Home Nikon Light Meter Tutorial Photography // Light Ratios with Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate

Light Meter Tutorial Photography // Light Ratios with Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate

By
Robert Hall Photography
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978
21

Light Meter Tutorial Photography is an introduction to using a light meter, and helps build an understanding of light ratios. It is also a guide to using the Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate light meter.

Sekonic L-308X-U Flashmate Light Meter:

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– Off Camera Flash Photography Tutorial –

-SERIES VIDEO LIST-
Balancing Flash Exposure :
Balancing Flash Exposure Outdoors:
Light Modifier Selection:
Quality of Light:
Direction of Light:
Using Quality and Direction to Control Light Patterns:
Using Color Correction Gels:
Light Meter Basics : Here
Balancing Multiple Lights:
Matching Fluorescent Lights with color correction gels:
Inverse Color effects with color correction gels:
Bringing it All Together Outside:
Using Light to Enhance Storytelling:
Selecting Flash Equipment:

Description
Exceptionally portable and versatile in its design, the L-308X-U Flashmate Light Meter from Sekonic is a versatile meter that blends both photo and video-oriented functions into a single unit. Equipped with a sliding lumisphere, the L-308X is capable of measuring incident or reflected light via a lens with a 40° reception angle. It offers a wide metering range from 0 to 19.9 EV at ISO 100, working with exposure times as low as 1/8000 all the way up to 60 seconds; it also has an equally broad flash range from f/1.0 to f/90.9 at ISO 100.

The L-308X offers three specialized metering modes: a Photo mode for still shooting with aperture and shutter priority, a Cine mode for selecting frame rates between 8-128 fps with one-tenth of a stop accuracy, and an HD Cine mode for those shooting video with DSLR or mirrorless cameras. All these settings can be easily viewed on the backlit LCD display, which can be customized to your liking and automatically lights up when working at 5 EV or darker. Other features include a PC sync terminal and a cordless flash measuring option. The L-308X-U weighs approximately 3.5 oz and runs on a single AA battery.

Portable meter for measuring incident and reflected light, features a sliding lumisphere with a 40° reception angle
Measuring range of 0 to 19.9 EV at ISO 100
Flash measuring range of f/1.0 to f/90.9 at ISO 100; flash can be measured with PC sync terminal connection or cordlessly
Remarkably accurate with a rated variance of ±0.1 EV on repeat exposures
Exposure times ranging from 1/8000 to 60 seconds
ISO 850 available, useful as it matches the native ISO of some video cameras
Backlit LCD screen can be customized to display relevant information, automatically lights up under 5 EV
Shutter and aperture priority modes available in Photo mode
Cine mode allows you to select the frame rate, from 8 to 128 fps, as well as shutter angle with one-tenth stop accuracy
Runs on one AA battery

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21 COMMENTS

  1. I have just purchased the sekonic L-308x-U and I’m having issues with it.
    On cordless mode I would have the shutter speed at 1/125 and getting a reading of f4, when putting the shutter speed at 1/250 I am still getting a reading of f4, how do I fix that ?

  2. Mr. Hall, I just purchased a Sekonic L-308X-U. I have been listening to your tutorial. I have a question. When shooting Shutter Priority, I press the button to obtain a reading. Good. Now there is a little number that appears to the right of the aperture reading. Sometimes a 3, a.6 and, sometimes a 9 What do I do with that number? Is that number the amount by which I must increase or decrease my camera aperture setting? Please, answer. Thanks, JV

  4. Hi Robert, great video; when you say "If you make the flash outdoor 1 STOP brighter [then the background]" it means increasing your flash power 2 stops? like 1/8 to 1/2? or .0 to 1? I dont get it.
    I understand that when you increase or decrease the flash power 1 stop is like 2 F stops? Right?

  5. It’s crucial in street photography that involves people as subjects; measure the light reflecting from the hand, to get accurate exposure for skin tones. Then recheck every 15-20 mins as the ambient light changes of if you change the location. The camera simply can’t do this right.

  11. The user manual is awful! Thanks for your video, it helped me not throw away my hardly used light meter. It would be helpful to also explain how to change the increments for SS. That took a bit of figuring out.

  12. Hey Rob, thanks for this video. Quick questions … does this light meter work if we start getting into high speed sync? How does one determine what flash power to use? Or would we use the lowest flash power possible to have a faster recycle time until restricted by the amount of light?

  18. Wouldn't it make more sense to use the DIN scale? That would do away with the astronomical ISO numbers. For example, ISO 25,00 would be DIN 45º. Each number on the DIN scale represents one third of a stop difference from an adjacent number. The DIN scale goes up arithmetically. For example, ISO 100 = DIN 21, ISO 125 = DIN 22, etc. To double sensitivity, add 3 to the DIN. For example, to go from 400 ISO to 800, add 3 to DIN 27º to get 30º. This would be much easier to work with.

  19. Thank you so much for the explanation. I’ve had my meter for over a year and struggled with it.If I may make a suggestion, it would be helpful to explain how to interpret the result. For instance, if you are wanting a 2.8 exposure and your results say 1.4, do you increase or decrease light? That would make this tutorial PERFECT.

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