Just ordered my first light meter

Just ordered the Sekonic L-858D-U. I'm not even sure if I need a flash meter or not for my use but I've always struggled getting the lighting balanced right. Most of the time it's reading the histogram and/or brightness on the LCD via chimping then I get back to my calibrated monitor and it's too hot or too dark so I'm always having to tweak the exposure. It's frustrating at times. My goal for this year was to concentrate on my studio lighting but I've been working 6/7 days a week pretty much all year so I've had zero time to do this task. I'm fixing to have weekends off again so wanted to get a light meter so it's one more thing I can learn how to use and such.

Hopefully it'll help me out and ya this model is kinda expensive but for me it's a buy once attitude. I shouldn't have to worry about upgrading later on and should last me a decade if not longer.

Got it through adorama for $599: https://www.adorama.co​m/skl858du.html

Ive started messing about with a very basic film camera and so ive suddenly found myself needing a flash meter .. although i think im going for the l308S-u

But im sure it will also be used with my other cameras so even if thr film thing is just a phase ... itll help as the trial and error thing would be nice if it were shorter

Congrats on the purchase of the 858. Typically the 'pro' meter has features that even most pros don't necessarily need/use, so you have certainly purchased a meter 'for a lifetime', not just 10 years. My meters (I have a reflected light spot, and an incident light meter, both with flash capability) were originally purchased in the early 1990s and I have had no reason to upgrade. (To be tatally honestI did upgrade the incident meter after I got a dSLR with f/stops and speeds in 1/3 EV increments, as the old meter was only in 1/2 EV increments.).
Give a shout if you need some advice about use of the flashmeter.

Thanks. Yes hopefully being 35 years old this meter could last me several decades.

My biggest thing is I have kids that I shoot and they're not very patient with lighting so it's very important for me to get the lighting perfect before I start. I just want the Lightning perfect in camera with very minimal adjustments to be done later. I try to do all the color calibration during the shoot I'll snap a few of my color checker and then I have the monitor calibrated along with printer calibration too. I'd like for the shot to go from camera to print in most cases with only touching up blemishes.

I suggest that you shoot experimentally to discover where your camera positions the 18% gray card on the histogram, when you follow your incident meter's suggestion. Not all cameras necessarily behave identically, so you want to characterize the incident meter!

For example, my Minolta Autometer Vf said ISO 400, 1/50 f/2.8 +0.6EV, which matched the reflected reading of my Canon dSLR. I set the 7DII to that exposure and shot the 18% gray card.

Let us know how the HSS feature works.

The light meter will make short work of figuring out exposure. No more chimping. One setup. One shot.

The key is to figure it into your work flow. Ie, setup your lights, use a dummy or something where the subject(s) will be, set camera for ambient exposure & depth of field (be it sync or HSS situation), then meter lights to whatever you need it to be for key or fill exposure and remembering to meter your lights. Turn off ETTL (or just don't use it, go manual) if you're metering.

It really made the difference getting the correct ambient & flash exposure in a 15 minute or less window, such as during environmental events, like sunsets or sunrises.

It really has made a huge difference with getting the lights and everything setup, and metered appropriately before ever bringing my daughter & her mother into it, so the moment they walk into the scene, everything is set, and we're capturing images instead of fiddling with gear and settings. Makes it painless for them.

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18422507
The light meter will make short work of figuring out exposure. No more chimping. One setup. One shot.

The key is to figure it into your work flow. Ie, setup your lights, use a dummy or something where the subject(s) will be, set camera for ambient exposure & depth of field (be it sync or HSS situation), then meter lights to whatever you need it to be for key or fill exposure and remembering to meter your lights. Turn off ETTL (or just don't use it, go manual) if you're metering.

It really made the difference getting the correct ambient & flash exposure in a 15 minute or less window, such as during environmental events, like sunsets or sunrises.

It really has made a huge difference with getting the lights and everything setup, and metered appropriately before ever bringing my daughter & her mother into it, so the moment they walk into the scene, everything is set, and we're capturing images instead of fiddling with gear and settings. Makes it painless for them.

Very best,

Thanks for the comments and this is basically exactly why I wanted a meter.

bobbyz wrote in post #18422501
Let us know how the HSS feature works.

I'll fiddle with it. I'm more attracted to having HSS for outdoor shots then using ND filters so I think I could use that feature alot. I'll have to read up how it works and whatnot.

arthurbikemad wrote in post #18422524
It works well, shame it does not read tail end sync/hyper sync, I.e the HSS only works with IGBT flash heads or speedlights as you may know, flash duration data works with any system, can read t.1 or t.5 times and more, interesting to see what stopping power you have. It truly is a great meter, some of the menu system is frustrating compared to older models and the meter NEEDS calibrating for each lens and body so budget for the grey cards!

I'll have to look into the calibration part. Would the grey card on my xrite color checker be oK?

bobbyz wrote in post #18422501
Let us know how the HSS feature works.

It works just fine, a beast of a meter that will definitely be perfect for a working professional

Mike

arthurbikemad wrote in post #18422524
It works well, shame it does not read tail end sync/hyper sync, I.e the HSS only works with IGBT flash heads or speedlights as you may know, flash duration data works with any system, can read t.1 or t.5 times and more, interesting to see what stopping power you have. It truly is a great meter, some of the menu system is frustrating compared to older models and the meter NEEDS calibrating for each lens and body so budget for the grey cards!

Whereas HSS should be light at a constant level, tail sync all depends on where you start to calculate from i.e. you need to know flash trigger response times etc. and has far to many variables for a simple solution

Very happy with my Sekonic L-358. You will appreciate using one.

MalVeauX wrote in post #18422507
The light meter will make short work of figuring out exposure. No more chimping. One setup. One shot.

The key is to figure it into your work flow. Ie, setup your lights, use a dummy or something where the subject(s) will be, set camera for ambient exposure & depth of field (be it sync or HSS situation), then meter lights to whatever you need it to be for key or fill exposure and remembering to meter your lights. Turn off ETTL (or just don't use it, go manual) if you're metering.

It really made the difference getting the correct ambient & flash exposure in a 15 minute or less window, such as during environmental events, like sunsets or sunrises.

It really has made a huge difference with getting the lights and everything setup, and metered appropriately before ever bringing my daughter & her mother into it, so the moment they walk into the scene, everything is set, and we're capturing images instead of fiddling with gear and settings. Makes it painless for them.

Very best,

I did photo booths at weddings. Not the traditional ones, just a muslin backdrop and a single overhead shoot through umbrella. Not that I couldn't have figure it out manually but after a long day shooting it was nice to let it work for me. It really paid off when you started to add flashes and wanted total control. Simple and quick 3 flash basic portrait set up.

dpe wrote in post #18422530
It works just fine, a beast of a meter that will definitely be perfect for a working professional

Mike

So quick question, how does one use it? I have regular Sekonic 358. I set ISO, and ss I want, say 1/200 and once my lights are triggered by built in pocket wizard radio, I can read aperture on the L358 screen. Now I want to do same but using Godox strobes in HSS mode. Since Seikonic doesn't have Godox Tx, I can triger Godox two ways, one with connecting a cable from this new Seikonic to Godox Tx or pressing the button on Seikonic and then manually triggering a Godox Tx in my hand which will trigger the Godox strobes. In both these cases, the new Sekonic should now display the correct aperture, I assume. I don't care for reading any timings etc.