The Sekonic L-758D Lightmeter - the saga begins

The Birth of a New Day
Originally uploaded by thefatcat44

David Noton. Joe Cornish. Charlie Waite. Lee Frost. You all have a lot to answer for.

Here I am trying to master landscape photography, and these guys all tell me in their books and blogs that a handheld lightmeter is essential.

Now on the surface of it, this didn't seem too bad. After all you can buy Sekonic lightmeters on EBay for £80 new. However, on further reading you realise these are okay for studio work but not for landscapes. What you need for landscape metering - especially to get it right for Lee ND grad filters - is a 1 degree spotmeter.

That's when they drop the £400 price tag on you from a great height!

So I grumbled and griped about it. Put it off. Tried to convince myself I could manage with the DSLR's inbuilt spot meter. But of course, the guys who really know, really do know. It is so slow and frustrating using the DSLR.

You have to forget composition and take the camera off the tripod to take readings from the sky and foreground, work out the stops difference, then refit to the tripod, compose the shot, then put the required filter or filters in the holder and align with the horizon and then set the exposure - all before making the image. Of course, by this time, not only have the light levels changed but actually several days have gone past and search parties are scouring the hills for you. Worse still, you have missed the shot.

So, suck it up, Chinnery. Save some cash and buy one. I happened to find a brand new one on EBay for £225. Perfect. I was delighted with it and opened the box eagerly. I adored it in my hands. A thing of beauty. The end to my metering issues.

Yeah right.

My happiness dissolved when I printed out the 65 page manual. And that's not 65 pages over 12 languages. That's 65 pages of English. And not normal English, that us humans use, but 65 pages of densely typed full on geek-speak with added technobabble and a big dose of gobbledegook. I am guessing Joe Cornish understands it all. I certainly don't.

Now I know why the EBay seller had got it out of the box, fiddled for a few minutes then packed it up and listed it for sale. It is impossible to use unless you have several degrees in physics, electronics and the patience of a saint.

However, I am made of stern stuff. If David Noton can do it, so can I.... can't I?

I have spent hours over the last three days reading, re-reading and re-re-reading those 65 pages. I distilled out of it the bits I really need to know. After all, I don't use studio flash much, so I have glossed over that part and concentrated on spot metering.

It took three hours for me to set all the settings up to suit the photography I do.

I have a vague idea of how it works. Very vague. Like I have a vague idea of what Stephen Hawkins was on about in 'A Brief History of Time'.

So now I have to go out and use it. I have put this off twice. But it is going to have to happen.

I will keep you posted. Tomorrow is the day, weather permitting. The saga has begun. Let's hope the force is with me.