Who uses a light meter?

gary996

gary996

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Have been toying with the idea of buying a light meter.
Do you find them beneficial?
Are they for indoors only (primarily/studio conditions)?
Do you just rely on your cameras meter only?
Which one do you have?


Just a few questions
 
I couldn't live without one, and the more I use it the more second nature it becomes. It saves a LOT of time setting up, I do a fair bit of on location "studio style". Not just lights on subject, backdrops, light spill, etc.

Using Speedlites which I'm generally shooting at f8 and more open. Speedlites aren't all that powerful, so are generally used close up. This means even small movements from a subject or height changes can make a big difference.

Mine is the Sekonic 308, got it for about £100, can't fault it. I tend to meter for portraits/flash, but for other work I've been using the camera's meter, but I feel I should use the meter more in these areas, too.

I came close to selling it last year, then I learnt what I'm doing and oh boy I am glad I didn't.

It's one thing thinking you have it right on a shoot, it's a whole lot better knowing.
 
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I have been experimenting with incident light readings outdoors using an old Minolta Autometer III

So far its very encouraging and I have been pleased with the results, can't see much point using it as a spot meter for reflected readings and will stick to the camera for that.

Very simple to use although its only the more expensive ones that give readings by aperture. Mine and the one Jenny mentioned above (I think) only give readings in shutter speed or EV. Easy enough to scroll through until you find the correct measurement for your desired aperture setting or I suppose you could use an EV table.

I don't do any indoor/flash/studio work so the above paragraph is probably less relevant for that, but for landscapes the aperture setting is much more important to me.
 
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I totally recommend it... I got the Sekonic L-758d for £200 off ebay which has the spot meter but you can also calibrate it to your camera and lens which makes it very versatile. It has made my photos loads better as used to be underexposed all the time.

Keep an eye on the misspelled ebay items ;) for bargains.
 
I have always had a number of hand held meters, and at the very least find an Incident meter very useful to peg tones.
For studio flash work they are essential.
Incident meters take so much of the guess work out of exposure setting. Unfortunately they can not be built in to cameras with auto exposure, so will always be a hand held option.

There is little point in buying a hand held reflected light meter, as one is built into your camera.
 
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Thanks for the info. I'm looking at the Sekonic 478D. I don't need the DR version as I do not have any pocket wizard triggers (have 4 YN 622C and Cells II unit for my AD360 flash).
 
Hi, For most of my photography both professional and non professional I shoot in manual mode as I like to be in full control of my camera. I use handheld incident meter readings most of the time, and all of the time when working in the studio.

Any reflected readings that I want I usually use the built in camera meter if it has one, (not all of my cameras have meters) as I find they are just as accurate as any handheld meter that is used in reflected mode.

I have several handheld meters but the two that I use the most are a "Western Master V" with invercone attachment for outdoor daylight work, and a "Gossen Lunasix F" which can read flash as well as ambient light and has a built in incident light reading attachment.

Both of these meters are getting a little long in the tooth now but are still very accurate and I see no reason to change to a more up to date digital meter.

This style of working works for me, others have different styles that work for them. In my opinion it's best to find a system of metering that works for you and stick to it, and you will then develop a style that will give you consistent results.

Hope this helps.
 
gary996 said:
Have been toying with the idea of buying a light meter.
Do you find them beneficial?
Are they for indoors only (primarily/studio conditions)?
Do you just rely on your cameras meter only?
Which one do you have?


Just a few questions
Click to expand...

What do you want it for? They're very useful for setting up multiple studio lights, but for regular outdoor stuff, I bet you'll use it a few times and that'll be the end of an expensive experiment.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
There is little point in buying a hand held reflected light meter, as one is built into your camera.
Click to expand...

Not in most of my cameras.

I use a meter most of the time but in normal daylight conditions, I'm accurate enough for black and white film using sunny 16.

tijuana taxi said:
Very simple to use although its only the more expensive ones that give readings by aperture. Mine and the one Jenny mentioned above (I think) only give readings in shutter speed or EV. Easy enough to scroll through until you find the correct measurement for your desired aperture setting or I suppose you could use an EV table.
Click to expand...

Just about every old and/or cheap meter I have seen (or own) has a scale where you can read off shutter speed against the aperture you want to use (or the other way round).

And if you do have a meter which only gives EV, just remember that 1/125 at f16 is EV 15 and work it out from there. No need for a table,


Steve.
 
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Just about every old and/or cheap meter I have seen (or own) has a scale where you can read off shutter speed against the aperture you want to use (or the other way round)
Click to expand...

Totally agree and pretty much said the same, but on some meters you can select the f stop and iso then the meter gives you the correct shutter speed
 
I use a Sekonic L-358 when I'm working with big lights or when my Speedlights are in manual mode. Which, to be honest, is just about 95% of the time I'm shooting with off-camera flash. TTL's great, but I like the accuracy of a flash meter and the little Sekonic is pretty much industry standard. If I'm using PWs, it'll also trigger my test pops as well which is a massive bonus.

I can probably count the number of times I've used it to measure ambient light on the fingers of one hand...
 
HoppyUK said:
What do you want it for? They're very useful for setting up multiple studio lights, but for regular outdoor stuff, I bet you'll use it a few times and that'll be the end of an expensive experiment.
Click to expand...

I was probably a bit hasty with this reply, and rather overlooked your four flash guns! With multiple flash units of any kind, a meter is very useful and will make setting up much quicker, if you know you want say a background light one stop down and perhaps a back-light one stop up - that kind of thing. And even if you maybe don't use it much after sorting out a few basic set-ups, you'll have learned a lot :thumbs:

Interestingly though, this new video from Chase Jarvis on his essential outfit, including two flash guns, makes no mention of a meter. He has tons of kit, though TBF his work probably doesn't require flash that often http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/0...ource=news-list&utm_medium=text&ref=title_0_0
 
I do a bit of studio shooting as a hobbyist and like using a light meter. often I don't out of laziness, think it's a handy addition to your lighting setup.
often i'm rushed though and don't have the chance
I know one seasoned expert that doesn't use them since digital as he can judge everything on the fly. I'm not ever going to be that good though!
 
I have a cheapie flash meter, and a very very old ambient meter, neither of which get much use. I am contemplating a decent meter though.
 
DizMatt said:
I do a bit of studio shooting as a hobbyist and like using a light meter. often I don't out of laziness, think it's a handy addition to your lighting setup.
often i'm rushed though and don't have the chance
I know one seasoned expert that doesn't use them since digital as he can judge everything on the fly. I'm not ever going to be that good though!
Click to expand...

Sorry DizMatt, but I can't agree with this. I personally don't have time NOT to use one. Using a light meter saves an incredible amount of time.
 
I shoot in groups, so often for laziness people just ask me what settings I was using and move on.
however, I think you're right. The LCD on the back of the camera often lies! and if you want to get a certain ratio on a model's face then you need to meter each side etc.
I've bought the item, so I might as well get the most out of it and learn/improve.
 
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