SekonicL-308S Flashmate Digital Incident, Reflected & Flash Light Meter

For those Photographers who are just getting started or have been shooting photos for a while. This Sekonic is a great item to have. Digital Cameras have built in meters. But I have found this Sekonic to really cut the guessing time and depend on it. I chose Sekonic, because it is a product that has established credibility in photo meters. I shoot a lot of landscapes and ocean, beach scenes. Please read the reviews by amazon because many of them are very good and informative. I was convinced after reading all of them. This meter operates different modes giving you the opportunity to use it accordingly. Im sure you understand that Exposure is a real challenge when taking photos. Please familiarize yourself with some of the challenges of Exposure . There are books , e books written , as well as on-line classes. Once you understand the concept of exposure; using this meter really makes the different and saves you a lot of time and guess work. I get my reading from the meter and use the aperture priority mode. The meter will give me an aperture reading as well as a camera speed reading. I set the camera to the Aperture reading and allow the camera to adjust the speed. Almost all my photo results turn out with a well balanced exposure result and a very fine photo. I also do bracketing and have found that the meter is very much on target. Please note. You will get outstanding results, save a lot of time, and almost eliminate the guess work. But , do acquire some instruction the the challenges of Exposure. This meter has become a life line for my photos. Just to give you an Idea, if I bracket I can shoot 200 photos in a short while. The meter really keeps me in the ball park and editing has become much more enjoyable. This is a must have for any photographer enthusiast .

Simple instructions and I was up and running in minutes. I did Ytube reviews on how to use it before I bought it. I shoot with speedlites inside and outside. I use a grey card and or color checker passport before all my shoots. I calibrate my monitor every two weeks. I wanted to try the light meter to add to my workflow. So far, I can see where I can gain time as well as increase the quality of my pictures by using light meter. I would recommend it to anyone. I have used it about 30 times including practice sessions. I think it would be helpful for anyone still honing their exposure skills. It gives you a great place to start with the correct exposure then you adjust based on your creative needs. Most of the time I shoot in the manual exposure mode. I use it to get ambient, ambient and shutter and with flash. While it gives you the EV it also allows you to convert to show you the F stop, shutter and ISO setting for the EV. Sorry I don't waste time or carry a EV chart around with me. Easier for me to set the ISO on the camera and light meter and let the light meter give me the shutter speed and F stop. If I want to change one of those the light meter gives me the correct matching change. i picked this model because it was flexible and at a reasonable price. I wasn't sold at the time if you needed a light meter with the capabilities of my Nikon D600 and D7000 internal metering. I am glad I bought it and find it very very accurate and useful.

This light meter does the job and is accurate. However, there are several things about it I don't like. First and foremost is the physical layout of the meter. I am regularly clicking the button to take a reading when I want to click the up or down buttons to change the f-stop. Doing that results in a lost reading and having to take the light reading once again. And the sensor should point in the opposite direction. It's fine for incident readings but its wrong for reflected readings which is what I mostly use the meter for. Also, the plastic cover of the PC synch terminal has a tab on it and it appears to be very delicate. No way that tab is not going to break if you use the tab to remove the cover which is very tempting because the cover is a very tight fit. Lastly, the meter turns itself off after only about 5 minutes. That's too soon.

I am a professional photographer who owns several different light meters. The more expensive versions are nice in that they do more, but the truth is that most of the extras are not stuff I ever use. For instance, one of my meters will "do the math for me" and tell me the ratio between my main and my fill. The thing is, I am so used to calculating this manually, that I don't use the meter for it. If you understand how f-stops work, then you don't need that feature. And anyone buying a $500 light meter probably knows how f stops work. Further, I don't use pocket wizards (as all my studio lights are now Baja B6s). As such, I use the Dynalight triggers that came with the strobes. And before that, I used Photox triggers. So, again, it is a feature I don't use. I also don't like the touch screens of the newer models. Anyway, I find that this little guy gives me all the information I need, and does it well. In truth, I do actually use it's big brother in the studio, but really this is only because I happen to own the big brother. If my light meters all broke and I had to replace them, I would buy two of these guys. And while I don't use it in the studio, this guy is in my bag, and gets used any time I am on location.