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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Is a light meter a good idea/necessity?
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 02/10/2014 02:58:54 PM · #1
So the guy I'm meeting with about lighting says shoot manual, not ttl, and use a light meter.

I'm curious about what people have discovered, and what they recommend.

thanks!
 02/10/2014 03:25:59 PM · #2
depends on how much you want to chimp your shots....

ttl isn't really required if your ambient isn't constantly changing, like say walking an event or party.

light meter is required if you want to set up the lights and outputs without your model sitting through the process.

chimp and check histogram is perfectly acceptable, its your choice.

Message edited by author 2014-02-10 15:29:04.
 02/10/2014 04:55:45 PM · #3
The photographer I took a lighting class with uses one. I don't use one. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I seem to get along without one. You should work with one and make up your own mind.
 02/10/2014 04:58:51 PM · #4
They're still expensive, though. That's why I was trying to get input. :)
 02/10/2014 05:01:19 PM · #5
I recently got a basic Sekonic 308S on ebay for about £60 ($90?).

Works a treat and makes it really fast to set up studio lights etc - if you are happy to do a quick trial and error on the screen that's just fine. In fact, my Sony allows me to do a trial and error in the viewfinder (electronic viewfinder) without chimping at the back, which is nice!
 02/10/2014 05:17:29 PM · #6
Most cameras have a built-in light meter -- you should see the effect of the exposure settings when you pre-focus (half-press the shutter) on the EVF or LCD, or it will display a number indicating degree of over- or under-exposure.

What those don't substitute for an incident light meter, which measures the light falling on the subject, not what's reflected back at the camera.
 02/10/2014 05:19:51 PM · #7
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Most cameras have a built-in light meter -- you should see the effect of the exposure settings when you pre-focus (half-press the shutter) on the EVF or LCD, or it will display a number indicating degree of over- or under-exposure.

What those don't substitute for an incident light meter, which measures the light falling on the subject, not what's reflected back at the camera.


I'm trying to work with 3 off camera flashes in manual mode and camera in manual -- so the in camera light meter isn't as useful. This would be for those types of shoots
02/10/2014 05:25:02 PM · #8
Originally posted by vawendy:
I'm trying to work with 3 off camera flashes in manual mode and camera in manual -- so the in camera light meter isn't as useful.

Indeed! Seems like the guy you are working with should be bringing his and showing you how to use it -- after that you can decide whether to get one. If he says you need your own now, maybe you can rent one first?
 02/10/2014 05:44:29 PM · #9
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by vawendy:
I'm trying to work with 3 off camera flashes in manual mode and camera in manual -- so the in camera light meter isn't as useful.

Indeed! Seems like the guy you are working with should be bringing his and showing you how to use it -- after that you can decide whether to get one. If he says you need your own now, maybe you can rent one first?


We will be using his. You guys are all just so knowledgeable, I was curious what others thought. :)
 02/10/2014 05:45:30 PM · #10
or you can try playing around with one of the incident light meter apps for your Iphone or Android. I got a Luxi when they did their kickstarter campaign, and it seems to be accurate enough for spot metering, but not sure if it will work for your application. (They now have their own app, and there are many more as well - I use the mylightmeter app just because it looks pretty cool (and seems to be as accurate as the rest).)
 02/10/2014 05:56:01 PM · #11
I bought mine almost 10 years ago. Learned to judge light by eye and never used it again. Its still practically new - but lives in the "unused stuff" camera bag.
02/10/2014 06:05:15 PM · #12
Originally posted by idnic:
I bought mine almost 10 years ago. Learned to judge light by eye and never used it again. Its still practically new - but lives in the "unused stuff" camera bag.


Hey -- you can send it to me! ;)
 02/10/2014 06:38:50 PM · #13
Will the phone apps work with speed lights since you need to fire the lights to get a reading?

All the light meters in action I've seen fire the speed lights.
 02/10/2014 07:14:59 PM · #14
The only time I've seen lightmeters used was when I worked as a film extra on several different productions back in the late 1990s. Since then I've seen sets where no light meter was used.
 02/10/2014 07:32:30 PM · #15
Originally posted by idnic:
I bought mine almost 10 years ago. Learned to judge light by eye and never used it again. Its still practically new - but lives in the "unused stuff" camera bag.


I need your eyes. My eyes cant judge multiple strobes of different makes and models all flashing at once at different powers and distance. Not to mention ambient light if dragging the shutter. For me I either need to do some calculations, lots of chimping or use a light meter. Then again, it probably would help if I stuck with the same lighting arrangements each time.

Message edited by author 2014-02-10 19:35:09.
 02/10/2014 08:18:27 PM · #16
Originally posted by yanko:
Originally posted by idnic:
I bought mine almost 10 years ago. Learned to judge light by eye and never used it again. Its still practically new - but lives in the "unused stuff" camera bag.


I need your eyes. My eyes cant judge multiple strobes of different makes and models all flashing at once at different powers and distance. Not to mention ambient light if dragging the shutter. For me I either need to do some calculations, lots of chimping or use a light meter. Then again, it probably would help if I stuck with the same lighting arrangements each time.


I certainly won't claim to be able to read all light in all situation - although I sure wish I could. But my bread and butter involves shooting in similar situations over and over (weddings, studio, strobes), in which lighting can be fairly well controlled. My crazier shoots - mostly seniors, require a lot of trial and error, chimping, ... and sometimes happy accidents. :)
 02/10/2014 08:18:53 PM · #17
Personally I don't use one. I just build the scene one light at a time, placing a light, setting the power to a 'guesstimate' value, then shooting an image and checking the light on that image (use the histogram!)..

Then I'll just add in subsequent lights until I'm happy with the effect. Remember to think of final exposure values and the effect of having new lights added in. For example, I might try to underexpose my key light by 1/3 of a stop or so, and bring that back in with fill.

FYI - A great place to start is by exposing for whatever ambient there is in a scene if you're not just doing 'studio' type work - and do remember to keep you shutter speeds down far enough to not exceed the max sync speed of your camera. (for a focal-plane shutter like yours, you're best off trying to stay under 1/250th - the 1D will go about 1/300, my S95 will do 1/1500, and that Fuji I just got will go to 1/4000 - which is in fact about 90% of the reason I bought the thing)

In any case, the 'needs' often will tell you what's best. I've yet to find a good reason to own a light meter (and really, I could just borrow one anytime I want.. I simply haven't ever felt the need)...
 02/10/2014 08:57:43 PM · #18
Light meters were more useful with film because you couldn't chimp your shot. Light meters are useful in digital if you don't have time to chimp your shot but you do have time to get a reading beforehand.

Maybe they aren't quite obsolete, but they are probably superfluous.
 02/10/2014 09:41:34 PM · #19
Just a quick question.

I also check the histogram, however it seems that he histogram is read from the / a jpg file hence not accurate.

How accurate is the histogram we see on the camera LCD.

I always wanted to do a quick test to check on the camera LCD and then in LR the raw file
 02/11/2014 01:53:23 AM · #20
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Light meters were more useful with film because you couldn't chimp your shot. Light meters are useful in digital if you don't have time to chimp your shot but you do have time to get a reading beforehand.

Maybe they aren't quite obsolete, but they are probably superfluous.


I agree with the first part but disagree with the second. It depends upon your needs and application. Me? For the most part, I have little use for one because of how I shoot. If I had to replicate things or I had to have quick setup before a shot, yeah, a light meter would be useful. But that's not how I shoot (and, fwiw, I shoot a combination of TTL and manual depending upon the situation, but largely manual).

Honestly, if you don't know the utility of one the chances of it being worth it aren't that good. And if you were to get one, I wouldn't skimp, either. Check around on Ebay/fred miranda- there are VERY good ones going for great prices, so don't waste your time on a lesser model. You shouldn't ever get one, IMO, because somebody says it's what to do, or professional, or whatever. Like Doc said... the world has just changed.
 02/11/2014 03:09:13 AM · #21
an older Sekonic Digi Lite F used with up to 3 strobes...



A flash meter/manual mode can be a most accurate quick method - helps one know what is going on with the lighting, rather than banging around hit and miss.
 02/11/2014 10:15:42 AM · #22
I must say the a light meter is invaluable in a studio setting with multiple strobes.
Yes, you can take dozens of shots and chimp the back of your camera to eventually get the light you want.
However, if you really want to be efficient, and you know how much light you WANT to get on each side of your subject, then use a light meter.

In our studio, for high key, we want to get our background lights 1 or 2 stops greater than the subject lights. Any more than that, and you get bleed through \ flare.

We want one side of subject to be 1-2 stops brighter than the other to create some interest \ drama in the lighting.

It's just a lot more efficient to measure the light, adjust, measure again.

Get everything set with the meter. Takes a minute. Test fire and it's probably good.
 02/11/2014 12:32:58 PM · #23
Originally posted by shanksware:

Yes, you can take dozens of shots and chimp the back of your camera to eventually get the light you want.
However, if you really want to be efficient, and you know how much light you WANT to get on each side of your subject, then use a light meter.


This is exactly it. For multiple strobe studio lighting, I found that using a light meter was a much faster path to getting what I wanted. There wasn't anything that couldn't be done by chimping, but chimping was slow.
 02/11/2014 07:20:45 PM · #24
Originally posted by Ann:
Originally posted by shanksware:

Yes, you can take dozens of shots and chimp the back of your camera to eventually get the light you want.
However, if you really want to be efficient, and you know how much light you WANT to get on each side of your subject, then use a light meter.


This is exactly it. For multiple strobe studio lighting, I found that using a light meter was a much faster path to getting what I wanted. There wasn't anything that couldn't be done by chimping, but chimping was slow.


Right, besides there are subtle things that you can do with lighting and knowing what the light will be. For instance if I want my hair light 2/3 brighter than my main. I can do that easily with a meter, with a chimp...well I might be 1/3 or 1 1/3 and in a chimp it isn't going to be that accurate. Same for main/fill/background.

Also be aware that when you get a light meter make sure you understand that you need to calibrate it to your camera. The one that I use for instance is 2/3 of a stop brighter than my cameras sensor. So when I get my reading I know that with my camera I'm 2/3 of a stop brighter than what the meter reads. Not all sensors/light meters read exactly the same.

Matt
 02/11/2014 07:36:48 PM · #25
I use flashes for my studio work (not that I do heaps of it).
I also use a light meter because it makes it much quicker to set up the lights.
If I change a setting I can just grab the light meter, take a reading and quickly adjust the lights.
If you are happy to do it by chimping that's good to, lots of people do it that way.

MattO is correct. You do need to calibrate it to the camera. There is a setting so make this adjustment permanently so you don't have to guess.

I use a sekonic hmmm 386 I think it is.
When checking the lights I take the trigger off my camera (RF602) and work with the light meter.
Then put it back on the camera to take shots.

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