Looking for a light meter

[Radman]

Hello,

The old light meter is tired and cannot get batteries for it any more. I am an avid black and white photographer (zone system) and do some studio work with strobes etc....also do an occasional wedding. I am looking at the Sekonic L558 or L758.......does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Thanks,
Greg

[ouch]

Hello,

The old light meter is tired and cannot get batteries for it any more. I am an avid black and white photographer (zone system) and do some studio work with strobes etc....also do an occasional wedding. I am looking at the Sekonic L558 or L758.......does anyone have any experience with either of these?

Thanks,
Greg

I have an old Gossen Luna Star F which amazes me, but I'm not familiar with the ones you mentioned. I'm certain you'll get some good suggestions.

[Radman]

Perhaps these are too new for folks to have tried them yet

[dpm]

I have the Sekonic L-358. It's super simple to use. The higher models have some really cool features, but unless you're really using them you can save a bundle of money getting the 358. I believe the higher-end models main feature is being able to customize its reading to match your cameras exposure profile. In practice, I find my 358 to be much more accurate so I end up trusting it. You can shift exposure range to match your camera's meter if you want but I can't figure why you would do that.

I do think there are some benefits to the more expensive meters when dealing with zone system, but it's not a technique I use so I can't offer advice.

My business partner and I have done a couple weddings with the 358 and a whibal card and find it to be absolutely perfect. In the studio, I've found getting exact ratios and such to not be as useful as I had hoped since we're shooting digital and sometimes (most times?) you get the look you want (deliberately or accidentally) from breaking the rules.

[Sabledog]

I have a Sekonic L-718 that's been versatile, excellent and reliable for the past 12 years or so....I've used it with strobes, portraits, medium and large format, etc.
If those models are anywhere close (I don't know the models off hand to know if I know them :blushing:), they'll be great.

[Sabledog]

I just looked at the 758, very cool! I have noticed the exposure off compared to my digital, but it's easy enough to adjust (unlike a 4x5!). I guess they've come a long way since i've last looked at them! :w00t:

[Randy]

For that kind of money you should be able to try each of them out before committing to one or the other, unless you're buying online I suppose. Personally, I've never used anything more advanced than a Minolta Flash meter III, but I old fashioned like that. I like wooden cameras and such - I'm just not big into the newer equipment (I mean Edward Weston didn't even use a meter at all, right? :biggrin:)

If you can't find these locally, I'd try to talk with someplace like Calumet where you can work with them on a sale to see if they'll let you have a 30 day return policy since it's a big ticket item. That way you can try each out and see first hand which one does what you want. In my experience, I'm not happy with equipment until I can test it in the field, and these are a tad bit more than pocket change...

- R

[maierar]

I worked 20+ years as a professional photographer (commercial and social) and was never happy with any light meter other than Minoltas. I still have 3 Minolta meters. This opinion was shared by most (not all) of my ppa colleagues.

[Rei]

I worked 20+ years as a professional photographer (commercial and social) and was never happy with any light meter other than Minoltas. I still have 3 Minolta meters. This opinion was shared by most (not all) of my ppa colleagues.

I have a minolta meter as well.

[Haiku]

If you do a search on the PopPhoto's website, you'll get some well informed reviews.

They seem to like the Sekonic L-758DR. It seems that one can download the profile of one's camera into the thing and thereby customize the ability of the meter to read light in accordance with the way one's camera's sensor does.

See here:

http://www.popphoto.com/lighting/4401/review-sekonic-l-758dr-digitalmaster-lightmeter.html

If you use film, this may not be a feature that means anything to you. It doesn't to me, but I can see its value for digital shooters.

[kato1]

The Sekonic 358 will do just about everything most people need for basic studio lighting work, and I would not recommend going below this model.

The 758DR is specifically designed for top flight use and alows calibration of the light meter with the cameras light meter. This is because not all cameras meter the same, not even the same model from the same manufacturer. As with all things the manufacturers operate to within specified tolerences, not unusually 1/3 of a stop.

There is quite a significant price difference between the two models and unless you really need the extra features of the 758 I personally wouldn't spend the extra cash.

[Radman]

I am leaning toward a 558 as it has built in spot metering that will come in very useful for b&w zone system (simplified) work

[MikeLip]

That looks like a good choice for zone system work. It's good to see some traditionalists here :) I am thinking about going large format (5x7 - currently the biggest I go is 645), and probably the best way to go there would be the zone system.