Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Light Meter Recommendations

Will Keir

Will Keir

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
5,323
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
California
The Sekonic L-478 Series looks good. I'm wondering if there are any light meters with multifunctional applications such as, Depth of Field apps/calculators?

The less I have to have in my pocket the better.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
 
I'd say go for the industry standard. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...MrJvvaSjL4CFe9QOgodoykAZQ&Q=&is=REG&A=details
The new digital one looks fancy and nice but I'd let it sit on the market for a while before getting one.
You can't go wrong with the L-758 and the spot is a 1 degree and not the wider 5 degree like the one that goes on the L-478
No extra applications, just a great piece of equipment. Get it and keep shooting...soon your DOF calculator will be your brain:-) I have one of these and a good color meter on my belt, a finder on the cart and an iPhone in my pocket that only gets used to call home.
Get a good case for it though, the one that comes with it stinks.
This one is solid: http://thedopshop.com/karau-sekonic-pouch-p-46.html

Will Keir said:
The Sekonic L-478 Series looks good. I'm wondering if there are any light meters with multifunctional applications such as, Depth of Field apps/calculators?

The less I have to have in my pocket the better.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I have a 758 cine and like it a lot. It needs to be calibrated if you buy it... mine is 1/3 stop off. :( There is a guy in LA who does this for $100.

You will not see an established DP using the 758 cine. Industry pros use a spectra or a high quality dedicated spot meter (Pentax digital spot meter).

For casual/prosumer use the 758 is awesome, however. I am lost on set without it and use it to shoot with my view camera, too. It's fun! Interface is a mess, however, too many modes.
 
The Sekonic L-478 pretty much comes with me everywhere I go no. Though I'm curious to what's next from them. I use a few things, but this has become my work/travel meter. Only downside is that the spot meter isn't built in and you have to carry the attachment. Though I know plenty of folks who don't light using spot meters. However, I can't do that for over half of the work I shoot. The touch screen is decent, but it's certainly a bit quirky in terms of intuitive design. A single toggle and scroll wheel would have been a bit more effective, but the overall pros outweigh that one con.

The Spectra IV is very good and compact as well. Similar wiggles on that and the 478.
 
Phil Holland said:
The Sekonic L-478 pretty much comes with me everywhere I go no. Though I'm curious to what's next from them. I use a few things, but this has become my work/travel meter. Only downside is that the spot meter isn't built in and you have to carry the attachment. Though I know plenty of folks who don't light using spot meters. However, I can't do that for over half of the work I shoot. The touch screen is decent, but it's certainly a bit quirky in terms of intuitive design. A single toggle and scroll wheel would have been a bit more effective, but the overall pros outweigh that one con.

The Spectra IV is very good and compact as well. Similar wiggles on that and the 478.
Click to expand...

This is good to hear. How long have you had it?
I'm going to get my hands on one and check it out.
The simple wheel is what I like about the 758.
 
Eric M Hurt said:
This is good to hear. How long have you had it?
I'm going to get my hands on one and check it out.
The simple wheel is what I like about the 758.
Click to expand...

I think I picked it up a couple weeks after release. I mulled it over a bit because I thought it was too "iPhoney", but it's actually been a pleasant surprise in terms of function.

Here and there I do a bit of instruction/teaching and it's actually easier to discuss metering techniques and demonstrating with this as well. Did that literally last weekend and it's nice to be able to clearly show the effect of various conditional changes on the meter itself.
 
Zeb B said:
Wait until CineGear - Sekonic will be introducing a new Cine Color/Light Meter combo that will be the last meter you will ever need
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I was told the last two times I bought a light meter… And you know, we'll never need more than 30MB of drive space or 640KB of RAM and all that...


As for the 758 cine, it's a great meter and lots of people use them. Respected DP's too. Calibration and maintenance is something that all meters need to be subjected to every now and then. I never trust a meter out of the box until I have it calibrated or can compare it to a known good meter.
 
There is nothing wrong with the 758cine, but as most DPs progress they rely less and less on its million features and more and more on elegance, reliability, and simplicity... gravitating toward either a dedicated spot or incident meter as their style and approach progresses. Because of this there is a stigma associated with the 758cine as a newbie's meter, a tricked out piece of kit that is a bloated swiss army knife rather than a finely honed blade... Top still photographers seem to like it, however. The only complaints I've heard about its functionality are that the interface is a mess (true), the incident meter is often off and needs calibration (true; mine is 1/3 stop off), and that the spot meter is poor relative to the industry standard Pentax digital spot meter, but this seems irrelevant given how many still photographers expose slides consistently using it!

Truth is, the majority of A-listers (Deakins, Richardson, Cronenweth, Kaminski, etc.) use Spectras. Others (Elswit) use Pentax digital spot meters. For me digital exposure aids have made spot meters necessary only when pre-lighting a scene and even then not so useful. I basically use my 758cine as an incident meter when shooting digital, and I feel silly with a little blade poking out of a big bloated leatherman, fumbling through knobs and dials just to get back to where I need to be, preventing the silly thing from doing all sorts of math I could do in my head if I knew my filter factors.

You will also be made fun of for using a Sekonic rather than a Spectra, however mostly this is gentle ribbing. I think I worked with a team in which the DP, op, and gaffer all had Sekonics and were all making fun of me for owning one, vowing to go Spectra, but also getting great consistent results with what they had. Other DPs I've worked with have written me off entirely for carrying a Sekonic.
 
Last edited:
Matt W. said:
.

You will also be made fun of for using a Sekonic rather than a Spectra, however mostly this is gentle ribbing. I think I worked with a team in which the DP, op, and gaffer all had Sekonics and were all making fun of me for owning one, vowing to go Spectra, but also getting great consistent results with what they had. Other DPs I've worked with have written me off entirely for carrying a Sekonic.
Click to expand...

This behavior is unfortunate.
 
Matt W. said:
There is nothing wrong with the 758cine, but as most DPs progress they rely less and less on its million features and more and more on elegance, reliability, and simplicity... gravitating toward either a dedicated spot or incident meter as their style and approach progresses. Because of this there is a stigma associated with the 758cine as a newbie's meter, a tricked out piece of kit that is a bloated swiss army knife rather than a finely honed blade... Top still photographers seem to like it, however. The only complaints I've heard about its functionality are that the interface is a mess (true), the incident meter is often off and needs calibration (true; mine is 1/3 stop off), and that the spot meter is poor relative to the industry standard Pentax digital spot meter, but this seems irrelevant given how many still photographers expose slides consistently using it!

Truth is, the majority of A-listers (Deakins, Richardson, Cronenweth, Kaminski, etc.) use Spectras. Others (Elswit) use Pentax digital spot meters. For me digital exposure aids have made spot meters necessary only when pre-lighting a scene and even then not so useful. I basically use my 758cine as an incident meter when shooting digital, and I feel silly with a little blade poking out of a big bloated leatherman, fumbling through knobs and dials just to get back to where I need to be, preventing the silly thing from doing all sorts of math I could do in my head if I knew my filter factors.

You will also be made fun of for using a Sekonic rather than a Spectra, however mostly this is gentle ribbing. I think I worked with a team in which the DP, op, and gaffer all had Sekonics and were all making fun of me for owning one, vowing to go Spectra, but also getting great consistent results with what they had. Other DPs I've worked with have written me off entirely for carrying a Sekonic.
Click to expand...

LR-Emmanuel-1.jpg


btw Deakins uses gossen luna which is 100$ lightmeter
http://www.rogerdeakins.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1554
 
Kemalettin Sert said:
btw Deakins uses gossen luna which is 100$ lightmeter
Click to expand...

While that forum post is a few years old he's still using it as recently as Prisoners. He has a few others from what I understand.

Honestly get a meter that works for you. Spectra, Sekonic, you name it. This is a brand and feature thing that I think many WAY over think.

Understanding how to effectively use the exposure tools on camera, a waveform monitor, spot meters, and various other things are all there to help you reach your end goal. Roger and other pros are using these as well.

A meter in hand allows you to do that without a camera on set, which is still a valuable time saver. Even with a camera on set you can light around your different camera positions and figure out where everything goes.

Also, never discount exactly what your eye is showing you. I light most things with my fist as a "light test dummy". Turn your thumb into a nose and watch how the shadow goes. A tightened knuckle gives you a good idea of specular concerns. Watch for shape, falloff, character, and size. You can get a lot done with nobody around.
 
Nice find with that picture.
Matt, I'm sorry that you have such strange ideas about how DPs work, and have had the unfortunate chance to work with people who would judge you for your equipment preference over how your work looks.
You say "Truth is" yet I know from first hand experience working as an operator for, and as a 2nd unit DP with, very established ASC DPs that they could care less about what kind of light meter I carried. They saw my reels and dailies and knew I could get the footage needed in 2nd unit. They wouldn't have cared if I didn't even use a meter at all, and certainly never made fun of my for carrying what I carry.
This happens with Red Vs Alexa as well.... Many ACs I know have huge boners for Alexa and hate Red, but most every DP I've worked with never has any animosity towards Red, even if they usually shoot on Alexa as most films I work on do. The DPs just see it as another tool and would never judge someone on their preference.
My advice is to seek out people to work with who care about how the footage looks and not people's equipment preference... and if they give you a hard time tell em to kiss your a*s and keep shootin :-)
 
Last edited:
Eric M Hurt said:
Nice find with that picture.
Matt, I'm sorry that you have such strange ideas about how DPs work, and have had the unfortunate chance to work with people who would judge you for your equipment preference over how your work looks. My advice is to seek out people to work with who care about how the footage looks and not people's equipment preference... and if they give you a hard time tell em to kiss your a*s and keep shootin :-)
Click to expand...

Once I shoot some footage that's comparable to those with whom I work, I'll speak up. My work (in which I take a lot of pride) is home video by comparison and so I'll take the word of my superiors over my own.

Cool that Lubezki got caught using a 758... shooting on film I can understand the need to compromise and demand a spot/incident combo. All I'm saying is... it's overkill. Get what's elegant and essential. An incident meter is all you need.
 
Matt W. said:
Once I shoot some footage that's comparable to those with whom I work, I'll speak up. My work (in which I take a lot of pride) is home video by comparison and so I'll take the word of my superiors over my own.

Cool that Lubezki got caught using a 758... shooting on film I can understand the need to compromise and demand a spot/incident combo. All I'm saying is... it's overkill. Get what's elegant and essential. An incident meter is all you need.
Click to expand...


So you readily admit that your work doesn't stand up, yet you feel confident enough to tell people all they need...
Okay Matt....whatever you say.

And I'm sure Lukezki felt he "got caught" and "compromised", as he mentioned how embarrassed his was about that incident in his Oscar speech.
 
Last edited:
Eric M Hurt said:
So you readily admit that your work doesn't stand up, yet you feel confident enough to tell people all they need...
Okay Matt....whatever you say.
Click to expand...

I'm not telling people what they need; I'm telling people why the best don't use Sekonics. My knowledge of light meters doesn't have much to do with my middling shooter abilities. Where's the correlation there? Of course my work doesn't stand up to Deakins/Richardson/Elswit's... no one here holds a candle to those guys. But I do know why those guys rarely use Sekonic meters, preferring the elegance and consistency of a simple dedicated spot or incident meter.

If, like me, you are still a hobbyist DP, not a professional, yes it is a good prosumer meter. But for the pros it is overkill and clunky and like it or not that stigma is strong. If you are still undecided about whether you prefer to rely on an incidence of spot meter it's worth it, and it's a fine piece of equipment, just not taken very seriously. Cool that Lubezki used one... again apparently Deakins is using a $100 Gossen so at that point use what you will (but you will also see that at that level it's almost entirely dedicated spot or incidence; few dual meters). So it doesn't matter if your work is good, if your work speaks for itself, but if your work is that good... you're probably also not using a Sekonic!

And, if like me, your work is relatively inferior, you don't want to embarrass yourself further with a poor piece of kit.

At the very lest if you get one, get it calibrated, as the incident meter is usually up to a half stop off.
 
Last edited:
Matt W. said:
An incident meter is all you need.
Click to expand...

While more or less true for general shooting. A color chart with 18%/20% Gray and a spot meter is used very often for VFX shoots to nail precise exposure. Same reason it's important for the in camera tools to clearly find those values as well. A combination of those efforts yields extremely accurate exposures, which is very useful. Nailing exposure this way can help a colorist down the line.

Also, when evaluating tonal distribution of say background elements that may fall into the noise floor (or outside of a camera's measured captured DR) in terms of their local values it's pretty damn useful.

I digress. These days there's many, many tools at hand to help find your desired exposure. I'm standing by my statement of using whatever you are comfortable with.

If somebody is making fun of you for using a specific brand or type of light meter make fun of their socks. They do their job, but not like your socks. Your socks are the right socks and everybody you respect wears them :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top