Home > Consumer Reviews > Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meter

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.

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.

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.

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).

I am a somewhat advanced amateur and not a profesional, so take my comments with a slight grain of salt.

I got this meter as a Jesus-day present, so I haven't yet had a lot of time to play with it (I'm writing it the same day). But, so far, I'm very impressed with it. I've abused it and my camera for a couple of hours so far.

Basic operation is pretty straightforward, and without even reading instructions it's pretty obvious how it works. The controls are intuitive and well marked, and the display is easy to read.

I've never worked with an incident light meter before, nor has anyone instructed me in how to use one. So, there are a few features that are beyond my understanding at the present time, but that will change with some quality time with the manual. By the way, I was worried that the manual might be difficult to understand, but I think it's actually pretty well written.

All the above being said, this is probably not a tool for the complete novice to photography. I would strongly encourage you to have a fairly good grasp of the fundamentals of photography, most importantly those concerning the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO speed. This product assumes that you know how to work your camera in either aperture or shutter priority modes; if you don't know how to do this, buy the field guide for your camera, experiment a bit, and come back to this item in a few months.

Also, construction is nice. The manual states that it is splash and rain proof (though not "wash" proof), but I'm probably not going to test it. :)

One of the features that I really like about this meter is the option to plug a radio transmitter (like a Pocket Wizard) directly into the unit (in the battery compartment). Makes for a nice easy exposure setup.

Finally, about the f-stop settings. If you're in a controlled environment such that you can stop to use a light meter, my guess is that you're probably shooting in an aperture priority or fully manual mode. Shutter speed is probably not an issue. Out of the box, this meter displays aperture priority settings in full stop increments. Even basic cameras like the Canon Rebel often display stops in 1/3 increments. This setting is changed via DIP switches in the battery compartment. My recommendation is to set the stop increments to 1/3 straight away. On my model, that means moving DIP switches 3 and 4 to "on".

Have fun!