Does a handheld light meter make sense if I use off-camera flashes in TTL mode?
Asked 8/13/2015
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I have a Sekonic L-478DR light meter and usually run my off-camera flashes in TTL. Is a handheld meter still useful in that setup, or is it mainly for manual flash? If it can help with TTL, how would you use the meter readings alongside flash exposure compensation?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
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If you are using your flashes in full auto TTL, then there is no point in having a LightMeter, however, if you wish to have better control and more accurate tone, colour, brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights, then manual is the way to go and the Sekonic Lightmeter is a great tool to have.
Apologies if I happen to go over anything too basic with my answer, but the metering systems are measuring light differently.
TTL is measuring the light that is reflecting off the subject An external light meter is measuring light that is directly hitting the subject, thus the reason for the above mentioned points
In general, both sets of metering will result in different exposure settings and ultimately, different results.
A good example of seeing the difference will be to expose for a subject that has both, high levels of white and high levels of Black. Lets say, two friends, one wearing all black and one wearing all white. If you spot for white, the black will be too dark and if you expose for black, then vice versa; the white will be blown.
You can compensate for that by ensuring that you are using Evaluate metering, but at the end of the day, it is only evaluative.
With the Sekonic light meter, the white invercone when held near the subject and facing towards the direction of the camera, will break up the direct light inside this cone hitting the reflector behind the cone to provide correct exposure settings.
Originally by user34085. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user34085
10y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Mostly, a handheld meter is most useful when you control flash manually. With TTL, the camera/flash system is already metering and adjusting flash output automatically, so a separate light meter is often redundant.
The key difference is what they measure:
- TTL flash metering measures light reflected from the subject.
- A handheld incident meter measures the light falling on the subject.
Because of that, they can suggest different exposures and produce different results, especially with subjects or scenes that reflect unusually bright or dark tones.
So if you stay in full TTL, a light meter usually won’t add much beyond helping you understand the scene and compare results. Where it can still help is as a reference: if the meter suggests, for example, f/8 but TTL is effectively giving you something closer to f/11, you could try adjusting flash exposure compensation and compare the outcome.
In practice, if your goal is consistency and precise control over tones, contrast, shadows, and highlights, manual flash plus the Sekonic is the stronger workflow.
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