# Light meter



## kevinfoto (Feb 3, 2013)

I have a canon 5d mark 2. Is it necessary to buy a light meter?


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## KmH (Feb 3, 2013)

Your Canon is only capable of metering reflected light.

Hand held light meters can meter incident light, reflected light, and strobed light.

If you want to meter incident or strobed, then yes, you will need to buy a light meter.


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## Josh66 (Feb 3, 2013)

If you plan on using flash, a proper meter is indispensable.  I love my Sekonic L-358 - dead on accurate every time...

If you're not going to be using flash, the meter that is built into your camera will be fine.


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## kevinfoto (Feb 3, 2013)

Which one should I buy? I don't want to spend much??


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## cgipson1 (Feb 3, 2013)

Your camera will not meter flash (except if it is a TTL capable flash.. which studio lights are not.) You do not HAVE to have a light meter.. but it does make things quicker sometimes. Practice and chimping will get you in the ballpark really quickly. 

Have you read anything on flash? Based on your questions, it doesn't sound like it. Please check out Strobist

in particular:   Strobist: Lighting 101


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## KmH (Feb 3, 2013)

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...f-camera-flash-triggering-power-settings.html


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## Josh66 (Feb 3, 2013)

The Sekonic L-358 seems to be pretty much the "go to" meter.  I have to say, I have never had an issue with mine.

It can do reflected light (just like the meter in your camera), incident light (the light 'falling on' the subject), and flash.  I never really use it for reflected light, but for incident and flash, it's great.

I'm not going to say that it's the only meter you should consider, but I will say that you will not regret buying it...


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## dbvirago (Feb 3, 2013)

I've had a polaris for several years and it's given me good results, and it's much cheaper than the Sekonic. Having said that, the Sekonic has much more flexibility. For instance, in flash mode, I can set the ISO and sync speed and it gives me the aperture. I can't set my preferred aperture and get the shutter speed or ISO.  Before that I had a used Minolta which was even cheaper. Without exception, anything I have bought because it was cheaper than the 'go-to' item, I have eventually replaced.

As others have said, if you aren't going to use flash, you can get my with the camera meter. Even if you are, with a little practice and chimping you can get by without a meter, but it makes things easier, quicker and consistently accurate.


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## KmH (Feb 3, 2013)

Without the OP stating a budget, we don't know how much we can spend.


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## TCampbell (Feb 3, 2013)

I'll mention three and describe the differences:

The "budget" meter I'd recommend is the Sekonic L-308s (I think it's just over $200-230).  It meters incident light but I think it's also their lowest-end meter which is ALSO capable of metering flash.  So if you're using studio lights (no TTL) and are wondering... how do I know how much flash power my flashes are pumping out when I can't meter them in the camera and and I can't meter them with an incident meter because they only flash for an instant?  Some light meters (such as this one) contain a flash mode.  In that mode the meter waits for a big surge of light (which is recognizes as the flash) and it then reports the exposure settings based on the amount of light present when the flashes fired... rather than the amount of light it can see "right now".  Apart from that, it's a fairly basic meter.  

The "popular" meter is the Sekonic L-358.  It's about $100 more and there are options for it... (more on that in a moment).  It adds the ability to help you find the median meter reading for an exposure.  For example... if you're shooting a portrait and the lighting is coming from one side, you want to meter the "highlight" side of the face and also meter the "shadow" side of the face, then find the exposure in the middle.  This ensures that you don't just expose for the highlight and let the shadows clip nor expose for the shadows and let the highlights blow out.  You could do this with the L-308 (the lower cost meter) but you'd have to take the meter readings and do the math in your head.  This meter does the math for you.  

The other really nice thing about the L-358 is that it can calculate and display flash-contribution.  This is very useful for mixed lighting photography such as daylight flash where you've got a lot of ambient light as well as flash.  It's nice to use flash in these situations to soften the harshness of the shadows but the trick is you want the flash to be just a little less powerful than the ambient light.  If they're too powerful then they'll cast their own shadows and if they're not powerful enough then the shadows will still be pretty strong.  I tend to like a flash contribution of around 30%.  The meter works as it does in flash mode except it meters the ambient light, waits for the flash to fire, and compares the two.  It tells how you much of the light is coming from the flash (as a percentage of total light).  E.g. a flash contribution of 50% means that the flashes are putting out the same amount of light as the ambient light.  30% means that the ambient light is providing 70% of the light and the flash is providing 30%, etc.  VERY USEFUL for improving flash photography.

I mentioned you can get options for it.  They make an optional module which is compatible with PocketWizard radio flashes.  The meter can trigger the flashes (which makes it much easier for you to walk into the subject lighting and force the flashes in the room to fire even though you're not near them.

Though it is an incident meter, you can buy an optional spot/reflected meter for landscape use with this meter.

The high end meter by Sekonic is the L-758.  They make models which include PocketWizard radio trigger or you can get it without.  It does everything the L-358 does but the spot/reflected meter is built-in.  It also has the ability to create a camera profile of your specific camera (but this requires that you buy or rent a special test target.)  Once the camera is profiled, it knows the dynamic range of YOUR specific camera.  When it meters it displays a line with several arrows on it.  It displays the minimum and maximum point of your camera's dynamic range and then shows the metering point of each meter reading you took along with it's recommended exposure.   This makes it pretty easy to tell if your camera is going to clip.

I started with the affordable Sekonic L-308, but eventually upgraded to the L-758.


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## Josh66 (Feb 3, 2013)

I disagree with chimping being easier and faster.  Yes, it will work, but not faster.  I regularly use my L-358 on film, where you just can't chimp (I don't have any Polaroid backs) - and I am always confident that it will be right the first time, and every time - and I have yet to be proven wrong.

If I am ever not 100% on what settings I should use, I break the meter out.  Once I take a test reading, I can change anything (ISO, shutter speed, aperture) and everything else automagically changes to give me the right settings.  I mostly use if for flash, but it sees a lot of incident use too.


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