Sekonic L-758DR?

[proberts]

Ok, it may just be that I'm wondering what my next toy should be, but the Sekonic L-758DR looks interesting. Yeah- $500 is a lot for a lightmeter, even if it'll double as a pocket wizard, even worse, the REAL reason for getting the meter requires another $100 of test target-- but the ability to profile a camera/lens combination looks very, very interesting to me.

http://www.sekonic.com/products/products_features.asp?ID=130

Anyone else having the same thoughts?

Paul

[easternherp]

Depending on what you need it for it might be over the top. I have the L558 and it is spot on and I am very pleased with it.

[Tom V]

That sounds like a lot of work.

I have a 24 year old Minolta FlashMeter III, which is accurate to 1/10th of a stop, reads flash, ambient or both, has a 10° spot attachment, etc. It is fantastic. I hardly use it. The LCD and Histogram on the DSLRs are handier.

[proberts]

Yeah, but the histograms are based on the JPEG, and don't help you squeeze all the DR out of a scene. A one-time profile and meter forever thing for each body/lens combo really is compelling, I'm just not sure it's $600 of compelling. Think zone system calibration for your gear, but optimized for the digital world. Add in the ability to spot on things in the shadows and have an "over DR" warning and it's pretty cool- I'm just not sure we won't see better, cheaper methods long-term. I'm probably going to fook around with the white towel/gray card subtraction method first though.

Paul