REVIEW: Sekonic Litemaster Light Meter: Why its good to go old school

Great blog Timur. I love incident meters. I love knowing what the light itself is doing.

Still use an old Sekonic L-398 and have profiled video cameras to the meter for ISO reference with a scope and a grey card since 3/4-umatic days.

Knowing the camera's center ISO and DR and using Ansel Adams zone techniques for determining best exposure works as well for video as it does for film taking into consideration the inverse curve relation you mentioned. I have been able to get good footage using the meter when decent monitoring and scopes were not available for critical judgement.

I used to shoot a lot of stills for publicity and event documentation with that meter and a Leica 3G rangefinder camera. The techniques I learned with that combo have worked well for every type of film and electronic camera I have ever used. The true value of meters is much under rated.

That new meter looks awesome. The L-398 is getting obsolete as new cameras are more sensitive than it can accurately read for low light exposures.
 
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Interesting Blog and article Timur.

Can I add something regarding your Pentax Spotmeter (my favourite spotmeter).

It has an IRE scale on it. Brilliant tool on a meter.

It was my habit to obtain an f-stop by using an incident meter. eg my Spectra or Sekonics

Then I would dial that onto my Pentax Spotmeter ( against the orange triangle).

I could then spot meter check, the objects/subjects in the frame and apply the reading against the IRE Scale on the Spotmeter.

This showed exactly where they sat on the IRE scale. Same information as a waveform display.

Its all about setting levels via exposure and lighting control and knowing where things sit as a tone.

I would also use that technique to set (exposure wise ) any "practicals " or black objects / shadows.

Very rarely did I use the spotmeter or this IRE technique for the actual exposure. Except I sometimes worked backwards from a reading on a practical or a bright object and that told me wher to expose a particular subject such as a skin / face.


For those that are not familiar with the unique Pentax Spotmeter..it gives a reading as a "number plus dots". (Not f-stops) eg. 7+1dot, 9+2 dots, 8 no dots.... (dots = 1/3 stops)

The ASA is set on Dial, the reading , eg. 7+1 dot , is then set against the Datum mark (orange triangle). Reading off against the dial...one gets an exposure in stops.
 
Yea the pentax is great for measuring the illumination between two points. Love that thing.
 
Hey Timur,

Great post. I'm weighing up options for a new lightmeter at the moment.

Have you ever used the Sekonic L-758Cine before? It's a more traditional style meter with a built-in spot meter, and I'm a bit torn between the technological features of the Litemaster Pro and the added functionality of the L-758Cine's 2 meters.

Working with smaller crews I often find it a real pain to have to move the camera around just to make use of it's built-in meter to get accurate spot readings, so a meter will certainly help speed things up.

I'd also be keen to hear what you rated your F3 for when shooting SLOG - did ISO800 or ISO1600 give you the necessary grey-at-38% 'underexposure' to expose SLOG properly?

Cheers
 
Timur, have you figured out if there's a way to change the display of T-stops for the Sekonic 478D? The one thing I'm dying getting used to is having it change the T-stop in third stop increments. For example, instead of giving you T4 and 3/10's like the 758cine did, it'll give you T4.5 and T5 or something....It's okay when I have a moment to think about it, but rushing out there to get a reading and coming back with that is just a little frustrating.

I'm still waiting for the spot meter attachment for mine, but I think it was a good purchase. Can't wait to try the camera profiles out.
 
Great article and review Timur.

I had the pleasure of playing with one of these with a DP I worked for on a music video. A nifty little gaget. Only downside to me (over my L-578) is battery life and lack of a spotmeter.
 
Grug said:
Hey Timur,

Great post. I'm weighing up options for a new lightmeter at the moment.

Have you ever used the Sekonic L-758Cine before? It's a more traditional style meter with a built-in spot meter, and I'm a bit torn between the technological features of the Litemaster Pro and the added functionality of the L-758Cine's 2 meters.

Working with smaller crews I often find it a real pain to have to move the camera around just to make use of it's built-in meter to get accurate spot readings, so a meter will certainly help speed things up.

I'd also be keen to hear what you rated your F3 for when shooting SLOG - did ISO800 or ISO1600 give you the necessary grey-at-38% 'underexposure' to expose SLOG properly?

Cheers
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It's very convenient to have them both in one, but I like having my meters separate. Each one is more specialized.

I rate the F3 at 1600, through and through.
 
RyanT said:
Timur, have you figured out if there's a way to change the display of T-stops for the Sekonic 478D? The one thing I'm dying getting used to is having it change the T-stop in third stop increments. For example, instead of giving you T4 and 3/10's like the 758cine did, it'll give you T4.5 and T5 or something....It's okay when I have a moment to think about it, but rushing out there to get a reading and coming back with that is just a little frustrating.

I'm still waiting for the spot meter attachment for mine, but I think it was a good purchase. Can't wait to try the camera profiles out.
Click to expand...

That's why I use the F/Tstops with the foot candle display. Even more precise. I like footcandle readings its absolute.
 
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