Sekonic L-508 and BTZS Help

[Mike A]

I'm working the BTZS "light" system and was made aware that Sekonics L-508 spot/incident meter only reads 12% gray instead of 15%.

Can any BTZS Zone system practitioners expand on this problem?

Does it make sense to dump the 508 and buy a separate incident spot meter?

Could I get some replacement recommendation relating BTZS users in particular?

Mike A

 

[tommy5c]

I think on the 508 you can manualy adjust the reading to your prefrences. do you have the regular or the cine version of the meter.

 

[Mark Pope]

I use the zone system - I've not come across the 'beyond the zone system' methodologies. But here's my 2p worth...
Presumably, you set a personal film speed in the same way as you would with the zone system? If so, provided that you use that meter for determining your PFS, then it doesn't matter whether it's calibrated at 12, 15 or any other percentage of grey.
I use a 508 and have never had any problems getting accurate exposures.
As far as Tomm5c's response is concerned, I'm not sure whether it's possible to adjust the meter itself. There is the facility to have two ISO settings. I'll check the manual out (if I can find it that is...) to see if it's possible to do a DIY calibration, but as I said earlier, I don't think it's worth it.
I'd stick with the 508.

 

[tommy5c]

I looked up the 508 Manual

http://www.sekonic.com/InstrManuals/L-508.pdf

Look in advanced functions in section 6 it will tell you how to adjust and perform exposure compensation.
I use the Cine version of the 508, and only use the zone system. I hope that this is helpful

 

[Jorge]

There are may ways to fix this, I use the L508 and have no problems. In your case you have to dial in a 1 stop extra exposure in the meter by pressing the two ISO buttons simultaneously and dialing in -1. Since I use the full blown system I just adjusted my personal speed point to reflect an extra stop exposure.

 

[tchamber]

I understood the 12%/18% grey issue to not be important when using incident metering. It's more of an issue when using reflective metering, but with BTZS you rarely use reflective metering.

I've never had any problem with my Sekonic being off. The attraction of BTZS to me is that it seems to work nicely without all the fuss that the zone system requires.