Hello Everyone, Hope everyone had a wonderful holidays. I just wanted to get some views on light meter? They seems handy to have and a great tool. I have previously used them in school but never bought one. I have been thinking about buying one. I’m having trouble coming to the agreement of cost vs need ? Even if I do. I don’t know what to go for. Would love your opinion on this. Thanks.
Frank Doorhof is a huge proponent of using a light meter for consistency, repeatability and accuracy. You will also learn about taking spot metering of the background and the number of stops to make it truly white or black base on the initial 18% grey exposure. Some of his tutorials related to light meter are found here. https://p-v.club/threads/mastering-the-model-shoot-the-light-meter-frank-doorhof.14979/ https://p-v.club/threads/kelbyone-–-why-fake-it-when-you-can-create-it-frank-doorhof.14981/
I think the need for light meter is less when you shoot natural light but when you start adding strobes, especially multiple lights for consistent, quick results and also a easier learning curbe for flash photography the need for light meter increases quite significantly. I would opt for l-478 or l-308x depending on your needs. Check ebay too sometimes thry have it cheaper. Light meter is a good investment to help you see light too initially.
I don't use a light meter that much but am really glad that I have one when i need it. It makes setting strobes to the right power very easy (especially if you're backlighting something and you don't want it to flare). Like Kocaman said, check ebay for second hand meters. I've had my Sekonic L-308 for about 20 years and it's still going strong. I don't need anything fancier than that.
I would also like to add that it looks more professional in front of clients when you have 2 or more lights, your lighting ratios will get you to your desired result much quicker which is of course all important as client experience is vital in the current market. IMO its a worthwhile investment for flash photographers, not so much for natural light.
