Light Meter

[Ollokot]

Hi Folks,
I have been offered a Sekonic L-308S Light Meter at what appears a reasonable price and was wondering if any of you good folks have any experience of this meter,

Best Wishes Pat.

[Manfred M]

Pat - depends on whether or not this is something you might use. While it is a incident light meter; it is primarily a flash meter. I have the Sekonic L-358 (i.e its bigger brother) and really the only time I use is is to set up flash setups (mostly studio type work) but sometimes use it with my Speedlights as well.

Unless you are doing heavy duty flash work, I think you will get very limited use out of it.

[PhotomanJohn]

Pat - As usual, I completely agree with Manfred. My background includes a lot of studio photography in the film days and carry a L-358 in my camera bag. But like Manfred, I virtually only use it for multiple flash set-ups whether it be with speedlights or studio strobes. I would like to emphasis though how useful they are for multiple flash or even flash-fill set-ups. Once you have an idea of the light ratios you want then it is a matter of quickly making a few measurements, setting everything up in manual mode and your are ready to take pictures with exactly the exposure you want. From then on you can shoot without worrying about changing the camera position, getting more or less of the background in the frame, adding subjects with lighter or darker clothing, etc.

The auto exposure systems in cameras today are amazing including iTTL with multiple flash. The problem is that the camera makes a new exposure calculation for each shot possibly changing the flash outputs and camera settings. I find that these "surprises" that the camera creates for me are troublesome sometimes requiring changes in compensation or other adjustments to maintain the exposure I want when I have maybe only zoomed in tighter on my subject.

I understand that lightmeters are not for everyone but some of us would not be without one in certain situations.

John

[Colin Southern]

Hi Pat,

In agreement with the others, I feel it really comes down to how "dedicated to the core" you want to be about things. Don't assume that "because you have a light meter then all of your exposure problems are instantly solved" - as with any kind of metering (in-camera reflective, light meter incident, light meter reflective) it's just a tool that gives a starting point - it's what the photographer does with that information that determines the outcome.

Great tools if you take the time to learn how they work (and how they don't); useless if one things it's always going to give the perfect answer at the push of a button.

[PhotomanJohn]

After reading Colin's response I realize that I somewhat oversimplified the use of a light meter. The part where I mentioned knowing the light ratios you want for a given situation comes from experience. As Colin mentioned, it is a tool that will help you get what you want assuming you know what that is.

John