Light meter decision HELP!!!!!!

[BrianD]

Good morning good folks,
I have finally narrowed my light meter decision down to 2 options and now I am stuck on which to purchase. My 2 options are below.

Amazon.com: Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meter: Camera & Photo
Or
Amazon.com: Sekonic L-758DR Light Meter (Black): Camera & Photo

This will be mainly used for portrait work and some landscape photography, I am looking to see if anyone has any experience or opinions on these 2. I have read somewhere that the L-758DR requires additional target software to actually work which is about 100 additional dollars. is this correct? It wont work when I recieve it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all for your time and help.

 

[Helen B]

I have a 758DR (and a few other meters). The 758 works fine without any extras, and the spot meter with viewfinder readout is useful in landscape photography. The extra target (hardware, not software, which is all included) is not necessary for normal use of the meter, and is not necessary for the extra features either.

Your choice between the two depends a lot on what you want the meter to do - it's difficult to suggest one over the other without knowing that.

 

[pgriz]

When I was trying to decide between the two, the difference between them (for me) was the inclusion of the spot-meter and the pocket-wizard triggering. Since I used the spotmeter in the camera routinely, and did not have pocket-wizard transceivers, neither function was essential for me in the lightmeter. However, I did want both the ambient light AND the flash readout, so that pointed me to the L-358. But as Helen said, it really depends on what your needs are.

 

[BrianD]

When I was trying to decide between the two, the difference between them (for me) was the inclusion of the spot-meter and the pocket-wizard triggering. Since I used the spotmeter in the camera routinely, and did not have pocket-wizard transceivers, neither function was essential for me in the lightmeter. However, I did want both the ambient light AND the flash readout, so that pointed me to the L-358. But as Helen said, it really depends on what your needs are.

Please forgive my noobness.....but the 758 does flash read out as well correct?

 

[pgriz]

When I was trying to decide between the two, the difference between them (for me) was the inclusion of the spot-meter and the pocket-wizard triggering. Since I used the spotmeter in the camera routinely, and did not have pocket-wizard transceivers, neither function was essential for me in the lightmeter. However, I did want both the ambient light AND the flash readout, so that pointed me to the L-358. But as Helen said, it really depends on what your needs are.

Please forgive my noobness.....but the 758 does flash read out as well correct?

It does. The difference is that if you have pocket-wizards, you can trigger the flash directly with the lightmeter. With the L-358, you either use a physical sync cord, or you trigger the flashes manually. The light meter can be put into "flash-sensing" mode (about 30 seconds long) where it will wait for you to trigger the flash. My triggers are simple sync triggers (pretty much the cheapest kinds), and my flashes are usually an arm-reach away so triggering them manually is not an issue (for me).

 

[Helen B]

Yes, it does both. It's the extra features that may not be necessary or useful for you. For example I do use plain old PWs in the studio, so the included triggering feature in the 758 is useful there. It is less useful when I use FlexTT5s with flashguns/speedlights because the 758 does not transmit ControlTL signals so the receiving FlexTT5s have to be switched to an alternative configuration to use standard PW channels.

Other features of the 758 that the 358 does not have as standard:

The spot metering is fairly precise and the viewfinder readout can be useful. You may or may not find the spot meter useful if you have a camera with a good built-in spot meter.

The curve placement/calibration function of the 758DR is designed for image files that have had a tone curve already applied, so using it with raw files is tricky but possible. It may not be much use if you shoot raw. As I shoot all my stills in raw only, I find it more useful for video.