Do i need a flash/light meter?

riu

riu

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steve
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Advice please,

i have just purchased a lencarta smart kit from Garry. Today i went into my local Jessops shop (as i have £100 of vouchers) and asked if i needed a meter for home studio work.
The reply i got was " in the days of old you would, but not today, but we still sell them at our leeds shop mainly to students who are using film".

So do i need one, and if so will £100 or so get me one that will do what i want it to do. I am a big believer in buy only once, so if £100 not enough how much do i need to spend?

regards
 
you only needed one in the old days of film because you had no feedback from the camera what the lights looked like. now you can use the camera meter, chimp adjust and repeat. some will argue for, and some against using a meter in digital..listen to both sides and decide.
 
If you want to get it right yes, as it allows you to measure lightfall from individual lights and a cumulative overall reading, as for what to go for have a look at the Sekonic range.

I am sure one of the lighting guru's will be along to share their knowledge shortly.
 
I have the sekonic 358 and use it about 20-30% of the time I shoot with flash. When using 3 or more lights I find it very helpful, with one or two I would just make do with the camera display/histogram
 
They're not essential for working with flash but they're nice to have. They just make getting the shot setup right quicker, if you're working with paying clients then I'd get one or if you just don't like working things out yourself. ;)
 
I wouldn't dream of using studio lights without :nono: I want to know the exact ratio between the lights, measure the fall-off rate, check coverage consistency...but perhaps that's just me.

"Chimp adjusting" :shrug: didn't know what that even meant - had to look it up. OK so in the old days I had a Polaroid back, but the meter was always the starting point. You can set everything without even having the model present - unless of course you don't even know where they are going to stand :thinking:

Flash meter is a tool, it just makes things easier - you don't need one, but...I'd turn into a chimp without mine ;)

Paul
 
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