Which light meter to choose

Leon Grin · December 2, 2010

Hi all,

I been thinking to buy a light meter but don't know which one to choose. Since it's tool that I hope to use for the rest of my working life (hopefully) I would like to get something good. Right now my choices are limited to Spectra IV or Sekonic L-758C. I read that the Spectra is very accurate but advantage of the Sekonic is that have spot meter (which is not to accurate as I understand) and also it's possible to enter dynamic range of specific camera. The question is does it worth to pay 250-300$ more for those extra features?

Thank you :)

Adrian Sierkowski · December 2, 2010

I swear by my Sekonic, because I have to, and it hasn't let me down. Though, I do carry a spare meter, another Sekonic (studio II) as the 758 takes an odd battery I can just grab at a corner store. I primarily use my meter in Indecent mode, as I'd say most people do, using the spot meter for those areas of particular concern. A properly calibrated meter, after all, is a properly calibrated meter.

I should add I've never "programmed" my sekonic, but it is an interesting feature to have and I'm sure people do use it.

Markus Rave · December 2, 2010

I had both meters and bought the Spectra IV years ago because it offered unparallelled features especially in low light. At that time Sekonic´s predecessor did provide error messages in low light. Now I own the 758-Cine and find the meters equal in quality and readout. I sold the Spectra and only use the 758 which indeed has a very useful spotmeter built in. That for me is a good reason. The Spectra has the bigger dome and you might find this more accurate for your work. But you need to change flat surface and dome whereas the Sekonic simply lowers the dome into the device. This is a matter of preference I guess.

Jim Hyslop · December 3, 2010

I primarily use my meter in Indecent mode

Auto-correct fail! Or do you primarily shoot adult movies? :lol: :lol:

--

Jim

Adrian Sierkowski · December 3, 2010

Why wanna come out on a scout ;)

Ari Schaeffer · December 15, 2010

Why wanna come out on a scout ;)

I picked up the Minolta Flashmeter 6/vi which of course was then discontinued a year later when minolta went bust. You can check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Konica-Minolta-8057-103-Flash-Meter-VI/dp/B00009XUYW ...it was kind of their answer to the Sekonic 508...

I picked it up because the form factor was slim, it runs on a single AA battery, and I liked the approach they took with the spotmeter placement. It also feels a bit lighter then the sekonic or spectra meters I've used in the past.

Downside being the amazon picture is a lie, there's no backlight illumination of any kind on the front LCD, however the spotmeter viewfinder is illuminated. Weird they cut that feature from the FM5...

I've also never run across anyone else with this meter on set which I've always found odd, as it was 25-50 dollars cheaper then the competition....

its also got the programmable range feature, but I always thought that was more trouble then it was worth. You'd pretty much know the stocks range you'd be shooting, and at most you'd maybe have 2-3 different stocks in play so it seemed like overkill.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Ari Schaeffer