Sekonic L-358 for a Canon 518

spaceman spiff · Aug 13, 2010

Hey guys,

I have the opportunity to pick up a Sekonic L-358 on the cheap ($250 CDN), and wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with this particular model. I have a Canon 518, which is quite limited in terms of what I can to manipulate light (essentially any of that would have to be done with external lighting as opposed to the camera's options), so I guess I also want to know if it's really worth getting a light metre for essentially a point-and-shoot.

Although I'm sure it'll come in handy, when I upgrade to 16mm, which I plan on doing someday anyways.

Many thanks,

Spaceman

bird · Aug 13, 2010

I've only used a Sekonic analog before, and found it to be a great tool. Looking at the specs on the Canon 518, seems you have the option of manual exposure, so yeah a light meter would come in handy if you want to experiment with bracketing, etc....and Super 8 is much cheaper to experiment with than 16mm. So, no doubt if you're moving onto 16mm you'd want a good meter.

Zensteve · Aug 13, 2010

spaceman spiff said:
worth getting a light metre for essentially a point-and-shoot.

Many of the newer S8 filmstock speeds are not read correctly by many cameras (mis-reading of notches), so it's pretty important to be able to manually set your exposure.

I don't know anything about your Sekonic.

David.rhsc · Sep 1, 2010

Interesting, seems to be a digital version of the ubiquitous 398 (their analog one). Light meters are great to have, and if you can snag one for cheap, it's a great investment. You can always run tests to iron out any quirks in the relationship between the meter and the camera.

I'd go for it personally, as you said it will definitely be useful for more than just 8mm stuff.

http://www.sekonic.com/products/Sekonic L-358 FLASH MASTER.asp

Sekonic L-358 for a Canon 518

spaceman spiff

bird

Zensteve

David.rhsc