HOW TO Awesome!: Sekonic 398. Perfect budget Light Meter, Training Tool & Exposure Learning
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- HOW TO Awesome!: Sekonic 398. Perfect budget Light Meter, Training Tool & Exposure Learning
• Sekonic L-398A Quick S...
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Great video. If I may point out what you missed out. The Sekonic selenium 398 meter comes with two more light diffuser disks, normally hidden under a flap in the meter case. The white dome simply bayonets off and allows you to fit either of the other discs. The flat white disk allows you to measure the ‘key’ or main light (outside would be the sun, or brightest part of the sky) and then take a second reading facing the opposite direction , or the ‘fill” light if in a studio. Then you can easily calculate the difference between the two readings to get a ‘contrast index’ reading. This tells you if the light is low or high contrast, and when using film especially, if the difference between the highlight and shadow is too much for the film you are using. The black disc with a grid of holes in it is for taking reflected light readings, you were incorrect ( for once), it does do reflected readings. The full manual is available on Butkus.com
OMFG!!!!! YOU ARE THE ONLY DUDE THAT HAS CORRECTLY EXPLAINED THIS!!!! THE ONLY DUDE!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Mind blown! I can't believe they still make this meter! I had a Sekonic 398 back in the early 80's! Got rid of it when I switched to Gossen Luna Pro-F for studio strobe work. Thanks for the stroll down nostalgia lane!
you cant fix perfection man
I know people that have used this meter for forty years and it still works.
I used to sell these for about $28 in 1972. Extremely well made. A lot of Brooks students came to us for one of these. Well worth whatever their prices are today!
The Sekonic on the right was my first light meter in film school. Shooting those 16mm films were fun. lot of memories. The days when you had to think before you rolled the camera.
Just picked up a brand new never used meter for $80. Still had the original receipt from 1993 (made in Japan) Your vid clarified everything and within 5 minutes I understood how to use this. Thanks!
Actually you can do reflective readings, you just need the Lumidisk instead of the Lumisphere. With the Lumidisk in place you use the H arrow and not the Black arrow.
Fantastic video! When I first looked at this meter and then started reading the manual, I was totally confused. I also watched a couple of other You Tube videos which were not much more helpful than the manual. Thankfully I watched this video, and everything fell into place so fast. Thank you.
I have each of these meters and love them both for their own purposes.
Thanks. I just got one in mint shape with everything for $25 at a garage sale. In the kit there was also a Minolta X700 and three lenses also very clean and working perfectly. Thanks to you, I now know how to use it and probably will never forget.
For all you newbies to film, this is a great tool for all those manual film cameras being bought by youngsters that were born in the digital age. It really is as simple as the video explains. A light meter is a must have for all beginners using those non-metered old school manual film cameras. The Sekonic is a bullet proof tool for all field photo work.
Love the way that you repeat the instructions as you go, a great way to teach. Nice!
Just received mine in the mail today! This thing is built like an absolute tank!
Great instructions.Thank you for the demo. I've watched several of these Sekonic instruction videos and yours is the only one that's made sense!! I can use my meter now.
Thanks for the very instructive video, Theoria. I have just bought a Studio Deluxe L-28c2 from a reputable camera shop here in Japan. Many years ago, the L-28 was redesigned as L-398, and thus a family of these instruments sprang up. As you say, they remain popular.
I found mine in a reputable shop here in Japan. I paid more than the price you mentioned, but not as much as a new one. On the whole, a very informed market here pegs prices more highly than say in the USA.
Unlike many of the "bay" offerings, this one came with a nice fresh case. In addition to the Lumisphere and High Slide, the case contains a Lumidisk and Lumigrid. Prospective buyers, a caveat: a lot of sales exclude these basic accessories. In addition, I got to test and compare the meter in the shop. Another example gave identical readings to mine under the shop lights.
I have used a simple little L-188 for decades in conjunction with the sunny f11 rule. I am glad to say that I am graduating at last. Thanks to this vid; I am confident and excited. Film has been costing more and more here in Japan, so one cannot afford failures.
Have a Sekonic 758dr and the 398. Both are dead on. Use the 398 more because of its size. Use it with my rolleiflex, Mamiya 645, and digital for landscape. Thanks for the great video.
I bought one of these brand new during the late 1980s or early 1990s. Haven't used it in 20+ years. Pulled it out since I'm about to start shooting some film with my Hasselblad 500 c/m after a looong idle period and I couldn't figure out why the metering needle wouldn't go to the right of 80 even during the day. The high slide was inserted behind the dome!!!!!!! Thanks for solving that one for me Ken!
You are right! I've been studying exposure and the moment I saw Sekonic's video I've got frustrated, thanks for elucidating the correct way to use it!
Sekonic 398 - 5 stars explanation! Thank you!
we use WESTON theyre so cheap today and yes its a fun toy if you think of grey scale readings
Are these meters reliable in readings? Lets say Sekonic 398 MK I or MK II ? Or is it better to stick up with the latest MK III model? And how about selenium cell compared to that silicone in Sekonic 358? Which one would be better?
Great straight forward tutorial. Explained it as it should be explained.....and the added bonus is it sounded like i was listening to Richard Dreyfus explaining light meters....!!
Great video..light meters have always been a mystery to me..all those dials and numbers seemed confusing but this video clarified things a great deal. I've always depended on the in-camera light meter on cameras equipped with a built-in light meter but I have a penchant for old cameras including some without metering capability so I'm thinking of getting a hand-held light meter this video helped. Sure you have to apply filter factors and what-not when using a light meter but that is part of the art of photography.
Thank you Ken! As always you’re awesome!
My pleasure!
Its my trusted friend.
I just purchased a Rolleicord va, which pairs beautifully with my 398. Ev scale on the meter allows 1/3 f stops on the cord!
Hi, Ken, thanks! I purchased such a tough little monkey and I’m very happy with it.
Good show! Excellent presentation. I now understand the meter better. Thanks
I am buying one for my Bolex 16mm camera. This thing looks so easy to use.
You're video is very useful and so far the best. There's another one of a woman and a "talking hand" that is not bad at all, but that talking hand is pretty annoying. Now I'm taking my Sekonic L-398A outside to check how it is working. Thanks.
Just picked up the one i ordered when i watched this video for the first time.
Amazing thing for 25$ , got an older model I think, because I don't have the memo red dial, also the high slide is missing but i think i can fit a small piece of paper If I'll need it :D Thank you so much for the tutrial!
The Sekonic video stopped me from buying one of these(L-398) because they used a 2-step process to get the shutter speed/aperture value ? Glad you mentioned that the video is wrong. Personally I like my Gossen Luna Pro F which is much better for low light, old eyes, plus it does flash. The battery lasts forever too ! I do have the Sekonic L-208 which works pretty well, but struggles in low light(just like the L-398 maybe?).
I have an L-28C, the precursor to the L-398. I learned how to use it the old fashioned way: I read the instruction manual. (Video? What's that?) Replace the "golf ball" incident meter a Lumigrid, take out the High Slide, and 30-degree reflected light meter readings can be made.
I'd just like to add that as of May 2019, this costs around $50-100 used on Ebay, and $200 new. I got mine for $60.
Excellent! Thanks
BRO hahah, I FUCKEN LOVE YOUR LAUGH!!!
Fantastic explanation of a complete mystery - thank you I laughed as well as I learned, great punch line. I am going to look for one right now.
Excellent, thanks.
Getting a good dose of Sliderule nostalgia.
thanks for this. I found one of these for ¥2,000 to use with my Yashica mat 124 (broken meter).
Very good explanation! Thank you for posting content like this!
Thanks for the video! I recently bought the 478 DR (cause I'm lazy and would rather see the number spat out on screen), and really love it.
I have the "398A" version so instead of red & black arrows its red & silver
I use mine all the time with film and flood lights
I think you missed one step, alight the red arrow with meter needle. It´s so stupid simple that you missed it :)
I have a Weston Master V and a much earlier Weston Master the later probably early 50s and they both work really well and as the man said 'no batteries' :)
Do you have Gossen meters in your collection ? Gotta love the old-school metering style by centering the needle.
Very good instructional video!
Thanks for the Video purchased a 398 super accurate you the man.
Ooh, a correctly made tutorial for this light meter. Not one of Sekonic's specialties. Hope that Gossen would make some more analog meters as well...
Aren’t you supposed to turn the red arrow to match the needle and then turn the dial for the black arrow to match?
Thanks for this video. I'm going to use it for my hassey.
Haha! Someone gave me one of these for free :D I guess they didn't know it was actually worth something.
love it when stuff like that happens :)
That was awesome! Thanks for the lesson, Ken
There are two other attachments that replaces the dome, ne is white and flat, the other is black honeycomb style. Do you have any idea what these two are for?
Thanks for great video.
i know, i have those, i was gonna talk about those tomorrow in general with other stuff
yes, ill make a vid on it tomorrow :)
Jay John I am just about to post a comment explains what the other two diffusers do.
just bought the L-398 Made in Japan at a flea market and tested it out, seems working fine. just a quick one though, when i pressed the center button once say it reads 40 foot candles but when i pressed it the second time, the needle pushed further a bit, say 50 foot candles. is this normal? should i use the first or second reading?
What is the use of the red set of numbers to the left of the speed shutter speed wheel? Not the cine ones, the ones on the opposite side of the white shutter speed numbers?
This video could have been 5 minutes long if you stopped yelling "IT IS SO COMPLICATED."
Thank you! what are the red numbers for, on the top most meter
and how do we get a reading for aperture priority, at for example 24fps, especially if we want to use an ND and open all the way.
I responded to you in another video, but I just learned today - those red numbers are kinda cool.
The red numbers on the needle display are F-stops, and you need an additional accessory set called Direct Reading Slides to use them.
They're made just like the high slide, but each one is calibrated to pass a specific amount of light. It's a set of slides numbered 1-11 and the High Slide is #12.
You pick your ISO and shutter speed from a table which tells you which slide number to put behind the Lumisphere/Lumidisc...incident light reading only.
Once you do that, there's no need to set or touch the dials at all - you simply take your reading and use the Aperture directly under the needle! It's described at the very end of the Sekonic L398 manual, and they give you the table, too. I want one now lol
The High slide is only good for iso 12 @ 1/60, iso 25 @ 1/125, iso 50 @ 1/250 and iso 100 @1/500 - I've just now tested the high slide and it reads the same EV as setting the dial to the red H arrow for each iso/shutter speed above.
@@Panicagq2 Thank you so much!! Im saving the info
I have been putting off buying a light meter because of their cost. I was walking around at the local Goodwill and I scored the original version for $10!
ahahhaahah, they work great too
The original version is a Norwood Director made in the USA
Great tutorial thanks
omg.i just started looking into light meters and yes they look complicated but omg its so simple you are so right its easy.
quick question what one would you recommend to use for a first light meter
I'm new to light meters but I do need to use one at work. We have this light meter. When shoot video in a studio with a video camera, not a DSLR. What I need to meter is my Main light that should be at 100 candles and my Backlight at 80 candles, and Fill light at 50 to70 candles. How do I set it up to get the right readings?
www.cameramanuals.org/flashes_meters/sekonic_l-398.pdf
Lower right quadrant has frames per second and F stops. Paul Giret video shows using the 398 Delux [sic] for Cine readings.
cool, loved this tutorial 😃
Awesome video, I'm just getting into film photography and found this meter on eBay but wondering how it works. Thanks for the explanation, was bit confuse when you mentioned matching the number the red needle pointing to and how to move the black but understood now. Thanks for the info.
Excellent.
I notice that the meter has f/stops printed on it. I understand this is for use with an accessory set of slides, available separately (though I note towards the end, you using it to determine number of stops between two readings - can see where this would come in handy). Do you have any of these accessory slides, and if so, can you show us how this works?
ETA - never mind. Got one. Loving it. The no-slide condition appears to allow direct reading of aperture from the scale with 400ASA film at 1/60 sec, conveniently the same as the flash sync speed for a broad range of manual focus film cameras. :D
$200 new on Amazon! I'm guessing it's all your fault.
whuuuuut!!!!
Yup. I couldn't believe it myself.
Thats for the Sekonic 398 Deluxe III not the Deluxe II. Its pretty hard to find the Deluxe II on ebay in good working condition but I found one for $65 with free shipping from Japan. I would say your best bet would be to go to some Goodwills, flea markets or garage sales to find a really cheap one.
thanks for the link to the real video explaining how this works.... and thanks for training the monkeys incorrectly....
I have an old Goosen Luna Pro that my parents bought me in 1982. At the time I'd get exposure by keeping the dome off and getting reflected light off my hand since I was taking pictures of people on the street. I recently pulled it out and have been trying to see how well it works with modern batteries. So the dome can be slid over for incident light. Any thought on using this one? Think it's any good? I've been trying to determine how good. The only other meter I have is the camera.
Can they plz make them stylish my god those things are ugly!
On a side note I love my light meter Old Vivitar 45, has an overvolt of 0.15 on it. Works perfect for my Fuji X-T20 lol
Excellent way of teaching. Thank you Dear, GOD Bless you.
I've been reading the manual for Sekonic's L398 and it says to point the dome to the camera for incidental light metering. Even if you do this, it would give me different readings accordingly to the place of the subject I would be scanning (brighter or darker). Should I take multiple readings and make an average and see what's the exposure values for that average? What about if the subject has many lights and shadows? For outside distant subjects (landscapes, middleground buildings, people in a scenery...) the manual says to take a reading from camera position (I don't know if this means just a few meters from the camera and pointing towards it or just paralel to the ground catching light from the environment), to take another reading pointing directly to the sun and to do the average. The only situation in which the manual says to point the dome towards the light source is with lumidisc on, from the subject perspective, to measure incidence of one light a time, for contrast calculation. In addition, it says to use the lumigrid near the subject, pointing towards it, to read reflective ligh. Is that the way light meters inside cameras work, they just meter reflective light?
Which needle lines up on what??????
Helpful stuff; thank you. In your opinion what's to choose between the I, II, III versions of this, and what do you think of the smaller one Sekonic do today, or the Gossen Digisix 2? I'm trying to decide which is best buy for incident. If you could give me your thoughts that would be great.
L-208 being the small one.
Ken would you said a Spot meter is not necessary if you have a light meter? Or do you need both? Do you find yourself using spot metering in any of your shoots or your only source is your Sekonic light meter
1 degree spot meter on my sekonic is divinely useful for checking exposures on total gradations of subjects.
i dont use spot metering a LOT…..but it its very useful
all true
Seems a bit tricky, could you run that by us one more time.
I have the 758dr and Lunasix 3. Do you know if modern batteries works fine? I read that old batteries model with
1,34V is hard to find and iam shure it needs to be calibrated
That's the 398A which is the next generation from 398. Just fyi.
12:21 but what’s the point of reducing this light with the high slide? Is that the same as “incident” reading when the luma sphere is pushed in in newer light meter models? Newbie here. So confused :(
How do you use this light meter with variable neutral density filters attached to the front of the camera lens?
you dont, you spot meter from the camera onto a grey card
90 degrees!
Close Newyears Eve 2022 now I grab the old Gossen Lunasix, bought it 2nd hand, and stored it 30 years not knowing how it works. Let's see what and how it does 😂😂😂
How does this work for movie settings (24fps)?
Just like to say since I've found your videos on here I've been going though them more than I have other folks & ever morning I check for news ones, as I find them intertsing & learning. I've tried out the android app LightMeter by David Quiles it's worked so far, but unlike you I've still very little experience. I was wondering if you had tried or would try out the light meter apps or even do a video on the pros & cons on them? Of cause I intend to get a proper lightmeter, once at some point. I used to take street art & street food, but since moving up north it's landscape & portrait photography my intrest. A big big thank you for making your videos, . Thanks Paul
Just to note I was looking at the Sekonic as my first proper light meter :)
thank you for your shows and clearifying controversy. could i get a used minolta VF for $89.00 or they have Sekonic 398 for $89.00 or both one with batteries and the other for when the batteries run out???
Isn’t the panel under the dome a little solar panel that creates that the power the device needs? And doubles as the light sensor.
Why arent you voice acting
does it work also for strobo? when you press the central button and the strobe fires, the needle goes down when te light goes off or it reamains in the higher value?
no, no strobe
ok! thanks :)
I just found out that there are 2 accessroris for this lightmeter: the Lumidisc, and the Lumigrid. I don't have all on them :(
For taking reflective metering outside, I assume removing the dome and using the high slide is sufficient, then?
both are pretty damn worthless, you dont need them for a damn thing really :)
never remove the dome, if you did that then the readings will be way off
+Theoria Apophasis Ah I see. Well actually I just lost my dome. Time to get a replacement, then.
dohhhh
Can i use it for flash reading?
cannot, no. :)
Where is the black arrow? The only one I see did not move. So frustrating.
You're moving the K dial to match the meter reading, not the black arrow.
Got to disagree with Angry photographer on a necessity of this one. Myself have this old Calcu light-xp light meter by Quantum. Worked quite well when I used film cameras. But for some unknown to me reason it just doesn't meter right with my Fuji mirrorless. Exposure is just way off if I use it on digital. Maybe it become uncalibrated or something. Don't really need it anymore.
which fuji? :) you can calibrate it in 5 mins on the back SCREW adj. :)
Way off in what sense? Completely erratic, or by a consistent fixed amount? If it's the former, things might have let go inside; if it's the latter, select ISO to compensate if you don't have an adjustment screw.
it is a sensitive meter you can easily wreck by dropping it...... its that bad ehh?
i have an old toshiba pe-1 light meter, is it any good?
i dont know that meter :) , hehe
$200???! Find some kid on ebay who has no clue what the sekonic is and you can get it for a pack of beer. You didnt address the Cine exposure values (or i missed that).
Can it work for Streetphotography?
heheh, even the very fastest meter, which i have, the Sekonic 858, is not good for that
Lol sorry my question is how can I measure the scene of say a person walking towards me ?
Theoria Apophasis as in do I just turn the sphere towards the person walking towards me and shoot?
In this day and age why are light meters so expensive?
this meter? yeah, used one for $50 , not expensive
Just bought one in new condition, for $150, thinking that I overpaid a little.
It's the deluxe iii, doesn't seem like there's much difference though, between the iii and the ii.
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Bad video , you must put the red needle in front of the red triangle !
That is one irritating laugh you got there☺️
sound sucks
8 min's before you said anything useful...GET TO THE POINT!