Rolls-Royce of light meters

RalphLambrecht · Mar 25, 2025

I treated myself to a Sekonic L858D lightmeter because ,I was interested in its ability to do a FPA(flash duration analysis). My nerdy desire was not disappointed. not only does ot measure the flash duration at T.1 or T.5 but also graphs the flash ramp up an down during theexposure. Not cheap but hasreviously unknown capabilitiesin a customer light meter

Kino · Mar 25, 2025

Does it come with a jar of Grey Poupon?

RalphLambrecht · Mar 25, 2025

Good heavens, NO!
the best part of it is that it measures the flash duration time. This way I found out that my studio strobe has an exposure time of 1/350s(a bit slow to freeze all action ) and that my newly aquired Nikon SB20 has only a very brief exposure time of 1/23,000s(fast enough to freeze any moton in the studio). It's a bit geeky but worth knowing!

mpirie · Mar 26, 2025

Maybe a dumb question, but isn't the flash duration documented in the flash unit manuals?

Mike

Hassasin · Mar 26, 2025

mpirie said:
Maybe a dumb question, but isn't the flash duration documented in the flash unit manuals?

Mike

Typically it is, but I'm not sure if there is a uniform standard applied to these measurements. Still what the L858D costs, it's hard not to see it as feature pile on to get the price high enough to improve net profit. I personally never liked the overall shape of these meters and what I got in the Kenko 2200 for half the price is beyond imaginative needs. Then again, if I ran a pro studio my take on this might be somewhat different.

On another note there were some reports of touch screen misbehaving at some point of their life. Hopefully this is not common.

Sanug · Mar 26, 2025

If you operate your studio strobe with reduced power, the flash duration will become much shorter. 1/350 will be at full power only. It will get quickly beyond 1/1000 as soon as you reduce the power.

Chan Tran · Mar 26, 2025

RalphLambrecht said:
I treated myself to a Sekonic L858D lightmeter because ,I was interested in its ability to do a FPA(flash duration analysis). My nerdy desire was not disappointed. not only does ot measure the flash duration at T.1 or T.5 but also graphs the flash ramp up an down during theexposure. Not cheap but hasreviously unknown capabilitiesin a customer light meter

I do that with the Minolta Booster II and an oscilloscope.

Chan Tran · Mar 26, 2025

I am surprised that Gossen doesn't make the high end meters any more like the Starlite. Kenko also stops making meters based on the Minolta meters. So there isn't much choice for meters today.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 26, 2025

mpirie said:
Maybe a dumb question, but isn't the flash duration documented in the flash unit manuals?

Mike

not so dumb of a question, but the documentation is rarely correct, and then, of course, there is the issue of what is being measured. Two duration times are relevant: T0.1 and T0.5. the latter being shorter and often cited in the documentation, as it is more attractive to some. T0.1, however, is more relevant to the photographer concerned with freezing motion. And, unfortunately, often flash duration is published without stating if it is T0.1 or T0.5, which is little help.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 26, 2025

Chan Tran said:
I am surprised that Gossen doesn't make the high end meters any more like the Starlite. Kenko also stops making meters based on the Minolta meters. So there isn't much choice for meters today.

Many digital shooters don't think they need a meter. I wouldn't want to be without. But I'm pretty decked out now. Two flash meters, two color meters, a flash-duration-analysis meter, two spot meters, and a miniature ambient meter! Crazy I know but I love the technical part of photography and can't help myself.

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 26, 2025

Are there cellphone apps that can compute flash fractions and exposure settings for them?

Alan Edward Klein · Mar 26, 2025

RalphLambrecht said:
Many digital shooters don't think they need a meter. I wouldn't want to be without. But I'm pretty decked out now. Two flash meters, two color meters, a flash-duration-analysis meter, two spot meters, and a miniature ambient meter! Crazy I know but I love the technical part of photography and can't help myself.

Ralph, I use a Micro 4/3 digital camera for many of these readings, as well as getting a histogram and blinkies from it. Just in case you want to add another thing to your kit.

Chan Tran · Mar 26, 2025

Alan Edward Klein said:
Are there cellphone apps that can compute flash fractions and exposure settings for them?

You can calculate but not measure flash with a phone.

Chan Tran · Mar 26, 2025

RalphLambrecht said:
Many digital shooters don't think they need a meter. I wouldn't want to be without. But I'm pretty decked out now. Two flash meters, two color meters, a flash-duration-analysis meter, two spot meters, and a miniature ambient meter! Crazy I know but I love the technical part of photography and can't help myself.

I love meters but I don't use them often for shooting. I use them to measure light and thus I should get light meters instead of exposure meter but that would be very expensive.

cliveh · Mar 26, 2025

I would suggest the Rolls Royce of light meters is the Western Master II

pentaxuser · Mar 26, 2025

cliveh said:
I would suggest the Rolls Royce of light meters is the Western Master II

I suppose that what constitutes the Rolls Royce of light meters depends on how the recipient defines " Rolls Royce"

Can I ask what your definition is based on, Clive?

Thanks

pentaxuser

cliveh · Mar 26, 2025

pentaxuser said:
I suppose that what constitutes the Rolls Royce of light meters depends on how the recipient defines " Rolls Royce"

Can I ask what your definition is based on, Clive?

Thanks

pentaxuser

Simplicity of function and accuracy.

BrianShaw · Mar 26, 2025

cliveh said:
I would suggest the Rolls Royce of light meters is the Western Master II

Gosh, I would have thought you’d suggest Weston IV or V where the needle locked.

MattKing · Mar 26, 2025

cliveh said:
Simplicity of function and accuracy.

Not one of the current ones then:

Chan Tran · Mar 26, 2025

cliveh said:
I would suggest the Rolls Royce of light meters is the Western Master II

I don't know about Rolls Royce but I have a Western Master II and I would never use it.

Patrick Robert James · Mar 26, 2025

I love the old dial meters like the Gossen SBC. Damn things are too big though. The Weston Master IV I have is nice too but not reliable, more for fun. I end up taking either a Gossen Luna Pro Digital which is super small, or a Sekonic L-358 which lights up. With 4x5 I've gone to a Pentax Digital Spotmeter (dials, yea!). I use either an old Gossen Luna Pro or an SBC for pinhole cameras since I have those figured out by EV. I've had a couple of Sekonic L-508s over the years. First one was stolen and the second one a Duracell battery blew up in it so they gave me a check. Those were too large though and kind of threw me off the all in one meters. The L-858 looks impressive though. Wish I could see one in person.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 26, 2025

Alan Edward Klein said:
Are there cellphone apps that can compute flash fractions and exposure settings for them?

not that I know of.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 26, 2025

Patrick Robert James said:
I love the old dial meters like the Gossen SBC. Damn things are too big though. The Weston Master IV I have is nice too but not reliable, more for fun. I end up taking either a Gossen Luna Pro Digital which is super small, or a Sekonic L-358 which lights up. With 4x5 I've gone to a Pentax Digital Spotmeter (dials, yea!). I use either an old Gossen Luna Pro or an SBC for pinhole cameras since I have those figured out by EV. I've had a couple of Sekonic L-508s over the years. First one was stolen and the second one a Duracell battery blew up in it so they gave me a check. Those were too large though and kind of threw me off the all in one meters. The L-858 looks impressive though. Wish I could see one in person.

It's great but significantly bigger than the Gossen LunastarF2, my all-in-one lightmeter. I use the Sekonic L858D exclusively for FDA, even though it can measure ambient, reflective, and spot as well as flash. Nobody said you are allowed only one lightmeter!

JensH · Mar 26, 2025

... they also make impressive spectrometers like the Sekonic C-800-U. Just saying ;-)

Taylor Nankervis · Mar 26, 2025

Would recommend you check the firmware version for updates; there were known gremlins over a large batch of these meters with the touchscreen sensitivity.

My weapon of choice is the Sekonic L758D (also has flash analysis), discontinued years ago (last firmware update 2016) but amazingly ever-reliable in all the conditions I habitually step into or out of! Touch screens on light/colour meters can be a PITA if/when the lightmeter is for example dangling on your chest while you're working away behind the camera; this can movement can screw the readings around erratically.

Rolls-Royce of light meters

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