SEKONIC L-758

Ian Barber

HOW I USE THE

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HOW I USE THE SEKONIC L 758

My name is Ian Barber and I am a UK based photographer who specializes in Digital

Black and White photography, printing and training.

This free e-book explains how I use the Sekonic L 758 meter to calculate both the dynamic range of a scene and also how to calculate the correct exposure when using ettr.

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The Sekonic L-758 is a powerful light meter and is well liked amongst many photographers because of its robust design and its 1 degree spot meter capabilities.

The main reason for writing this e-book is to try to simplify how we can use the meter to our advantage as landscape photographers by homing in on the 1 degree spot meter.

If you are looking for an in-depth discussion of all the controls, dials and menu options this meter has to offer then I strongly suggest taking some time to study the manual.

Let’s begin with talking about why a hand held meter can be more useful to us that simply using the cameras inbuilt reflective meter.

The meter which is built into most cameras today are reflective meters which means that they measure light reflecting of where we happen to point the camera. The way in which it measures this reflected light is dependent on which metering mode we have the camera set to whether this be, evaluative, matrix, centre weighted or spot.

Matrix or evaluative will average out the reflected light from the entire scene to give you a base exposure of around 18% grey.

Centre weighted will lean more towards the centre of the frame and the spot function will meter roughly 5% of where you point the camera.

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The Sekonic L 758

Sometimes as landscape photographers, we need more accuracy than what the inbuilt camera light meter can offer and this is where the spot meter function of the Sekonic L 758 shines because it uses a 1 degree spot function which is extremely accurate.

To access the spot meter function we simply rotate the dial on the right hand side of the meter to the spot position and then look through the viewfinder.

The round circle in the centre of the viewfinder is the 1 degree area which

will be used to calculate the exposure. Below the exposure circle you will also see the shutter speed on the left and the aperture value on the right hand side.

Before we go any further, let us just recap on what the exposure meter is calculating for us.

All exposure meters are designed to give us a base exposure of middle grey. This can also be referred to as 18% grey or Zone V if we are familiar with the zone system.

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Whether it be landscape or seascape, my Sekonic L 758 is always by my side. Throughout my workflow, I am always striving to get as much right as I can in camera and this includes exposure.

I always use Manual mode as this gives me total control and I am not allowing the camera to do any thinking.

After I have composed the scene to how I want, the next step I do is to calculate the dynamic range of the scene as this will tell me whether I can capture it in one exposure or whether I need to either bracket the exposure or attach some form of filter to the front of the lens.

It can be a huge advantage if you are already familiar with the dynamic range of your camera which the Sekonic L 758 can do incidentally. If your cameras dynamic range is not known then the higher end DSLR’s can easily capture approximately 2 1/2 stops above and below middle grey.

I like to work in 1/3 increments on my camera so I set the light meter to also read in 1/3 increments which is done by changing the custom function 1 setting.

To enter the custom setting mode, the meter must first be turned off. Press and hold the Mode button and turn the power on. In the upper right hand corner the letters CS will be displayed indicating we are in the Custom Menu section.

There are also 2 sets of numbers, the numbers on the left indicate the custom menu number and the number on the right indicate the item number.

In the example below, 01 represents custom menu 1 and 1 represents item number 1. To change to a different custom menu number, rotate the Jog wheel and to change the item number tap the Mode button.

To set the L 758 to read in 1/3 increments rotate the jog wheel to custom menu 03 and tap the Mode button until 1 is displayed in the item number. To exit the Custom Section, turn off the light meter.

All this information is displayed on Page 44 of the user guide.

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Setting Up The L 758

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01 1

CS

I find that knowing the dynamic range of the scene is important as this allows me to determine if I can capture the image with a single exposure or whether I need to think about attaching neutral density filters or even taking multiple captures and different exposures (bracketing)

To calculate the dynamic range, I set the L 758 to Aperture Mode, dial in my desired aperture value and then I set the ISO to the same ISO setting my camera is set to.

In the spot mode I take a meter reading of the brightest part of the scene and press the memory button to place that value into memory.

Next, I press the AVE button and then press the measure button whilst pointing the meter at the darkest shadows that contain detail. In the view finder LCD you will see the difference is stops in real time as you swing the meter through the shadow areas. Let’s quickly look at an example on what I am talking about.

To determine the dynamic range of the photograph below, the following steps were taken with the L 758.

1. Set meter ISO to match camera ISO (200)

2. Set meter Aperture to match camera aperture (11)

3. Set meter to spot mode

4. Take measurement of bright sky & press Memory Button

5. Press AVE button and then take a reading of the darkest area I want to retain detail (roof tiles) and note the difference in stops through the viewfinder window.

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Calculating Dynamic Range Dynamic Range

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-2.0

The difference in brightness between the sky and the roof tiles in the previous example is -2.0 stops.

Knowing that my camera can capture 2 1/2 stops lower than middle grey, I was able to capture this photograph in a single exposure.

Calculating the dynamic range of a scene is a powerful function of the Sekonic L 758 and can be very useful when you are faced with a scene that appears to have a great dynamic range.

In the next section I will explain how I use the Sekonic L 758 when I want to expose to the right.

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Exposing to the right is also referred to as ETTR which means that we are trying to push the histogram as far to the right as we possibly can without loosing any details in the highlights.

Unlike film where we are wanting to exposure for the shadows and develop for the highlights, digital sensors are less forgiving when it comes to highlight detail which is due to the nature of the response curve.

Although modern raw converters are getting better and better at recovering highlight detail, try to get into the mindset of getting it right in camera otherwise you wind up becoming a lazy photographer and one day you will be faced with a situation where you have lost detail and are unable to recover it successfully.

Word of caution regarding the histogram

Most modern cameras allow you to set picture styles such as Vivid, Landscape, contrast, brightness, etc. If you are shooting in JPG then these styles are baked into the jpg file when you import the images into your editing software but if

you are shooting in RAW then these styles are ignored during the import.

After you have taken a photograph and view the result on the LCD screen, you are actually viewing a JPG preview of the image including and picture styles which you have set in the menus.

The histogram you see will also be based around what ever styles you have set and is not a true representation of the RAW data.

Get to know your camera by experimenting just how far you can push the histogram to the right without clipping any data in either the Red, Green or Blue channel.

Using the Sekonic L 758 to expose to the right is very easy and is something I do most of the time if I want to nail the exposure.

Referring to page 44 of the manual, we need to allocate the ISO button as a filter factor button which will allow the meter to do all the heavy lifting for us and work out the correct exposure for the brightest part of the scene without clipping any valuable data. After this has been done then we

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Exposing To The Right (ETTR)

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need to program in the filter factor to the iso2 button and we do this by pressing and holding the ISO-2 button and at the same time rotating the jog wheel until the desired number is shown in the upper right hand corner.

Unless you know exactly what the dynamic range your camera is capable of producing, my suggestion it to set the value to 2 to start with and then experiment until you reach the optimal value. For my Nikon D3s I set it to 2.5

What this is doing is telling the light meter that our camera can record highlight detail 2 full stops above middle grey. For those that work in zones, this would be Zone VII.

Remember that where ever you point the spot meter, the exposure reading is always going to render middle grey Zone V and we want to be placing our highlight higher than this hence the reason for increasing the exposure by what we have programmed into the ISO 2 button.

Let’s use the previous example and try to illustrate this through a picture.

I took a spot reading of the brightest part of the sky which happened to read 1/800th second @ f/11 @ ISO 200.

By simply pressing the ISO 2 button, the light meter automatically determined that opening up 21/2 stops would give me a reading of 1/60th @ f/11 @ ISO 200

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In this small e-book, I have explained how I use the Sekonic L 758 to work out both the dynamic range and the correct exposure for placing the brightest highlight at the far edge of the histogram without loosing any important data.

This small device is packed with tons of options, far more than I have covered here and I strongly suggest reading the manual if you want to get the most from what it has to offer.

For more information on what I do you can follow me at any of the following places.

http://www.ianbarberphotography.co.uk

http://www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

Facebook

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Conclusion

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