Before you say your camera has a built-in exposure meter, light meters have more advanced features and there are still many reasons to have one. You might need to consider a light meter to achieve accurate results for both photography and video.
With the rise of digital photography, light meters lost their reputation, but they are still a vital instrument for modern cinematographers. With the updated light meter designs, you can measure the light and even color with the same device. While this provides ease of use, it also allows adjusting and fine-tuning the light falling onto different type of surfaces. As you know, the metering systems in digital cameras measure the reflected light, and they can also measure the average light in the whole frame. This may sound amazing, but unfortunately, it isn't a guarantee for accurate measurements all the time. With a light meter, you can get accurate incident and reflected light measurements and adjust your exposure to be spot-on.
Undoubtedly, Sekonic is the most common name when it comes to light meters. But as the technology evolves, alternative devices such as Lumu (a light meter that can be attached to an iPhone) came out. In this video, Matt Workman of Cinematography Database compares the most popular light meter models, the Sekonic 858DU, Sekonic L478DU and the Lumu, while pointing out the useful features.
If you also use a light meter user, please share your reasons why and when you use them in the comments section below.
29 minutes?? Couldn't you summarize the results for us?
Go to something like minute 26. He concludes: just buy a sekonic. That's the safe long-term choice.
Okay. Thanks!
Sekonic L308. If you don’t need spot, it’s all ya need.
I wish Sekonic would natively trigger Profoto, as it does for other brands. I'd part with my current Sekonic for that upgrade.
Really? Thanks Lee. I have all that stuff and will try it.
Funny that a video with a guy talking for 30 minutes straight about light meters looks at least 2/3 of a stop under exposed.
I use a Pentax Digital Spotmeter that I picked up used. It's very simple to operate and I've found it to be accurate. If there is a downside, I would say that the form factor of it is probably not the best for use in crowded urban areas...
Good post. Can the cheaper one be ok for my Camera to read light just for photos? I don’t have a light meter, I just sue my historygram ....so love to hear some feedback , thanks
Honestly, unless you have some sort of critical task or specific use case (eg. zone system or flash photography), you'd probably be just fine using a light meter app on a cellphone—even without the Lumu. By virtue of having cameras on them, modern phones tend to be able to meter light pretty accurately by themselves. There are plenty of free apps and a few $1 or $2 apps if you don't want ads.
Or you can get a reasonably priced meter such as Sekonic L-308S-U Flashmate. New it's around $200 . You can always get a used one. Meters are super handy and can speed up your (lighting) workflow . I've had my Sekonic L 358 since the early 2000's .
Thank you
You're welcome.
I really wanted to know about light meters but this was just too boring to get through. What's the summary?
I use the light meter to control the contrast and to set the ratio between the lights
useing a Light Meter in 2018? :P