Metering with an external light meter for strobes / flash

[Steven Lee]

Some background: my flash photography experience has been quite narrow: I've only been using Canon's eTTL metering with their Speedlight flashes and triggers.

Now I want to dabble in studio portraiture using my Hasselblad system. And while my primary body is the 503cx with TTL support, I won't be using it. Instead, I acquired a couple of Westcott strobes with a trigger and have been using them in manual mode with a digital camera as a meter. The results are fantastic! However, this metering method is cumbersome and slow. So I am looking for an external flash meter.

Now, here goes my question:

The meter I am looking at is Gossen DigiFlash 2. I have the non-flash version of this meter which I love. Reading the manual online, I see that it has a setting for setting the sync speed. Why? The flash duration is always shorter than any of the speeds on Hassy lenses. Having to adjust that setting every time I change the shutter speed would be incredibly annoying. What am I missing?

Thanks.

 

[Chan Tran]

The answer to why the meter has setting for shutter speed is the same answer as to why you change your shutter speed while shooting flash? You change your shutter speed when shooting flash to control the amount of ambient light vs flash and thus the meter can meter the combined light level of flash and ambient too.
Note: Cheap meters don't have setting for shutter speed or for only a few speeds.

 

[Steven Lee]

@Chan Tran Thank you, makes sense! Looks like this is not a good meter then... Two physical buttons is just not enough to control so many variables via repeated presses and long-presses. My DigiSix version of it uses the same buttons and I don't bother changing ISO for this reason.

 

[MattKing]

I'm happy using my Digiflash for the relatively small amount of flash metering I do - but then I also don't mind adjusting the ISO on it either. I don't find it necessary to make that adjustment frequently.
With flash metering of manual flashes, I don't usually need to worry much about changing the shutter speed frequently, because the ambient light levels I work with are consistent, and I usually change things by moving or adjusting the flashes themselves in order to get what I want.
The one thing I do miss is a flash trigger button - used with corded flash trigger. Some of the higher end meters offer that. But then, they also offer interfacing with some of the higher end remote flash triggering options like Pocket Wizards.

 

[Chan Tran]

@Chan Tran Thank you, makes sense! Looks like this is not a good meter then... Two physical buttons is just not enough to control so many variables via repeated presses and long-presses. My DigiSix version of it uses the same buttons and I don't bother changing ISO for this reason.

But if you don't change your ISO or shutter speed on the camera then you don't need to change them on the meter either.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Some background: my flash photography experience has been quite narrow: I've only been using Canon's eTTL metering with their Speedlight flashes and triggers.

Now I want to dabble in studio portraiture using my Hasselblad system. And while my primary body is the 503cx with TTL support, I won't be using it. Instead, I acquired a couple of Westcott strobes with a trigger and have been using them in manual mode with a digital camera as a meter. The results are fantastic! However, this metering method is cumbersome and slow. So I am looking for an external flash meter.

Now, here goes my question:

The meter I am looking at is Gossen DigiFlash 2. I have the non-flash version of this meter which I love. Reading the manual online, I see that it has a setting for setting the sync speed. Why? The flash duration is always shorter than any of the speeds on Hassy lenses. Having to adjust that setting every time I change the shutter speed would be incredibly annoying. What am I missing?

Thanks.

You don't have to set the sync speed every time again;set it once and he meter will remember it. The sync speed is of some importance to the meter because it is capable of reading flash and ambient where thesyncdelay coms into play.

 

[wiltw]

Per the Digiflas 2 user manual:

2.3 Flash measurement (only DIGIFLASH 2)​

2.3.1 Setting the sync speed (measuring time)  Press the Function button for selecting the function „flash measurement“. A small stroke in front of the sync time will appear in the display to signal „flash metering“.  Keep the Function button pressed down until the ok signal sounds. The display will now show the sync speed blinking.  Use the measuring key to input the desired sync speed, in the range of 1 sec to1/500 sec. and confirm by pressing the function button.​

2.3.2 Measuring  Push the measuring key. The DIGIFLASH 2 is ready to measure for 30 sec, as long as „F“ in the display is on.  Trigger the flash.  Transfer the value measured from the display to the window in the printed scales above and set it precisely under the indicator line.  Read the f/stop in the upper part of the scale opposite the sync speed you had preselected (for 1/90 read between 1/60 and 1/125).​

Since the Hasselblad has leaf shutter lenses, it can shoot with flash at ANY chosen shutter speed, making the flexibility of the Digiflash 2 a good pairing.

• By use of a higher shutter speed you can make the ambient light to be less of a contributor to the overall exposure, vs. the flash output contribution...for example you may wish to supress the brightness of the backgroud because it is busy/filled with distracting elements, so use of higher shutter speed allows that to happen, while the flash contribution is a fixed amount of light.
• Indoors you may want to do the opposite...use a slower shutter speed to capture a somewhat poorly lighted background, like in an ornate reception location, so it is recorded rather than a black hole (since the flash does not reach back there with sufficient intensity)

 

[xkaes]

Here's a list of Minolta's meters -- with specs for each, in ONE place. They made a lot of great meters, that you can get for next to nothing. I use their old Flash Meter II. Does everything I need.

http://www.subclub.org/minman/meters.htm

 

[Pieter12]

Minolta, later Konica, made great meters. I have a couple. A word of caution, though. They cannot be calibrated or repaired any more, there’s no one out there doing that sort of work. You might be better off with something still in production and supported.

 

[Chan Tran]

Here's a list of Minolta's meters -- with specs for each, in ONE place. They made a lot of great meters, that you can get for next to nothing. I use their old Flash Meter II. Does everything I need.

http://www.subclub.org/minman/meters.htm

The Flash Meter II was my first exposure meter. I bought it obviously to measure flash but I didn't know about incident meter until I got it. It can measure ambient light as well but pretty limited in that respect and using it in bright light is hard to read the LED.

 

[Steven Lee]

But if you don't change your ISO or shutter speed on the camera then you don't need to change them on the meter either.

I meant to say that my meter is always set to ISO 100 and I just compensate in my head for the actual speed of the film in the camera. This is faster than changing ISO setting on the meter, and also helped me memorize EV values for common light situations.

Thank you everyone, I ordered the Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate. Its ergonomics for changing the shutter speed looks good on paper (in the manual), and -- as unbelievable as it sounds -- in my 20 years of using light meters, I never owned a Sekonic before, only Gossens and Minoltas.

 

[Mal Paso]

I meant to say that my meter is always set to ISO 100 and I just compensate in my head for the actual speed of the film in the camera. This is faster than changing ISO setting on the meter, and also helped me memorize EV values for common light situations.

Thank you everyone, I ordered the Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate. Its ergonomics for changing the shutter speed looks good on paper (in the manual), and -- as unbelievable as it sounds -- in my 20 years of using light meters, I never owned a Sekonic before, only Gossens and Minoltas.

Great meter for the price! I've had mine over a year now. Digital, I always check the histogram to be sure.

 

[Steven Lee]

@Mal Paso Agreed. Ergonomically it's absolutely perfect. If only a meter existed that combined the size and pocketability of Gossen Digisix and the user experience of Sekonic 308X!

 

[Angarian]

The meter I am looking at is Gossen DigiFlash 2.

Gossen is generally an excellent choice. I am using them for decades, excellent results. During the last years I've used mainly the Digipro F2 and Sixtomat F2, both highly recommended.

I have the non-flash version of this meter which I love. Reading the manual online, I see that it has a setting for setting the sync speed. Why? The flash duration is always shorter than any of the speeds on Hassy lenses. Having to adjust that setting every time I change the shutter speed would be incredibly annoying. What am I missing?

You are missing that in reality - despite the data in the data sheets of studio flashes - the flash duration can be quite long.
I've had it with cheaper studio flashes that at 1/200s shutter speed (focal plane shutter in a SLR) the shutter starts closing during the flash duration, and a part of the image at the edge was dark.
So that the Gossen meters offer different sync speeds for measuring is extremely good and often needed.