Lightmeters

milou

milou

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Must admit extremely tempted by the new Sekonic L-308S as reviewed by Lee Frost in this month's Outdoor Photography.

He says
In all modes the L308s can be used to measure incident light (the light falling on your subject) and reflected light (the light bouncing off your subject). Your camera's integral metering system measures reflected light, and I'm sure you will have discovered by now that it can be fooled into underexposure if the subject has high reflectancy eg a snow scene or overexposure if your subject has low reflectancy eg a black cat in a coal cellar.

For this reason you're going to use the L308s to measure incident light whenever possible as the readings you get won't be influenced by subject reflectancy and therefore more likely to be accurate.
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Anyone else use a lightmeter?
 
I've got an analogue Sekonic meter I've had a few years. I do fancy a good digital one I must admit - one that does flash metering as well preferably.

Momey money money! :eyesup:
 
money indeed! wouldnt mind a lightmeter, but i think i should work out how to use the camera first...
 
don't often use a meter although I've got one in the bag but I do often use a grey card. It's handy but you've got to be confident the light conditions are similar for the shot you want to take and where you are with the card.
 
Jessops used to sell their own brand light meter for about £20 which did both reflected and incident. I have one here and though I never use it it's perfectly good for the job.

I see the L308 on eBay for £97 inc del.
 
Steep said:
Jessops used to sell their own brand light meter for about £20 which did both r
I see the L308 on eBay for £97 inc del.
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Gizza link then! :D

Does it do flash?
 
You mean you want me to go all the way back into eBay, do a search for light meter scroll down the page to the bit that says Brand New SEKONIC Flash Light Meter L-308B II L308B2 just to get you the link and then...then...check for you if it can handle flash as well???? :p
 
Steep said:
You mean you want me to go all the way back into eBay, do a search for light meter scroll down the page to the bit that says Brand New SEKONIC Flash Light Meter L-308B II L308B2 just to get you the link and then...then...check for you if it can handle flash as well???? :p
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Search HISTORY? :)

I'll check it out. :D
 
!summon handbags! (It does do flash btw)

Cheers for the replies - methinks I'll keep using the camera metering atm. My main concern was for landscape and to avoid blown-out skies etc. I think the best bet is for me to meter for the foregound and then the sky and choose an exposure twixt the both.

e.g. http://www.pbase.com/milou/image/46331304 - I had a lot of trouble with this type of photo.
 
Try bracketing, that way you get 2 shots exposed over and under, either side of your metered one. If you shoot raw you get even more lattitude and you will save all that money not buying the meter. :)
 
Take two shots.

Expose one shot for the sky and the other for the foreground, overlay the two images with the sky exposure as the top layer, erase the foreground out of this layer (carefully).

You should now have a perfectly exposed image.:thumb:

You need to remember that the cameras light meter can be fooled.
Thats why pros tend to have a lightmeter in their kit.
 
Cheers

I suppose I could always use my ND grad filters too [and use t'cash for a flash gun].
 
If you are going to spend the money on an external meter then make it worth while and spend a little more on one that does spot metering too.

Although if you have a built in meter on the camera and especially if it's digi then there really is no need, unless you want another gadget to slow down your picture taking. ;)

If I'm shooting somewhere with film and the EOS, I'll often just use the canon for metering and fire off a shot to look at the histogram/preview.

Although, if you want to look the business you can't beat emerging from under the darkcloth and looking at the meter with a knowing nod. :eyesup: :LOL:
 
dazzajl said:
Although, if you want to look the business you can't beat emerging from under the darkcloth and looking at the meter with a knowing nod. :eyesup: :LOL:
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:LOL:

I dug my analogue meter out the other day and took some incident light shots with it and then the same shots with camera metering. There wasn't a great deal of difference except the light meter tended to be slightly under- exposing and the shots were marginally better for it. I couldn't honestly say that the same thing couldn't have been achieved by simple levels adjustment in post processing though.

The problem with camera meters is they take reflective readings and can be fooled by snow and beach scenes etc. No big deal I suppose as long as you know to bracket or compensate. I still look at meters but I'm tending to think I could get something else for the money I'd be more likely to use.
 
The problem with camera meters is they take reflective readings and can be fooled by snow and beach scenes etc
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But as you know it doesn't take long to get to grips with how the shot is going to come out once you have a simple understanding of how the meter sees.

That is one of the main wonders of the digi camera, it lets us all experiment for free and see the results instantly. :D

As you say, for most people here there are probably far more worthy ways to lose some cash than an external meter. In fact you should all paypal your meter funds to me. ;)
 
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