light meter

amumonamission

amumonamission

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After having a look at loads of studio lighting videos and having a look at my new lighting this weekend. I have decided that I would probably benefit from having a flash light meter.

I just wondered if someone would mind just giving me a little advice on buying one? I'd like to know just a little bit about how they work, is it as simple as it looks on the videos? I'm assuming I put in the camera settings (iso, shutter speed) put the light meter next to the subject, fire the flash and then it tells me the f number? What makes/models are best? What ones should I avoid?

Thanks in advance :)
 
sekonic l-308s is probably the cheapest an i have had no problems with it, use it outside and for studio lights and also really simple to use.

Ant
 
popeyebilly said:
sekonic l-308s is probably the cheapest an i have had no problems with it, use it outside and for studio lights and also really simple to use.

Ant
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That one looks very good but I was hoping that there might be a cheaper option. I don't want to spend more than £50 on a second hand one at the moment. Is it likely I will get a decent one for that price?
 
I have a sekonic L358, it's been a great meter. It allows me to connect my Elinchrom Skyport trigger to it so it actually fires the flash remotely. If you don't have any way of syncing it to the flash (PC cable etc) it has a mode which will wait unit it sees a flash go off to give you a reading. I'm sure other meters do this too but this is the only one I've owned

EDIT just saw your budget, think this one may be a bit steep :)
 
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Nick_1981 said:
I have a sekonic L358, it's been a great meter. It allows me to connect my Elinchrom Skyport trigger to it so it actually fires the flash remotely. If you don't have any way of syncing it to the flash (PC cable etc) it has a mode which will wait unit it sees a flash go off to give you a reading. I'm sure other meters do this too but this is the only one I've owned

EDIT just saw your budget, think this one may be a bit steep :)
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Yeah, just looked at it. Looks really good though. Maybe getting a good one for £50 is wishful thinking!?
 
I picked up a Minolta digital flash master 3 off eBay for £50. It's an older model but I find features on it far outweigh anything I can buy new for that price without forking out twice the price for a the Sekonic model. When I was looking to buy many people advised me that it was the go-to meter for pros for many years and I does exactly what I need. The trade off is that Its quite bulky but solidly built and I can see the quality of it. If budget is tight and you cant find anything suitable on the classifieds here then there are bound to be plenty similar on eBay.
 
the_local_jacko said:
I picked up a Minolta digital flash master 3 off eBay for £50. It's an older model but I find features on it far outweigh anything I can buy new for that price without forking out twice the price for a the Sekonic model. When I was looking to buy many people advised me that it was the go-to meter for pros for many years and I does exactly what I need. The trade off is that Its quite bulky but solidly built and I can see the quality of it. If budget is tight and you cant find anything suitable on the classifieds here then there are bound to be plenty similar on eBay.
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Great thanks for the advice. I've been watching this one on eBay http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=300852245855&index=10&nav=WATCHING&nid=20644999816

Does this look ok?
 
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amumonamission said:
Great thanks for the advice. I've been watching this one on eBay http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=300852245855&index=10&nav=WATCHING&nid=20644999816

Does this look ok?
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The model I purchased was the one in the link below. The one you've linked to is a slightly different model (and may even be a better model) but to be honest I can't really tell you where it's different as the spec is quite vague. Others who have used it may be able to?

It It appears I was lucky with the price I paid given that they seem to be ranging £65-80 on there at the minute. I had 5 or 6 in my watch list and the first one was at £40 with a minute to go and i got it for £52 in the end. There seem to be a fair few I there now so I'm sure you'll pick one up at a reasonable price if that's the route you decide to go down.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=251156943365&index=3&nav=SEARCH&nid=02348401880
 
the_local_jacko said:
The model I purchased was the one in the link below. The one you've linked to is a slightly different model (and may even be a better model) but to be honest I can't really tell you where it's different as the spec is quite vague. Others who have used it may be able to?

It It appears I was lucky with the price I paid given that they seem to be ranging £65-80 on there at the minute. I had 5 or 6 in my watch list and the first one was at £40 with a minute to go and i got it for £52 in the end. There seem to be a fair few I there now so I'm sure you'll pick one up at a reasonable price if that's the route you decide to go down.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=251156943365&index=3&nav=SEARCH&nid=02348401880
Click to expand...

Missed out on that one on ebay, nevermind!

Will keep looking though, thanks for the advice :)
 
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