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  • 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 :)

What is the best light meter for Red?

NoahK said:
I'd get a really nice waveform monitor instead. Light meters are less relevant in the digital world.

Noah
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That's just not true. When you're scouting a location you don't have the RED ONE with you. When you prelight a set your RED ONE may not be there yet. A nice light meter is still a very valuable tool.

I recommend the Sekonic L-758C Cine Light Meter.
 
Yes, Noah, Big is right (in my opinion)
Even shooting with my HD cameras I have the gaffer use a light meter. Why? Consistency. It's easy to see exposure on a histogram or waveform, yes, but if you want the SAME number of footcandles falling on the actors in every shot, you want someone holding a light meter at least to the key light. It makes a big difference when you start pasting shots together in a narrative.
Scouting and prelighting benefit hugely too, as Big pointed out. It's pretty embarrassing as a DP to have to crank up the ASA on the Red just because the prelight crew did not have enough information to use the right instruments.
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I sometimes think that the immediacy of the feedback when using an electronic imaging system leads to sloppiness and laziness on the technical side. It's a huge benefit to the artistic side ("OK, work that edgelight around a bit more, OK, back up, right, add a double, OK, ready to go!") but I think it's made the other side of everyone's brains a bit more mushy. We benefit from the immediate feedback, but I think someone on the set (most likely the gaffer) needs to keep the old-school discipline going.
Oh, and BTW Ian, I like my Spectra Digital. The big ball makes it easy to see the different sources and you can shade them easily for individual readings. The flat disc is cool too. I also like having a separate spot and incident meter. I think that they are built better for each purpose that way, and if one goes down you still have a meter. My spotmeter is just the old Pentax Digital, although everyone seems to like the Minolta model nowadays. I also have my old analog Spectra (with low-light and normal slides and scales) No batteries required, very accurate, and a nice back-up meter.
Cheers,
Harry
 
Does the red have the same issues with light meters that other digital cameras like the DVX100 and HVX200 have where their sensors don't respond to light in a linear fashion? This has always made it hard for me to use a light meter with those cameras because closing the aperture one stop on them won't necessarily cut the brightness in half on them.

davide
 
davide said:
Does the red have the same issues with light meters that other digital cameras like the DVX100 and HVX200 have where their sensors don't respond to light in a linear fashion? This has always made it hard for me to use a light meter with those cameras because closing the aperture one stop on them won't necessarily cut the brightness in half on them.

davide
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The Mysterium is very linear. No problems with measurements so far.
 
big lebowski said:
That's just not true. When you're scouting a location you don't have the RED ONE with you. When you prelight a set your RED ONE may not be there yet. A nice light meter is still a very valuable tool.

I recommend the Sekonic L-758C Cine Light Meter.
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I agree--the 758C (be sure it is the "C") is fantastic.
 
Yes, the Sekonic 758C is superb. That's what Jarred recommended for me, and he's right. It's great.

With video, I never really saw the point of a light meter. With RED, I see the point. It works, and works well and works very quickly. By using a combination of light meter to get you "right", then adjusting using meters to maximise the recorded code values without clipping, you'll get great exposures, or at least, that's what I've personally found.

Graeme
 
I agree with HarryClark on setting consistent levels set to set, it's old school and it works! I use a Spectra PRO IV-A for incidence metering & I use Waveform and Zebras for finding hotspots. The Sekonics are nice too!

To really do it right you want 3 meters: one incident, one spot and one color temp meter. Individual meters (I'm told) don't compromise as much as all-in-one designs. Color temp meters will help you nail your lighting, especially with mixed temp sources. The human eye is terrible in this area and we know globe colors shift due to aging, warming up & gels.

While one doesn't have to use a meter with video, because video cameras basically are big giant light meters, they do help oneself to develop skill and discipline in lighting. After working with meters you'll get to the point where you can hold up the palm of your hand and closely guess the incident & reflective levels. This leads toward mastery.
 
Sounds like a consensus around the Sekonic L-758C Cine Light Meter as an all in one meter. Wonderful to see.

Any recommendations for individual meters. In particular Chroma?

Just FYI, I use both the in-camera method and the light meter method. Though I agree with false color and zebras it is totally possible to shoot something without a meter and have perfect exposure. It's better to light with the meter in hand and then tweak with the on camera meters when you can see the frame.

IBloom
 
One other thing with regards to color.

One thing I've done is turn the saturation all the way up in the menus so that I can see exactly where hues are shifting. Love doing this, especially since it's just metadata if for some reason I need to roll, would love it as a hot key or assist.

IBloom
 
Any votes for the L-398A analog incident light meter? It's affordable, it fits real nicely into your hand, and you don't ever have to worry about batteries. It was my first meter in film school, and it will be my last!
 
Harmonica said:
Any votes for the L-398A analog incident light meter? It's affordable, it fits real nicely into your hand, and you don't ever have to worry about batteries. It was my first meter in film school, and it will be my last!
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My favorite. I've got an anniversary model with gold plated trim. No it's not for sale. lol
 
Thanks for the news-link on the Sekonic color meter. I want a C-500!
 
I fully support the Sekonic L-758 Digital Cine Master. It's other abilities, like foot candle and lux readings without needing a conversion look up table to figure values is GREAT! I hated those little tables with a passion. My only quibble with it is lack of zoom spot metering, but I'll live. It has far too many features for me to really complain much about that.
 
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