Sekonic L-358 question?

[stradibarrius]

Do you have to remove the "incident dome" on the L-358 to take a reflective measurement?
I would probably lose it if that is the case...

 

[CGW]

Do you have to remove the "incident dome" on the L-358 to take a reflective measurement?
I would probably lose it if that is the case...

What does the manual advise?

 

[removed account4]

barry,

to get the reflective measurements you remove the incident dome
and replace it with the lumigrid ...

john

 

[J Rollinger]

Yes you have to remove it and replace it with the Lumigrid or the spot meter.

 

[stradibarrius]

Thanks! Is it something that can be lost if you are not careful???

 

[atlcruiser]

Hi Barry!
i am sure it will be lost almost instantly! At least i would lose it ASAP. I just got a L558 and am loving it and there is no need to remove anything

 

[stradibarrius]

Hey David! Merry Christmas. Let's get together in the next couple of weeks????

 

[tkamiya]

It doesn't answer your direct question but my suggestion to you is to carefully consider what feature you'd actually use before committing to a light meter.

I have a Sekonic L758DR. With it, I can do incident metering and spot reflective metering. So far, I have never had a need to meter reflective NON-spot. In NON-spot reflective metering, it will take a reading of an average of wide area of your subject. I'm not quite sure what this is useful for.... For one, the "view" of your meter is probably not the same as your lens. The other, there will certainly be a dark area and light areas and they won't be 50/50. If you buy L358 and a spot metering attachment, it will cost about the same as L-758 (and some for the radio transmitter). On L-758, there is nothing to detach or attach.

L-308, the lumidome will slide out of the place for you reflective reading. Slide it in for incident. LumiDISK is a removable piece but you'd only need it if you are metering a flat object. You can likely keep it securely as it is not needed very often.

 

[stradibarrius]

If you meter a wide landscape what mode do you use?

 

[atlcruiser]

It doesn't answer your direct question but my suggestion to you is to carefully consider what feature you'd actually use before committing to a light meter.

I have a Sekonic L758DR. With it, I can do incident metering and spot reflective metering. So far, I have never had a need to meter reflective NON-spot. In NON-spot reflective metering, it will take a reading of an average of wide area of your subject. I'm not quite sure what this is useful for.... For one, the "view" of your meter is probably not the same as your lens. The other, there will certainly be a dark area and light areas and they won't be 50/50. If you buy L358 and a spot metering attachment, it will cost about the same as L-758 (and some for the radio transmitter). On L-758, there is nothing to detach or attach.

L-308, the lumidome will slide out of the place for you reflective reading. Slide it in for incident. LumiDISK is a removable piece but you'd only need it if you are metering a flat object. You can likely keep it securely as it is not needed very often.

You have a great point but I dissagree 100%
My only issue with the L558 is that it is a spot reflective meter only. I would like to have a non spot refective as well. I meter many different ways depending on the camera/film/subject etc.....

I almost went for the L758 but what I really needed was a spot meter as I have other handheld area meters. Now I sort of wished I went for the 758 with both spot and area reflective meters!

 

[tkamiya]

Both.... I'd start assuming the landscape (far or near) is lit similarly to a location as far as I can get to (sometimes right where I am standing). Take an incident reading. Locate an important shadow. Take a spot reading. Locate a highlight I'd like to preserve. Take a spot reading.

Consider the first two to set my exposure.

 

[tkamiya]

You have a great point but I dissagree 100%

I'd expected some/many would disagree.... This is what works for me... When I first purchased my L758, I was disappointed that it didn't do all 3. In actual use, I never miss the reflected non-spot. For me, if I had to miss one, this would be the mode.

Strange product packaging though.... Sekonic could easily have provided non-spot as well if they made the dome removable and satisfied everybody.

 

[CGW]

You have a great point but I dissagree 100%
My only issue with the L558 is that it is a spot reflective meter only. I would like to have a non spot refective as well. I meter many different ways depending on the camera/film/subject etc.....

I almost went for the L758 but what I really needed was a spot meter as I have other handheld area meters. Now I sort of wished I went for the 758 with both spot and area reflective meters!

Huh? The 558/758 meters read 1 degree reflected spot. If you want wide area reflected readings(and why escapes me), just take multiple spot readings, save them, then hit the average button.

 

[stradibarrius]

To use the incident meter for landscapes...do you just hold the meter up and take a reading? I have always pointed the reflective meter at the "landscape view" and took a reading. Have i been doing it wrong?

 

[tkamiya]

You can do it either way, reflective or incident. Neither is wrong.

IF you point your averaging reflective meter like that, you are making several assumptions. That is - the area where your sensor covers is 18% reflective and your camera lens sees about the same area as your landscape - or, there are no overly bright spot or deep shadow outside of the difference. If these assumption is not correct, then you have to make adjustment accordingly.

I'd do it this way:

Let's say you are standing at south rim of the Grand Canyon taking a picture of north rim. You have an incident meter. You can't possibly go to the other side and take a reading. What you do is, visually inspect the area you are standing and the subject (the north rim) and see if there are any reason why light falling at your location and the other side should be different. One reason would be cloud coverage. Another would be some kind of obstructions. Seeing there is none, you can take a reading with your incident meter standing few yards away from your lens. Because the light rays are parallel and distance doesn't matter when the light source is THAT far, you can reasonably be sure the reading is correct.

IF there are any ultra bright spot or dark shadow that I would want detail, I then set my meter to spot incident and take measurements. Then if necessary, adjust my exposure.

IF there are reasons why lighting condition may be different, then incident method like this is unsuitable. Then, I'd do spot reading of key points. It'll be the usual zone system then.

I think, the real key is, never assume what the meter is reading is the setting we must use. Either method will give enough information for the photographer to decide what exposure setting one must use. Except for very simple cases, point, measure, set, shoot isn't possible. There has to be a thinking and compensating step in there.

 

[John Koehrer]

Spot incident??

 

[tkamiya]

Spot incident??

That's a super secret and patented mode I developed. You heard it first here!



I meant spot reflective. I'd correct it if I can.

 

[stradibarrius]

Are the additional features on the L-358 worth the additional $50.00 over a Sekonic L-308S or Gossen Digipro-F?
Being able to average readings and the back light seem that they would be useful features????
Sometimes you think you will use some features and in reality you do not.

 

[benjiboy]

It is IMO worth the extra $50 plus it has the ability to take up to nine readings and average them, and use the additional optional 1 degree spot finder.
I've had one of these meters for a couple of years and can highly recommend them.