output ratios in the studio.

That's an interesting little add-on there. Never really realized meters were much use for landscape. But, I like the idea of speeding up the process of getting different metered values in a quickly changing light situation (sun rise, before sun rise, after sun set, etc) without having to chimp and look at an LCD. Seems especially useful for people with older cameras with poor LCD's that making gauging the result of exposure (like me!).

Very best,

I have the 478 and honestly bought that one because it was readily available. I needed/wanted a meter for a shoot I had coming up and spending the time/effort to find a used meter wouldn't suffice. I'm a younger guy so the touch screen fits in with what I'm used to, fortunately the interface is nice and using it is a breeze. I probably use it most for the ratio as I like to have a certain percentage of ambient when using flash.