Excited about new light meter! Aperture priority!

[StepheKoontz]

For decades I've been using a Sekonic L-308B and found it to be a super accurate meter, compact and very easy to use. The only thing, that I just learned to accept, it is a shutter priority meter. You set the shutter speed, it shows you the fstop. And then I always have to change to the fstop I am shooting at, to then read the shutter speed. I have an even older Sekonic L-328 that works the same way and just assumed all digital meters work like this. Obviously for flash metering this makes sense, but for ambient light readings, especially for a mostly landscape shooter where I know what ~fstop I want, it wasn't ideal.

Well I discovered Sekonic has an update to this same meter, a L308X-U with aperture priority mode! It's awesome to use. You set the fstop you plan to shoot at, it shows the measured shutter speed and the % you need to offset the fstop for perfect exposure. As you all know, most of the old mechanical shutters are in one stop steps and infinitely variable fstops, so this mode is ideal. But there is also a custom setting that allows you to have it display 1/2 and 1/3 stop shutter speed measurements for cameras that allow that. It has a shutter priority mode as well if you want that. It also has a backlight on the display for night shooting plus always has the ISO displayed, which is nice. This likely is all just a firmware update, but it's worth buying a new meter to get this feature to me.

I'm just really excited to finally get a meter that works with me after all these years, instead of me having to work around the meter.

 

[davela]

Looks like an interesting meter. I've always loved the the Sekonic incident meter series - high quality and reliable.

 

[Ariston]

I wonder why the other one is shutter priority...

 

[Sirius Glass]

I wonder why the other one is shutter priority...

Most of the time I use EV, but when I use time and aperture I prefer shutter priority. With shutter priority, I have not problem converting to aperture priority in my head.

 

[AgX]

To me that all is too complex.

 

[awty]

To me that all is too complex.

Its just doubling or halving.
The old dial style of adjusting the dial to the needle is the easiest to read, that way you have all the info in a glance.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Most of the time I use EV, but when I use time and aperture I prefer shutter priority. With shutter priority, I have not problem converting to aperture priority in my head.

To me that all is too complex.

Its just doubling or halving.
The old dial style of adjusting the dial to the needle is the easiest to read, that way you have all the info in a glance.

If it is too complex just change the numbers from base10 to binary. That way you can just left shift or right shift the numbers to multiply or divide respectively.

 

[StepheKoontz]

If it is too complex just change the numbers from base10 to binary. That way you can just left shift or right shift the numbers to multiply or divide respectively.

Yeah that's not complicated I'll just enjoy my new meter where I can focus on shooting instead of math calculations in my head.

 

[awty]

Most of the time I use EV, but when I use time and aperture I prefer shutter priority. With shutter priority, I have not problem converting to aperture priority in my head.

Surprised your using EV's instead of foot candles.

 

[MattKing]

Glad you have available to you a meter that appeals to you.
I realize that all the hand meters I have ever used don't display the shutter speed and aperture directly. They all display a single value, which I line up to a mark, and then read on concentric dials the combinations of shutter speeds and apertures that work.
As that is what I am used to, that is what I prefer.

 

[AgX]

Its just doubling or halving.
The old dial style of adjusting the dial to the needle is the easiest to read, that way you have all the info in a glance.

If it is too complex just change the numbers from base10 to binary. That way you can just left shift or right shift the numbers to multiply or divide respectively.

But why make life complicated, compared to a nulling & dial scale display?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Surprised your using EV's instead of foot candles.

My Hasselblads use EVs and I love it.

 

[etn]

My Hasselblads use EVs and I love it.

EV is so great and convenient on Hasselblads! really thought out system, with the interlock and everything. I miss it on all my other cameras.

 

[dourbalistar]

Another fan of the EV on the Hasselblad, very easy one-handed operation. My Rolleicord V also uses EV, but since the aperture and shutter speed selectors are on opposite sides of the lens, I find it less ergonomic and more clunky in practice.

 

[MattKing]

My Kodak Retina IIIc also uses EVs.

 

[abruzzi]

My Kodak Retina IIIc also uses EVs.

yup, its a useful system.

I have several handheld meters. My most frequently used is a Sekonic L-508. It does aperture priority, but strangely, it is disabled by default. You have to enable it with a DIP switch. In the end, I really don't care if I have it in shutter or aperture priority mode. I just take the reading, then spin the wheel until I find a pair of values I like.

On LF, I use EV mode since it allows me to use the 1 degree spot, aim at the brightest, save it in memory 1, aim at the darkest, save in memory two, then aim at the subject or somewhere in the middle and take the reading (there is no memory 3.) Then on the "analog" graph on the bottom I see the three dots for the three readings. Then scroll the wheel to place the three dots where I want themread the f-stop of the middle, and the displayed shutter speed.

 

[jvo]

what a wonderful thread... it provides little in terms of photography, and a lot in terms of human nature. each example given is "easy" to the user, while everyone else's methodology is "harder", more complex or confusing. very nice.

c'est la vie!!!