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| |  | Digital Camera Accessories | Home » » » Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meter | | | | | | | Product Details: | | | Product Length:
| 1.9 inches | | Product Width:
| 3.5 inches | | Product Height:
| 6.7 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.59 pounds | | Package Length:
| 7.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 2.8 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 65 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 65 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
115 of 115 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent Light MeterJun 11, 2005
By iPP
This Sekonic L-358 light meter is an excellent meter. I have fallen in love with it. Lots of Today's 35mm SLR camera meters are TTL Meters (reflected light measurement meters). Sekonic L-358 is such a high precision instrument which measures incident, reflected, flash (cord & cordless). I got great digital photos after I have used the reading on 2 different cameras under normal & Flash lights.
The pictures are great out of your camera and do not require any editing if used properly according to the instructions. I like the built in Memory function to store readings, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, 2 ISO functions, Weather proof Seal, Can include optional radio transmitter + receiver modules to wirelessly trigger flash units, So far Battery Life has been Good. This meter does not use "AA" it uses CR-123A so you will have to always carry one spare with you.
37 of 38 found the following review helpful:
My first handheld meter-works great.Nov 23, 2008
By Bill
"Bill"
I bought this meter because I bought a manual focus lens for my Nikon D50. This camera body does not meter with the old manual lenses. After a week of using it, I can say it performs well. It offers incident and reflected measurements. However, to switch from incident to reflected, you have to take off the lumisphere and mount the lumigrid. It offers shutter and aperture priority modes. I prefer aperture priority-choose an aperture, and the meter selects a shutter speed. You can choose 2 ISO settings. The meter will stay on ISO 1 until you push ISO 2 for a brief reading. When you let go of the ISO 2 button, it goes back to ISO 1.
The Sekonic L-358 also does flash metering(reflected and incident). This is helpful to me because my D50 will not do TTL flash with my older flash units-Nikon SB-80DX. It has flash corded mode-connect flash and meter with sync cord. It also has cordless flash mode. When you press the measurement button, you will have up to 90 seconds to fire the flash. It will even measure multiple flash bursts. However, it will not read them all if the bursts are too quick. I'd recommend leaving at least 1/2 second between bursts to take a reading. There's also flash to ambient light ratio readings.
Another reason I chose this model is you can buy optional spot meter attachments for it-1, 5, and 10 degree heads.
It also has many features I've never used and probably never will, so I can't comment on those. Such as wireless radio flash triggering(I think optional accessories are required), memories, averaging of multiple readings, and more.
Something that you should consider-not all lenses transmit the EXACT same amount of light. In theory they should, but that's not always the case. For example, one of my lenses needs about 1/3-1/2 stop more light than the meter suggests. Another needs about 2/3-1 stop more. And another lens just about agrees with the Sekonic. I think older zooms are more prone to needing more light. If you're getting underexposed images, run tests and take notes with each lens you plan on using with the meter.
And another thing-it uses a CR123A battery. Those can be hard to find, so carry an extra.
35 of 37 found the following review helpful:
Excellent Lightmeter - Great Value Too!May 27, 2008
By Yo' Vinny
I purchased this light meter when I got a chance to use a film medium format camera for awhile. It has every feature that I could like and was so good at exposure measurements that I started using it on my Canon 30D digital when the time for the shot permitted.
At first when I purchased it I thought it was so 'old school' to have a lightmeter, but I knew I was going to have it to use the medium format film camera I had and I wanted to go with strobes eventually so I was going to need it as well for the best results. I was quite surprised to find out how much of a difference it makes on digital and it pointed out how even a good digital camera can only do so good of an exposure prediction because of color and reflection assumptions it has to make.
If you've got to get exposure right on, then get a good light meter. The L-358 is a great light meter for the money.
17 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Waited too longNov 26, 2009
By Paul T. Stewart
I read a light meter review recently where the reviewer said; "even if you don't think you need a light meter, you do." This is good advice.
Three huge advantages come to mind after using this meter once.
First, it is a tremendous time saver during the shoot and afterwards in post processing, take a light reading, set your camera to what the meter reads and shoot.
Second, repeatability - even if you are shooting low/high key or going for artistic effects; you can reproduce lighting ratios/scenarios you like easily in the future. When you don't have a light meter you can spend countless hours tweaking the power settings on your strobes or multiple shoe mount flash units to get a few shots right.......and when you're done and have packed it all up......the next day, week, month....you have no way to get back to those settings again.
Third, better pictures.
Having an LCD/preview and histograms are useful but DSLRs, even the most advanced cameras in the world, can not do what a light meter can. In camera metering has no way of measuring or calculating the light output from studio strobes. TTL, iTTL & all these intelligent flash systems (for shoe mount flash units) still have a place when you are shooting events and there is no time to take light readings. But after using this light meter I can honestly say that if there is time and the shots are important I will never rely on iTTL systems ever again. iTTL flash results are all over the place, when you meter the light and shoot in manual the results will be 100% predictable 100% of the time. My speedlights are going to live in manual mode when there is time to use a light meter from now on.
I doubt you can beat the Sekonic L-358 at this price point. I've only had this meter a few hours but like so many others have said, I wish I had purchased this a long time ago. This is a 5 star product, it works great and is reasonably priced.
28 of 31 found the following review helpful:
 Does what it's supposed to do - a couple tweaks would've been niceApr 28, 2009
By Dave
Using primarily as a studio flash meter and for church formals.
Unit meters as expected for a $240 unit, so no applause for that.
I like:
- The retractable lumpishere (from dome, to flat). VERY useful.
- Ability to show ambient/flash as a percentage. Useful.
I HATE:
That the unit requires two hands to operate. For every operation, you
need to hold down one of the functions buttons then scroll the wheel
to change the value. This really stinks, since I'm usually holding
something else in my other hand. Another 'dip' switch, as Sekonic
calls them, should be added that allows the unit to be operated with
one-hand (ie., automatically 'holds' certain function button while you
toggle).
See all 65 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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