Sekonic L-358 Light Meter

I have a question regarding a light meter and in particular this light meter.

I have the chance to buy one for a good price, but i am just curious if i will use it to its full benefit. I have read this is quite an excellent light meter, but i still cannot find out if it will benefit me enough to buy it.

I mainly shoot landscapes,sports, some wildlife and a few portraits every now and then.

Will i be able to walk into a scene (lets say a seascape for instance) pull out my light meter, and it will tell me what my exposure should be in any conditions?

Or is this mainly for studio work and to use with flashes/strobes etc...

I would like it mainly for landscape work,sports so i can get a correct readout for exposure as this would help with workflow and time spent chimping.

Many thanks for your answers and sorry for the noob question!

For landscapes, IMO a spot meter is more useful: You cannot always walk to the scene you want to photograph / meter.

The sekonic (I have one) is *very* useful when using flash, and when mixing flash with ambient. Wouldn't want to be without it.
But I've *never* used it for landscapes (nor think I ever will).

Have a look here, might be more helpful.

Another link: Click

Also keep in mind that there is a 1 degree spot meter attachment for this light meter that will give you spot metering capability. Its about $135 I think and can usually easily be found on ebay.

Here is a quick tutorial on using a light meter
click

AFAIK the spot attachment is either 5 or 10 degrees.

René Damkot wrote in post #7068165
AFAIK the spot attachment is either 5 or 10 degrees.

There's a 1, a 5 and a 10 available...

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #7068191
There's a 1, a 5 and a 10 available...

The OP has a 50D (with a spot meter). Is there a big difference between the in camera spot meter and the Sekonic?

GSansoucie wrote in post #7068407
The OP has a 50D (with a spot meter). Is there a big difference between the in camera spot meter and the Sekonic?

IIRC, the xxD series spot meter is something like three to three and a half degrees, right?

It's close but one advantage I can see to using the one degree on the Sekonic is the fact that the meter can store and average the readings which would give you a truer picutre of the contrast ratio you're facing. Meter your highlights, meter your shadows, shoot at the resultant average apertue and you're going to be very, very close to all good (especially in RAW)

But, you could do it in your head as well using the camera meter I suppose.

Like Rene said, invaluable in studio but since you have one, why not take it out in the field too.

I only have the stock Lumigrid which I think is roughly a 50 degree FOV but I'll stick it up next to the lens, take a reading then I can eyeball whether or not I'm faced with a scene that's primarilly highlight-heavy or shadow-heavy. It just gives me a ballpark aperture with which to start.

Here is someone selling the 1 degree on ebay for the l-358 LINK

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #7068458
IIRC, the xxD series spot meter is something like three to three and a half degrees, right?

It's close but one advantage I can see to using the one degree on the Sekonic is the fact that the meter can store and average the readings which would give you a truer picutre of the contrast ratio you're facing. Meter your highlights, meter your shadows, shoot at the resultant average apertue and you're going to be very, very close to all good (especially in RAW)

But, you could do it in your head as well using the camera meter I suppose.

Like Rene said, invaluable in studio but since you have one, why not take it out in the field too.

I only have the stock Lumigrid which I think is roughly a 50 degree FOV but I'll stick it up next to the lens, take a reading then I can eyeball whether or not I'm faced with a scene that's primarilly highlight-heavy or shadow-heavy. It just gives me a ballpark aperture with which to start.

Thanks, I am thinking about this same meter and was wondering if it would provide any usefulness if only for a spot meter and you just sold me with the averaging.

Thankyou very much for the links and replies. They have proved very useful!

Thanks!