I am interested in purchasing a light meter mostly for outdoor photography and would appreciate any recommendations and experiences. Thanks
Sekonic 358. It is without a doubt one of the best. I've found it to be very easy to use. I bought it a month or so ago and it has helped out tremendously. It's a little pricey at around $250 but as many other things in life and especially photography, you get what you pay for.
Any of the modern Sekonics are good - if budget is a consideration you can check out eBay and usually find a good deal on an older, analogue Gossen (Luna Six, Luna Pro, Pro F), just make sure it's a model which uses 9v or AA battery. Some use obsolete button cells. As well, Polaris makes a digital meter which is reasonably priced, but the plastic seems cheap and brittle.
Outdoor with strobes? If yes, you want a meter that will read both ambient and strobe light. Depending on the level of your photography, it could be wise to invest right away in a very good one. Despite its price I picked the Sekonic L-758DR which has some great features for a professional studio. At this point I can't tell you much about it as my assistants and I are still learning to use it but it does seem to work very nicely, so far.
Digital SLR cameras have a built-in reflected light meter. Most can be configured in 3 different modes. Hand-held meters can also measure reflected light which is somewhat redundant but they can also measure incident light and strobed light. A nice entry level meter that can measure all 3: incident, reflected, and strobed is Sekonics L-308S. the 308s is limited in that it can only trigger strobed lights with a PC cord. Sekonic | L-308S Flashmate Light Meter | 401-309 | B&H Photo The Sekonic L-358 has an accessory that can remotely trigger strobed lights that are set up with Pocket Wizard radio transceivers. Sekonic | L-358 Flash Master Meter - Silver | 401-358 | B&H I'm with c.cloudwalker that if you truely need a meter the L-758DR is tough to beat since it can be calibrated to your camera's image sensor. Sekonic | L-758DR DigitalMaster Flash Meter | 401-758 | B&H
