Is it still worth buying a light meter?

Mitch Gross said:
Since this little thread seems active and we have received a bunch of inquiries, we decided to experiment with live streaming tonight's seminar. The link is up now and we'll begin in a few minutes and go for a few hours. This is our first time trying a stream so it might be a little rough, but we thought you might be interested.

http://training.abelcine.com/tech-tuesday-how-to-read-a-light-meter/
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Looked interesting. Are these presentations archived, as I am not able to watch the whole thing at this time... being on the PST ZT... I'm still nominally at work...
 
This is our first time streaming. We're recording it to a KiPro. Not sure how we'll make it available in the future, but that is part of the plan.
 
Mitch Gross said:
This is our first time streaming. We're recording it to a KiPro. Not sure how we'll make it available in the future, but that is part of the plan.
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I was fortunate enough to be at Abel Cine/NYC for the light meter seminar.

It was a very thoughtful presentation that allowed me the opportunity to appreciate how to measure and quantify light.

Abel Cine/NYC was very generous in sharing their expertise.

Be well

Rob
Smalltalk Productions
 
TheDingo said:
You can buy the Sekonic L758 Cine brand new on eBay for $600.
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I've seen those, but they are all being shipped from Hong Kong. I don't know if they would be real, or knockoffs, or even if its new or used.
I've never bought from ebay where a package was from China.

starcentral said:
DDirector - if you don't get a cine version light meter you can always set the shutter to 1/50th which is close enough to measure 24fps 180 degree shutter (or 1/48th shutter speed). Again, do you plan to take a meter read and set your aperture accordingly, or simply just use it to measure your light relativity on a set...
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I have ben using a lightmeter for getting ratio and exposure. I've only shot on film when I was using a lightmeter, I haven't had the chance to shoot with digital or with additional equipment to help judge exposure levels.So, for now, both.
 
DDirector said:
I've seen those, but they are all being shipped from Hong Kong. I don't know if they would be real, or knockoffs, or even if its new or used.
I've never bought from ebay where a package was from China.
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I understand your worries but pick a top-rated seller and/or one with a huge number of 99.X% positives, insist on a tracking number and you will have no problems. And use PayPal with buyer protection. I've made many purchases directly from China and some of them in the hundreds of bucks without a single problem. My opinions.
 
slondon said:
I understand your worries but pick a top-rated seller and/or one with a huge number of 99.X% positives, insist on a tracking number and you will have no problems. And use PayPal with buyer protection. I've made many purchases directly from China and some of them in the hundreds of bucks without a single problem. My opinions.
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Or just bite the bullet and spend your money with a local retailer who will support your hobby/business as you grow. Alternately, purchase from one of the major US sellers like B&H or Adorama, etc. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars with them and have yet to have a single issue.

Lot's of choices out there.
 
DDirector said:
I've seen those, but they are all being shipped from Hong Kong. I don't know if they would be real, or knockoffs, or even if its new or used. I've never bought from ebay where a package was from China.
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As slondon says, pick a reputable eBay dealer and pay with PayPal.

I had the same concerns when I bought my Sekonic C500 meter, but it arrived in perfect shape with all the pieces and had an international warranty. I saved almost $300 buying this meter from Hong Kong instead of buying from B&H in New York. ( I normally buy from B&H but the price difference was too big to ignore )

I've also bought several audio/photo/video items directly from China with no problems at all.
 
Michael, I'm sure you already know this too but Adobe OnLocation (which sometimes comes with certain Adobe suites) comes with built in vectorscope and waveform monitor which you can run your camera to using firewire. This can be real handy if you're using a camera or monitor for example that doesn't have a waveform monitor built in. It however only seems to support some resolution modes, but still can be useful to see what's going on in your scene and going to camera (for good!).
 
The Sekonic L-308DC, currently $279 new at B&H, has proven adequate for every video lighting task I've thrown at it. It is an incident-only meter without the fancy spot viewfinder of the L-758Cine, but much more compact and affordable. The camera itself, if it has a waveform monitor or false color, is already an adequate reflected light meter; it's incident readings to measure absolute light intensity and ratios that are the forte of a separate handheld meter, and the cheaper Sekonics (even the selenium cell L-398, although I appreciate the extra low light sensitivity of the digital L-308DC) are just fine for this.

BTW, note that you should use the hemispherical dome diffuser of either meter only for overall exposure readings; a more directional flat disc is appropriate for measuring a single light as when determining lighting ratios.

- Greg
 
DDirector said:
I've seen those, but they are all being shipped from Hong Kong. I don't know if they would be real, or knockoffs, or even if its new or used.
I've never bought from ebay where a package was from China.
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Amazon has the L-758c for $822 and B&H has the same price.... just a couple hundred more than the 'ebay ???'. If you have the money, well, there's where to go...
 
starcentral said:
Michael, I'm sure you already know this too but Adobe OnLocation (which sometimes comes with certain Adobe suites) comes with built in vectorscope and waveform monitor which you can run your camera to using firewire. This can be real handy if you're using a camera or monitor for example that doesn't have a waveform monitor built in. It however only seems to support some resolution modes, but still can be useful to see what's going on in your scene and going to camera (for good!).
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The problem with On Location, is that for 'live/realtime' viewing, one must have a Firewire connected Cameras... alas.. Firewire is disappearing from most cameras, low or high end...

You can capture a clip, then transfer it to the computer with On Location, and view. But that's somewhat awkward... And something that could be done going through Premiere directly... (I think FCP 7 and similar have scopes... ).
 
Yes and I found that OnLocation, or just firewire in general did not support certain resolution modes so you'd have to switch to 1440x1080 mode for it to work which is pretty silly. Another problem is the lag, but anyway just thought of throwing it out there as a possibility.. never know what might be useful.

:D
 
So I gave in and bought myself a new lightmeter on ebay. I don't know why exactly its almost $300 cheaper than in stores, but from a good seller and everything seeming legit. I went for it.

This will definitely come in handy especially since I got another short film shoot coming up very soon. :)
Thanks guys for pressuring me into buying the lightmeter :P (Sekonic L758 Cine)
 
While I don't have one now, I'm getting myself one soon (with christmas around the door) as I've started to feel the need for one more and more. First is just to be able to light without a camera. Normally, you end up setting up the camera and then the lights. But with a meter, there's no need for that. You can start working on rigging the lights, while the AC takes care of the camera, saving precious time. But they help immensely when lighting a room or set. When lighting a room, you don't only want to light for the shot you're doing, but for the shots you WILL be doing. This way, when that setup comes, it will be lit and if any adjustments are made, they would be minor. I've had ones borrowed for many shoots now, but when I've been on ones where I've been without it I realized how much I missed it.
 
Hello Listers,

I originally posted this query in the hardware section, but got little response. Please forgive me for carpetbagging this thread but this seems like a good thread to hitch onto.


I am planning the purchase of a mid-level light meter in the 3-400$ range. Mostly I am interested in using this for location scouting and ratios. The meter would be mostly intended for video, though flash functions would be useful since I do some still work also. Quality of construction is important to me, and it seems that all the new meters have some negative comments about being fragile. The Spectra is interesting since a spot accessory can be added later. In no particular order, is what I have considered so far:

Spectra Cine IV-A
Sekonic 308 Cine
Something else new, Gossen, Kenko, ??
Something else used, older but higher quality?

Any opinions other than spending more, would be very appreciated

Grant
 
Before purchasing my own lightmeter, I was using the schools lightmeter.
The one they had was the Sekonic 308.

Its a cheap lightmeter and it does its job. At times it was giving me odd readings, but can be avoided. It was old and banged up, so maybe that's to blame. Other than that, its pretty good. I believe a lot of people choose that one since its cheap and a standard one.
 
I got the L758C for 600. And you can certainly get the DR version for 400-500 maybe less, but I haven't looked into that one much, so I'm not sure
 
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