Hi OSP,

Happy Memorial Day! Well, I'm breaking down and need to purchase a light meter. Given the vast experience of this group which light meter would you recommend? Thank you in advance for your help and I look forward to reading your responses. Be blessed!

i have used a few different ones.

The sekonicL-558r and the minolta IVF

Really it all depends what features you are looking for the sekonic is great if you use pocket wizards as it is wireless. If you dont use pocket wizards and wireless freedom is not needed Then I dont know. I do know that i am selling the minolta that i have as i have not used it since i started work in the studio and with pocket wizard.

Let me know if you might be interested in it and I will get you a price. I would be a good deal.

Jason

Hi, Sam.

What do plan to do with? Metering just ambient light or flash light? In Studio, outside, both? For metering off camera flashes or strobes?

For all of them, I can recommend the Sekonic L-358 with optional built in radio transmitter. So you can meter and trigger flashheads, strobes and off camera flashes when those are equipped with Pocket Wizards.

For beginners, I recommend the Sheperd Polaris light meter.

Another question: How much money you want to spend?

More about Metering:

http://tmrdesign.com/video/sekonic.html

Mario

I totally agree with the sekonic L-358. I own one and love it. Of course you'll spend about $200-250 but its worth it.

+1 on the L-358. I have it and love it. I don't have the pocket wizards but I do have the Calumet Litelinks and I can trigger these easily.

If you are not intending to measure flash you can save money and go for a lesser expensive one.

I also chose the L-358 and have been very happy with it. You may want to take a look at this article on flash meters (free registration required):
http://shootsmarter.com/infocenter/wc005.html

+1 on the L-358!!
It's all there!
Candy

L-358 here too. Works great!

I love my Sekonic L-358

Sam,

Not trying to talk you out of something Sam, but do you really need it? Call me man, and let's talk.


Charles

Another vote for the L-358.

I got my I didn't think I'd use it too much but surprisingly its become part one of my basic don't-leave-home-without-it piece of gear. If you care about getting exposures right the first (as opposed to messing around in Camera RAW) do yourself a favour and buy one. I got mine from eBay at $200 CDN!

I have used a Minolta flash meter 4 for many years and it has never let me down.
If I was buying one now I would get the Sekonic because of the communication with the pocket wizards and the spot metering feature. I still use my hand held incident meter more than the reflective meter in the camera. If you forget your meter now its not the end of the world but a meter sure helps when setting lighting ratios with studio strobes.

5D is the best light meter ive owned ;-)

I was waiting for the "your camera is your meter" comment. Depends on the camera's meter, but that's another discussion altogether.

Love my Sekonic L-358. Got it on that auction site super cheap. It's my best buddy and makes me feel very powerful... No fussing with LCD screens. If my meter's on it I've got it and I'm movin' on. And I don't hate that it makes me look a little more like a pro than uncle Ned.

Sam, we have a very nice meter for sale. PM me if you are interested

Love my Sekonic L-358 as well

L-358 does the job well and now the prices have dropped a lil bit

Wow, OSP Rocks! Thanks everyone for your help, I really appreciate it. I'm in the midst of editing so I will respond individually a little later. Peace!

I love my L-358, but really only use it for manual flash metering.

If I'm shooting dynamic subjects I refer to my D200's RGB histogram - I've found the combined channel histogram unreliable.

My first meter was the L-308BII (I think that was the model - the entry-level digital meter by Sekonic). It worked very well and was nice and compact. Honestly, it would serve my needs completely.