Do I have a faulty Sekonic L-308B?

domino1999

domino1999

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Darren
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I've just bought a 'used' Sekonic L-308B which the seller has claimed is in full working order.

However, whenever I take a meter reading (ambient or flash), it's constantly displaying "E.u" (underexposed) in the reading.

It doesn't seem to matter what I set the meter ISO or shutter speed to, it always gives E.u.

Meters are new to me, so I might be missing something.

Is there anything I can check or a simple test which will show for sure whether or not it's faulty?

I don't want to send it back if the guys just going to tell me it's working fine, I'd feel a bit of an idiot. Can/do these meters develop such faults over time?

Darren
 
ChrisH said:
Set it to something like 1600iso and f2.8 in av mode then stick it next to a lightbulb if it says Eu it's knackered.
Click to expand...

No Av mode on this model from what i can tell, can only set iso and shutter speed...
 
Do you have a handbook?

Check the mode setting. There are four modes set under three icons for flash and ambient light, top-left of LCD.
 
set it to ambient (the little sun) with the mode button, set the shutter speed to something like 30s iso100 and try
 
HoppyUK said:
Do you have a handbook?

Check the mode setting. There are four modes set under three icons for flash and ambient light, top-left of LCD.
Click to expand...

That's right and I've tried in flash mode with my studio flash and then simple ambient mode....same results.
 
Hello,
Is the white disc in the position were it covers the small lens ?
If using flash meter mode, avoid using ettl or nikon equivalent

Thats all I can think of.
 
Last edited:
Mitch38 said:
Hello,
Is the white disc in the position were it covers the small lens ?
If using flash meter mode, avoid using ettl or nikon equivalent

Thats all I can think of.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's in the covered position. Not using ettl.
 
Fresh battery? Metering little window clean and no debris? 100% sure that pressing the measurement button is actually triggering the meter to make a new reading?
 
ljphil78 said:
set it to ambient (the little sun) with the mode button, set the shutter speed to something like 30s iso100 and try
Click to expand...

Now I got a reading with that, a little over f/8.
 
freecom2 said:
Fresh battery? Metering little window clean and no debris? 100% sure that pressing the measurement button is actually triggering the meter to make a new reading?
Click to expand...

Brand new battery, window is clean and yes, button is triggering ok.
 
To do a ballpark test you could use a grey card and spot meter with the cam in TV mode to see if the resultant AV is more or less what the meter is saying.
 
I'm pretty sure it's knackered. I'm sitting at my desk in my office. The overhead lighting is fluorescent tubes and provides good light.

The meter is sat on my desk.
Lumisphere in closed position to measure incident light.
I've set the mode to ambient (the little sun symbol).
I've set ISO to 400.
I've set shutter speed to 1/125s.

When I press the the measuring button, E.u (underexposure) is displayed again.

Not until I drop the shutter speed value down to 1/30 do I get a reading of just over 1/2 a stop.

Last night I set my studio flash to full power. There's was hardly any ambient light in the room. On flash mode (without sync cord), it still registered E.u.

At lunchtime I'll take it outside (hope the sun will be shining) and test again, but this simply doesn't seem right to me. Perhaps I'll pop it into Jessops tomorrow and see what they say, just so I have proper confirmation before I send it back to the seller.
 
Do you have a smart phone? Download a light meter app and see what they both read.

"Well lit" desk ISO 400 1/125 might be somewhere around f/1.4 ish.

As for a random staff member in Jessops knowing whether a flash meter is faulty or not.....
 
JonathanRyan said:
Do you have a smart phone? Download a light meter app and see what they both read.
Click to expand...

Nope, I gave up trying to keep up with phone technology many years ago. I simply don't need web and email on my phone, so just have a basic phone, which suits my needs.

JonathanRyan said:
"Well lit" desk ISO 400 1/125 might be somewhere around f/1.4 ish.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what I would expect...

JonathanRyan said:
As for a random staff member in Jessops knowing whether a flash meter is faulty or not.....
Click to expand...

Well it's worth a punt and I just need a 2nd opinion, someone who can actually try it. With a bit of luck there might be a more knowledgeable customer in the shop at the time, we'll see....
 
domino1999 said:
Yes, that's what I would expect...
Click to expand...

Which is about a stop from "dunno". So if your ceiling is higher than mine and your flouros aren't as bright as my halogens then you might easily get "can't read".

ISO up, shutter speed down. Does it change by the expected amounts?
 
Well I took it into my local Jessops store this lunchtime. Both guys working there had their own Sekonic flashmeters and were experienced photographers, so they know what they're talking about.

They both agreed it has a fault, something more than just a calibration issue, so they've confirmed my suspicions.

Will be contacting the seller tonight to arrange a return & refund. Never had to do this before (on eBay), so is there anything I should be wary of?
 
Nothing in particular you should be aware of. Just contact the seller first and tell them you want a full refund. If he doesn't put that in to action just open a Paypal dispute and you will get your money back.
 
Sorry to hear that Darren. I hope you get it sorted in no time.
 
I hope you get it sorted quickly .
If I were you I’d try to get a used S version rather then the B version .

the S version can be switched to give you the reading in 1/3rd of stops rather than 1/10ths.
 
adymace said:
Nothing in particular you should be aware of. Just contact the seller first and tell them you want a full refund. If he doesn't put that in to action just open a Paypal dispute and you will get your money back.
Click to expand...

Cheers! I read the ebay info earlier and have sent a message to the seller in the first instance. Just waiting for a reply and hoping the return/refund goes smoothly.
 
Mitch38 said:
I hope you get it sorted quickly .
If I were you I’d try to get a used S version rather then the B version .

the S version can be switched to give you the reading in 1/3rd of stops rather than 1/10ths.
Click to expand...

Yes, the guys in Jessops said a newer model would probably suit me better, but they didn't try any hard sell, which was kinda nice. To be honest I think they were bored (the shop was empty) and appreciated having someone to chat to for 10 minutes :D
 
Mitch38 said:
I hope you get it sorted quickly .
If I were you I’d try to get a used S version rather then the B version .

the S version can be switched to give you the reading in 1/3rd of stops rather than 1/10ths.
Click to expand...

Didnt realise you could do this, thanks for the tip off :thankyou:
 
Well I contacted the seller last Friday and he responded very quickly and agreed that I should return the flashmeter and he'll give me a refund.

So, I opened a Return Case in eBay also on Friday, so that the return can be fully tracked in case of problems. It needs him to approve it, before I can post it back to him, but he hasn't done it, nor has he replied to other messages I've sent him since Friday :(

According to eBay, I have to give him 7 days to respond before I can open a case for them to get involved. It really annoys me that he said a return is okay, but he hasn't approved the return in eBay!!

I think I've learned my lesson about buying from private listings, and will stick to established sellers/companies in the future.
 
I have been having problems with my Sekonic L-758DR, the meter works fine in ambient & spot metering but whenever I set the meter to any of the flash modes I get the blinking Eu display, I have been in touch with Sekonic several times & have been told it looks like it could be that the Photocell had gone, I contacted Sekonic UK who have offered a repair, I was about to package the meter ready for posting when I discovered the strangest thing, I was sat in my living room playing around with the meter & noticed the Eu warning didn't come on, thinking the fault was intermittent I went into the room I use as a small studio, as soon as walked through the door I got the blinking Eu error again, walked out of the room, reset the meter & it stopped again, went back into my studio, reset again & there it was again, then it hit me, I had just changed all ambient lighting in my studio to white LED lights, including the modeling lamps in my flash heads, just to confirm this was the cause I left the studio room & went into a room with normal lighting, no blinking Eu, took my LED torch & shone it onto the lumisphere, pressed the set botton & there it was, blinking Eu again.
Now I have discovered what the cause is I searched the problem in google I have noticed others are having the same issue, it looks like this is not caused by a faulty or broken photocell, it would appear that Sekonic hadn't anticipated the use of LED lighting in photography studios.
I very much doubt this issue can be resolved with firmware updates, if that is the case then the Sekonic L-758DR is pretty much useless to anyone using LED lighting in their studios.
 
This thread is from 1999! I use a Sekonic 308S - no problems at all with LEDs or fluorescents in flash mode, it just ignores all ambient light. Google does bring up others with LED issues, but is this only with 758DR meters?

Very interested in your LED conversion for modelling lamps. What flash heads, and what are the replacement LED bulbs please? Cheers :)
 
LED's are typically PWM driven to reduce the power requirement (or dimming) whilst maintaining a visually permanent light level. The variation in frequency, whilst potentilly knobbling your light meter, has also been found to have biological side-effects in people and there are now (since early this year) IEEE recommendations to control the frequency and variation of the flicker. Traditional light sources had a good deal of persistence during their 'off' phases (incandescant and gaseous tube lights) but LED's have little or no persistence and they only remain to be seen as 'on' due to our slow perception of darkness....our inbuilt persistence if you will. The techie stuff is here for anyone with more than a casual interest.

Bob
 
HoppyUK said:
This thread is from 1999! I use a Sekonic 308S - no problems at all with LEDs or fluorescents in flash mode, it just ignores all ambient light. Google does bring up others with LED issues, but is this only with 758DR meters?

Very interested in your LED conversion for modelling lamps. What flash heads, and what are the replacement LED bulbs please? Cheers :)
Click to expand...


I have been using the LED's in a couple of old Godox DE300's & for the ambient lighting in the studio, mainly for product shots, the LED's are from fleabay, they are dimmable (I think this is causing the Sekonic flash metering issue) they are 25w E27 Corn Bulbs, SMD 4014 cool white 6000-6500K aprox 230 - 270 lumens.
They are shipped from china & not the best quality, £18 inc shipping for 6 lamps, I have had one go pop but so far the other 5 seem to be holding out ok, they are dimmable so ideal for product shots but impossible to meter mixing ambient & flash because of the Eu issue, other than that they do the job.
 
If I remember rightly some leds "flicker" although we can't see it with the eye, it may be the meter is seeing it though.
 
A basic test for flicker with LED is by using your phone in video mode, it will pick it up. Cheap drivers are the usual cause. I haven't tested any retro-fit lamps but would assume that the additional circuitry required will add needless additional cost for every day use and also add to a larger blueprint anyway. There's so many dimmable compatibility issues with LED that you can't be certain yourself just buying lamps with the hope that they will dim, it's the compatibility of the driver and the dimmer that cause problems.
 
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