Sekonic l-358. Overexposing? help

I recently purchased a set of hensel pro500 storbes. One has a medium size softbox. The other has a large octobox on it. I recently posted on this setup and tips. I am having problems with the light meter. Not sure if i am doing something wrong?

I have soft box at 45 degrees to my son, and 45 degrees down on him. (if he is looking at 12 o clock, i have flash at 2 and 45 degrees up)

he is roughly 3-5 feet from softbox. I have camera set at iso 100. meter to iso 100. white dome extended. Under his chin aiming directly at the camera lens. Pop flash and reading is f8. So i set my camera to f8. i have used 60-125 of a sec, yes i know this has nothing to do with flash, just fill light, but pictures seem to be over exposed. Side of face closest to flash is way to bright. I click camera up to f9 or f11. Much better. Seems meter is almost one stop to low???

What is best way to use this meter. I know i can take sample pics. Go to lightroom and do a facemask histogram and re calibrate meter that way. Before i do that, what is the best way to do this. This is brand new and i wouldn't think meter would be that far off from the getgo?

Have a look at your manual.

There are a couple of methods of dialling in compensation.

DON'T "calibrate" the meter until a variety of tests have been made to confirm that it's the meter's fault. Chances are very good that it's operator's misunderstanding of how to use the meter and (probably more important) how to set up lighting at this point in time.

I'd bet that if the meter were pointed at the offending light, the reading would be very close to the settings that the OP found works for the image.

You never calibrate a meter based on the facial mask histogram. Calibration is done using an 18% gray card but as Skip already said, do not even begin to calibrate until you've done the troubleshooting and made sure your metering method and technique are accurate.

SkipD wrote in post #11761699
DON'T "calibrate" the meter until a variety of tests have been made to confirm that it's the meter's fault. Chances are very good that it's operator's misunderstanding of how to use the meter and (probably more important) how to set up lighting at this point in time.

I'd bet that if the meter were pointed at the offending light, the reading would be very close to the settings that the OP found works for the image.

I will admit, i am learning the setup. I have pointed the meter at the light, and at the camera. Get same reading.

Yeah, Thanks. I am not giogn to calibrate. I did not want to change manufaturer settings untill I knew it was not user error. I have an 18% grey card white balance tool. I will set that up where i want my subject to be. Get a meter reading. (should i point meter at camera, or at light?) I have read both ways. then put it on computer, or i guess look at back of camera at histogram. Should get a spike in the middle. Is that correct?

Yes, the spike should be centered.

Make sure that your white balance tool is in fact 18% gray. Many white balance tools and gray cards a perfectly neutral (equal amounts of red, green and blue) but not always 18% gray. A neutral target could be any shade of gray and many of the gray cards used for white balance are not 18% middle gray.

Thanks tmr. Stupid question. How can i tell if it is a true 18%? I have two. One is a large (4-5 foot guessing) white reflector card on one side, and grey on other side, it is old and slightly faded. The other is a 12" one, with black, grey, and white, that shows three spikes.

bphillips330 wrote in post #11762235
Thanks tmr. Stupid question. How can i tell if it is a true 18%? I have two. One is a large (4-5 foot guessing) white reflector card on one side, and grey on other side, it is old and slightly faded. The other is a 12" one, with black, grey, and white, that shows three spikes.

Typically, exposure targets with a black, gray and white strip work very well and the gray swatch is 18%.

The other card you have could be anything. For instance, I have a Novoflex zebra card that is gray on one side and white on the other. It's used for white balance and the gray side is a lighter shade of gray than middle gray.

The Sekonic targets are 18% gray. One of the swatches in the Color Checker target is 18% gray but the white balance card in the ColorChecker Passport, for instance, is not 18% gray and is to be used for white balance and not exposure.

1) Do you have the ISO on the camera and meter set to the same value?

2) Are you reading the additional part of the F number recommended by the flash meter. In other words, is the meter suggesting F8 plus .8 tenths of a stop (almost F11) and you are ignoring the .8 part of the stop?

3) You indicate the meter is suggesting F8 and you get a good exposure at F9. This is only about 1/3 of a stop, a relatively minor difference, not a full stop as you suggest.

Enjoy! Lon

bphillips330 wrote in post #11761622
he is roughly 3-5 feet from softbox. I have camera set at iso 100. meter to iso 100. white dome extended. Under his chin aiming directly at the camera lens.

When metering for each light shouldn't you be having the dome under his chin but have it pointed at the light instead of the camera?

SkipD wrote in post #11761699
DON'T "calibrate" the meter until a variety of tests have been made to confirm that it's the meter's fault. Chances are very good that it's operator's misunderstanding of how to use the meter and (probably more important) how to set up lighting at this point in time.

What do you suggest in the way of "tests" to determine if it's the meters fault? I also have a 358 but mine seems to be underexposing. I set meter and camera to match and the images seem underexposed to me. I would like to learn what I'm doing wrong.

blurry_image wrote in post #11763293
When metering for each light shouldn't you be having the dome under his chin but have it pointed at the light instead of the camera?

My thoughts too, the light is coming from the light NOT the camera.

I watched this Kelby Training course recently , which goes into studio lighting with a light meter. The first section (calibration of your light meter) is free to watch, you will have to pay for the rest of the course. For $25 you get a month to check out the rest of the site's courses too, well worth it when you look at the rest of the courses.

By the way, I'm not telling you to calibrate your meter

woods289 wrote in post #11763961
What do you suggest in the way of "tests" to determine if it's the meters fault? I also have a 358 but mine seems to be underexposing. I set meter and camera to match and the images seem underexposed to me. I would like to learn what I'm doing wrong.

Photographing color charts and gray scales which are flat and thus not subject to errors such as light placement would be a start. If you can photograph a gray scale (white to black in multiple steps) target using a reading from the meter and have every single block in the gray scale appear properly (each one distinct from its neighbors) in the image, then the exposure was what I would deem correct and the meter would have been doing its job correctly.

Another way to test a meter is to use a traceable calibrated meter as a reference and compare an unknown meter against it. NONE of the meters we buy in stores are calibrated to the degree that a test standard meter would be. However, if you compared five or ten ordinary meters and found only one giving significantly different readings from the rest, you could be fairly sure that the one meter has a problem.

blurry_image wrote in post #11763293
When metering for each light shouldn't you be having the dome under his chin but have it pointed at the light instead of the camera?

Much debated, as there are two schools of thought.

1. One school says we are metering for what the lens sees, so firing all the lights we should point meter with hemisphere toward camera to determine the overall exposure to use.
   
2. Another school says that (for digital/transparencies​), we are careful about not blowing out highlights, so aim meter to the light, to give a margin of error toward underexposing the scene and protect the highlights.