Do I need an expensive light meter, or will a basic incident meter be enough?
Asked 1/21/2012
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I want to learn lighting better and measure differences between bulbs as well as changing daylight at sunrise/sunset. I don’t find my camera’s built-in meter very helpful for understanding the actual amount of light or how it falls on a subject. I shoot with a Panasonic GH1 and Canon 600D, for both stills and video.
I’m considering buying a handheld light meter. Do I need to spend around $600 for a more advanced model, or would a less expensive meter be enough for learning and practical use? I’m especially wondering how useful incident vs. reflected metering is, and whether paying more now would be more “future proof.”
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
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The 308 is a good incident light/flash meter, and it's about all you need for that (unless you need a built-in PocketWizard transmitter and/or need the meter to do simple lighting ratio calculations for you). It's only a slight pain to exchange the Lumidisc (flat for measuring individual lights) and Lumisphere (a hemisphere for the overall exposure reading). There are parts you can lose -- the 358 and 758 both use a retractable sphere instead of changing parts.
The reflected light reading is about the same as you'd get from your camera set to center-weighted with a normal lens, so its utility as a reflected light meter really depends on whether your camera has a meter at all. With a DSLR, you'd be better off going TTL, but if you ever decide to use a medium format film camera or a press/view camera, it may come in handy.
The only real shortcoming is spot metering. If you can find the spot metering attachment (I don't know if it's currently offered, but the one for the discontinued 328 should fit since they use the same sphere/disc), it's a five degree spot (not one) and there is viewfinder parallax to deal with -- I found it was very difficult to get a reading off of a specific part of a scene with the 328 and wound up using a Pentax Spotmeter 5 instead.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
14y ago
0
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For most learning and general use, you probably do not need a $600 meter.
A basic incident/flash meter such as the Sekonic L-308 is widely considered enough for measuring light falling on a subject, comparing sources, and setting exposure. That’s the main advantage over your camera meter, which is a reflected meter and mainly tells you about light bouncing off the scene.
The more expensive models mainly add convenience and specialty features: things like a 1° spot meter, built-in radio triggering, or extra lighting-ratio functions. Those are useful for specific workflows, but not necessary just to learn lighting or meter stills/video exposure.
Also, if you already use a DSLR or mirrorless camera, the reflected-reading function on a handheld meter may not add much over your camera’s own meter unless you specifically need spot metering or work with film/manual systems.
So the sensible approach is: buy a good basic incident meter now, and only move up later if you discover you truly need spot metering or advanced studio features. That’s usually better value than paying for features you may never use.
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