|
Forums >
Photography Talk >
SEKONIC light meters....
Can someone or many explain the SEKONIC (not sure of the model, but it's brand new). The photography shop gave me some weird info and I'm not clear. If my D70 is 200 ISO max; what do I set my Sekonic at. If i want to measure a model's face or lighting that I want to pop to test the room....when it shows me the readings.....does it show the F-Stop that I should use; or does it show the range in stops that I need to go up or down with? This photographer said it's not the actual F-Stop that I should shoot with. HELP.....details on this one please. Thank you so much. And is it important to use the meter, or just use test shots prior to the shoot? Also, using Softboxes and fill lights, where do you test the lighting conditions; one light at a time with or without the model, then all lights popped with the model? Holding the lightmeter on her cheek bone area? Thank You May 17 07 11:43 am Link They have several models... You need to look at your to see what one you are talking about, and the manual may help you out a bit as well. I own the 380 and it has several modes I can set to to either shutter or apriture poiroity so depending on either on I shoose it tells the the correct exposure for the lighting I am using. May 17 07 11:46 am Link they make great light meters.. yes they show the f-stop reading for the shutter spead you select. you can also average it out and do other things. May 17 07 11:49 am Link TMK Images wrote: Unless there's something particularly weird about that model.. You set the ISO and shutter speed you're shooting at and the readings will tell you what f-stop you need for a "properly" exposed shot.. May 17 07 11:49 am Link God do I have to do everything backwards? I always think abotu my F first to determain what DOF I want to play with and then let it tell my my shutter speed... May 17 07 11:56 am Link Iona Lynn wrote: Fine for outdoors.. I'm thinking from the studio.. Where your shutter is pretty well set by the fact that you're using strobes.. (Slow to whatever your camera's max sync speed) May 17 07 11:57 am Link I have the Sekonic L-758C Light Meter - it allows you to not only measure flash and light both in Incident and Reflected modes. Measured values can be memorized and retained in both reflected and incident measuring modes; For example: A incident reading can be retained and displayed as a diffused mid-tone on the analogy scale (f-stop or EV scale), at the same time as reflected spot reading of a highlight or shadow can be measured and memorized; The result is a Highlight, Mid-Tone and Shadow measurement displayed on the meter's analogy scale. Also, it features a pretty cool spot metering feature as well as my fav -- it has the POCKETWIZARD flash technology built it ... which means I can fire the flash heads using the light meter. Before I had this unit ... i have to walk around wiht a pocketwizard and hold down the flash meter and fire the flash seperately or have an assistant fire the flash from the test button. Whats nice about a unit like this is that is gives you a really good sense of how much reg abient light is present (in %) so as to figure out how much it will effect the flash. This is especially helpful when using auto-focus. If the room is too dark, sometimes locking in on the subject because tough -- so I know now how if I can turn on some reg lights and how much it will effect the outcome of the pix. When shooting at something like 1/250 of a sec at f11-16 - hopefully not much. May 17 07 12:05 pm Link Tommy, You can use the meter to measure the whole set, but that's not going to give the best results. You should meter each light separately and then set your camera for the look you are seeking. (As briefly explained above.) You have a great eye and some wonderful poses in your portfolio. But most of them are underexposed. I hate to say go back to the basics because it sounds like I'm slamming you. I'm not!!! But try to find a book, video, or some online articles on lighting ratios and exposure. You will not be sorry. Setting ISO is one thing that digital photographers have trouble understanding because it originated with film, where it was called ASA. So understanding where the number comes doesn't always make sense. Judging by the work you've already done, all I can say is, when you get a better grasp of the basics, boy are you gonna be making some great images. Good luck. May 17 07 12:23 pm Link Thanks so much TC......I appreciate your comments. I am trying. I'm new to digital and have been only doing this for 3 months now. Built my studio in one room of my apartment with Aileen Bees...using 5 lights. sometimes not all of them. Yep, I've noticed, i have an 'under exposure' problem most of the time or 'over exposure'....i just can get it perfect. LOL It's like the women I pick. LOL Seriously, do you have any recommendations to help me get good exposure? May 17 07 01:00 pm Link Wow. That's a lot to start out with in a single message. But to start with, I'd say try shooting some outdoor, existing light shots. That way you only have 3 elements to your exposure: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Set the meter for ambient light, hold it at the subject, with the dome pointing back at the camera, and see how they look. Once you think you know the correct exposure, moving one element up a stop means that moving another down a stop will give the same exposure, but a slightly different look to the photo. Then you can experiment with how changes in different settings affect the shot. Slower shutter speed will give smaller aperture, which will give you more depth of field ... etc. With higher ISO, film would be more grainy. In digital, the picture will have more "noise" in it. Learn to get it "right" (or right in your eyes) before you add the 4th element, flash. Tom May 17 07 01:40 pm Link This isn't a gear question, this is a metering technique question. Any decent meter (including a Sekonic, my own hand-held meter is a Sekonic L-558, but that's kinda immaterial) can do what you need it to do. Any meter reading, whether incident or reflective is not meant truly literally, but rather needs to be interpreted. This is the real technique of exposure. For example, were you shooting against a lot of white, with blonde hair, and lots of highlights that could be blown out with a single light source, you might want a little less exposure than your meter indicates. On the other hand, if you're shooting black velvet (which sucks up light like no tomorrow) and you need to show detail, then you'll need more. With multiple heads/sources, this gets a bit more complex and would be very complicated to explain all the sorts of possible permutations in a post. The science of good exposure is understanding what a meter reading is telling you and applying that to the properties of your film/video sensor to get the sort of look you want, with the brightness values falling where you want them, within the range of what can be recorded. This takes some theoretical knowledge as well as practice. I originally learned this technique via the Ansel Adams technical series (particlarly vol II The Negative) and other sources, but there are also a lot of more current, digital-based sources that have been mentioned frequently here. (Leo LLL has a good instructional book list for this sort of thing.) AND lots of practice, as theoretical knowledge just isn't enough, particuarly when you're talking studio lighting with multiple heads, or mixed lighting between ambient and (multiple) flash sources. Good luck! May 17 07 01:57 pm Link Agreed with Marko. Interpreting a light meter reading goes far beyond just reading numbers. You have to look at where you're metering, how your camera would interpret it, how processing would influence your exposure, what you want output to look like, and so on. It's a workflow question, and ultimately it's something you're going to have to figure out on your own. May 17 07 02:57 pm Link I have found that my D2X underexposes by about two-thirds of a stop as compared to my sekonic meter, which is dead accurate with film. Also, sekonic and Nikon use to different "greys" 18% and 12%. After testing charts, I believe Nikon sets their cameras up to underexpose in raw mode to preserve highlights (and then the camera bumps it up when it does a jpg conversion). So, you can either shoot as is, and adjust in post, set exposure compensation in your camera or in your meter. Since I am now shooting digital and MF film, often at the same shoot, I offset my camera. May 17 07 03:17 pm Link Paramour Productions wrote: Do you find that shooting the D2x at 2/3 overexposure results in better RAW files, due to more digital information being in the highlights? (as long as they're not blown out in the raw file) May 17 07 08:28 pm Link dDavid wrote: Yes. But remember this isn't based on the camera's meter, this is based on the sekonic meter. Nikon's internal meter is dead nuts for it's camera (same grey). Apparently this isn't specific to Nikon and is why Sekonic introduced its meter for digital, at least that's what the folks at the Sekonic booth at photoplus told me. May 17 07 08:40 pm Link Is that what the deal is with the 758? I have two 558's and am quite happy with them. I also overexpose my 558 readings by about a stop to get my RAW files to use all of the right side of the histogram May 17 07 09:08 pm Link TMK Images wrote: I think you're referring to the Sekonic L-758DR, which I just recently purchased. The easiest way to explain this meter (or any other like it, I would imagine) is you need to know at least 2 of 3 parameters for your measured shot - ISO + Shutter + Aperture. You can set the ISO to 200 if that is what you use with your D70, then decide whether you want to measure your scene for aperture or shutter priority. TMK Images wrote: Generally, I set a smaller aperture such as f11 or f16 when I am in the studio and leave it alone. If you use the Sekonic L-758DR, and you are using wireless strobes, you can use the meter to fire the strobes to measure the light. With the model on his/her/its mark, hold the incident light meter just next to the model's face in the same plane where you will be focusing your camera and take your reading. You are going to want to measure with whatever lights you are using in order to get an accurate reading (thus the reason for the ability to fire the strobes from the L-758 meter). For your D70, have the meter ISO set to 200 and the aperture set for whatever one you want to use for the shoot. You are looking to get the shutter speed. Since you are going to use the meter for your light readings, go completely manual on your camera. May 18 07 12:37 am Link ACE...thanks for writing. However, it has been said that SHUTTER speed doesnt matter when using strobes, yet you say et the ISO and Aperature and GET SHUTTER reading? Why is that? Tommy May 18 07 11:48 am Link PARAMOUR...... So then wouldn't you want to take a reading and shoot 1/2 or 1 full stop over exposed. I noticed that my RAW and JPEG (when shooting my D70 with RAW/JPEG output setting)....RAW is lighter and JPEG seems underexposed. What the heck is up. Damn, I can't get this right. tommy May 18 07 11:50 am Link Relax tommy and ask one specific question at a time. I will try to help you a little. Shutter Speed - in the studio, with flash and no ambient light the only thing you need to work about shutter speed is that you are in sync. If you have lots of ambient light, you need to use a faster shutter speed. As long as you are in sync. I don't own a sekonic, but maybe I can help May 18 07 12:13 pm Link TMK Images wrote: Actually, I don't think it matters quite that much how you decide to do it, Tommy, though I am sure there are those who will argue just for the sake of argument why it's so bloody important to do it their way and no other... :-) May 18 07 11:29 pm Link Warning GWC!!! May 19 07 01:03 am Link |
