Sekonic 308s

jockwav

jockwav

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James (Retired)
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I got this meter ages ago brand new so i thought i would mess around with it tonight using my 430 ex11.
I had the flash to one side of the wife & the camera in front of her,i got her to point the meter at the camera & the reading was 1/180 F2.0.
It really overexposed,i got her to point the meter at the flash & the results were the same.overexposing,any help appreciated.:shrug:

The meter & camera are set to ISO 100 & both on manual.:bonk:
 
Are you shooting ettl? The preflash might be giving you a false reading on the meter.
 
As said in my post the camera & meter are set on manual & the dome is over the light sensor.:shrug:
 
Is the meter set at 1/3 stops and is it set in flash mode? not sure what you mean by meter is in manual mode.
 
The meter is set at 1/3 stops,what i meant to say was the flash & the camera are set to manual.:)
 
jockwav said:
The meter is set at 1/3 stops,what i meant to say was the flash & the camera are set to manual.:)
Click to expand...

The flash has three manual modes IIRC (only used that meter once) Ambient, Flash corded & Flash un-corded.

Not really understanding what's going on here as these are pretty full-proof meters so at a loss to suggest what the problem is - sorry.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul,the meter is set to flash un-corded.:bang:
 
Just double check there is no exposure comp dialed in on the camera (i've done this myself in the past and wondered why pics where over exposed) if thats OK I think im out of ideas
 
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apollo said:
Just double check there is no exposure comp dialed in on the camera (i've done this myself in the past and wondered why pics where over exposed) if thats OK I think im out of ideas
Click to expand...

Nope its not i,m afraid but anyway the meter is giving like F2.0 when i know it will overexpose before i even turn the camera on.:bang:
 
Have you tried adjusting the flash output to see if it changes the reading or if it stays the same as this would indicate a fault with the meter
 
apollo said:
Have you tried adjusting the flash output to see if it changes the reading or if it stays the same as this would indicate a fault with the meter
Click to expand...
Not tried that yet,will give that a go tomorrow night.(y)
 
As your wife was holding the meter. Did she hold it next to her face and not some distance out in front of her. This would cause an incorrect reading.
Might be a silly question but just a thought.
 
The meter was touching her chin.:)
I think i will just put it back in the drawer as it is still like new not being used really & go back to the way used to do it.:shrug::LOL:
 
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Small point... If the camera is under her chin, is that area in shadow? Not that I can see that to be anywhere enough to cause this big a problem.

Big point... Are the camera and meter set to the same ISO? I know that your first post says that they are, but could the camera be set say to 1000 ISO instead of 100?
 
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Garry Edwards said:
Are the camera and meter set to the same ISO? I know that your first post says that they are, but could the camera be set say to 1000 ISO instead of 100?
Click to expand...

Another point, is the camera set to auto ISO, this happened to me recently, not sure about Canon, but on Nikon, when you set the ISO to 200, the next bar down on the menu is for auto ISO, i had set mine to 200, but hadn't noticed underneath, it was still on auto, as a lot of the time, it is, i wondered what the hell was going on when all my pics were blown, then i took another look and realised, what a plonker :LOL: :bonk:
 
The meter is touching the front of her chin pointing to the camera not in shadow,the meter & camera are set to ISO 100,thanks Garry.(y)

The camera does not have an auto iso setting so its not that either.(y)

So i don,t think i will bother with it.:bonk:
 
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How is the battery power?You could try removing the battery for a few minutes then re-inserting,this should reset the meter,may not do anything but nothing tried etc
 
Have done all the usual stuff.:)
 
Have you tried it on the ambient setting to see if it's reading ambient light correctly?
 
At last,i have reset everything & started from scratch,i took this photo with the 430ex11 to the right & just resized it,converted to jpeg,all seems to be working fine now.:)(y)


IMG_3583 by jockwav2009 (JBP@Photography), on Flickr
 
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So, what did you do differently?
 
Well i took the battery out of the meter,then back in again & checked the settings on it carefully & it all seems fine,not sure what went wrong.
I was at the stage of just putting it in a drawer & leaving it there,cheers Garry.:)(y)
 
Glad you got that sorted. The 308 is a great meter. I've had mine for about 15 years now. I've never felt the need to get anything else. I very rarely need to spot in the studio, and therefore see no reason to change. It's never let me down, and one battery seems to last for months and months... even with heavy use.
 
Cheers David,yes it is a really good meter & it does me for whatever i need,very pleased with it,maybe i will get some use out of it now.:)(y)
 
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