Loving my L-358!!

I shot these this past week with a few Vivitars and a 430ex. The L-358 had the exposure perfect on every shot. I love this thing! Why did I go so long without!!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/markwphoto/2252​382429/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/markwphoto/2252​382555

congrats, those look goood

so how do those light meters work exactly (i should probably search)...

you fire each flash and the light meter tells you the settings you should have on camera to get a right exposure?

markhyo wrote in post #4885196
I shot these this past week with a few Vivitars and a 430ex. The L-358 had the exposure perfect on every shot. I love this thing! Why did I go so long without!!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/markwphoto/2252​382429/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/markwphoto/2252​382555

Looks good Mark. Shame on you for waiting so long

I know what you mean! I picked mine up a week and a half ago!

e r y k wrote in post #4885398
congrats, those look goood

so how do those light meters work exactly (i should probably search)...

you fire each flash and the light meter tells you the settings you should have on camera to get a right exposure?

Hi eryk,

The light meter is very simple to use. The most common was it's used is in the studio with strobes. You set the shutter speed and the ISO you're using, the meter fires the strobes and takes a reading at subject position. It's extremely accurate.

You can also use a light meter in ambient light and just like a camera, you can use it in an 'aperture priority' mode as well. This allows you to set the desired aperture and ISO and the meter will calculate the correct shutter speed.

You might be thinking that this sounds just like how the camera's metering system works. It is, with one exception. The camera's meter can only measure reflected light and can't measure the light that falls on a subject. Taking an incident reading is the key to nailing exposures with strobes and flash.

TMR - thanks that was very helpful.

I dont really have real strobes, just a lot of speedlites, would it still be useful to have one?

TMR Design wrote in post #4885858
Looks good Mark. Shame on you for waiting so long

I actually had an L-508 years ago. Stupid me sold it when I got rid of all my film equipment, but you live you learn. Life is good again now! No more chimping allowed.

e r y k wrote in post #4885920
TMR - thanks that was very helpful.

I dont really have real strobes, just a lot of speedlites, would it still be useful to have one?

Absolutely. Once you're using flash units in manual mode off camera the meter takes all the guesswork and trail and error out of the equation. You can control the lighting and the create the image you want rather than the one you end with by default.

TMR Design wrote in post #4886065
Absolutely. Once you're using flash units in manual mode off camera the meter takes all the guesswork and trail and error out of the equation. You can control the lighting and the create the image you want rather than the one you end with by default.

I absolutely agree! I'm still getting familiar with the 358 but my creativity and knowledge of lighting situations has gone up. I'm only using vivitars and speedlites so I'm definately finding it useful.

I picked up an older L-308BII recently for the sole purpose of measuring strobes... Definitely the way to go! A light meter makes studio work painless.

If it flashes, use a meter. You'll never need to chimp (I hate that term) again.

If you want black with detail, you've got it. If you want white with detail, no problem. If you want white without detail and don't want any highlight clipping, bingo.

The meter is the ultimate timesaver in the studio and it lets me create and balance lighting to my taste. Praise Sekonic, the god of light.

Do you guys use light meters for anything else other than in studios?

I have a set of PW's (not opened yet), 2 580ex, deciding on which stands/umbrella kits to get and one of the other things that is suggested to have as well is a light meter and I'm wondering if this is something that I definitely also need to get.

I've taken my meter outside for some ambient light shooting and found that unless I need the 1 degree spot metering that the L-758 offers I can do quite well without the hand held meter.

For anything with people and skin tones I always use the meter.

i just bought my whole strobist kit -shouldn't have read this thread. now i have to buy more??? CRIPES!!

I haven't taken the meter out of the studio yet - I didn't purchase it with that intention... But as Robert says, for people shots it's a darn good idea. The meter really takes any guesswork out of exposure and beats chimping and oogling histograms any day!