Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meters

Sekonic L-358 Flash Master Light Meters 

DESCRIPTION

The Sekonic L-358 Flash Master is an advanced, yet easy to operate, exposure analyzing light meter, that incorporates the latest technology in handheld meters.

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 19  
[Apr 27, 2010]
lowel
Professional

Strength:

I mostly shoot wedding in different kind of situation and i need a light meter that is reliable and accurate. I choose L358 coz it has weather sealed components, very accurate in studio and outdoor use, very easy to use and good value for money.

Weakness:

Casing feels cheap, it looks like its gonna break easily if drop and the bag should have pocket for the extra dome.

Everything you need in a light meter, in studio and outdoor use. Im glad i choose this with other lesser brand. yeah!

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

N/A

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 06, 2009]
mark h
Professional

Weakness:

pw attachment

Works adequate without the PW attachment. With the pw attachment, you can't meter flash more than 10 feet away:( (

HUGE dissapoinment!)

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Mar 26, 2009]
seoirse
Expert

Strength:

Accurate
Lots of modes
Simple layout - intuitive
spot meter attachment (optional extra) for Zone system

Weakness:

Case could do with an extra pocket to keep the spare dome.
Pity it doesn't take AA batteries.

Bought this meter secondhand to replace an old L-398 Sekonic which had seen better days. Great bargain considering it was spotless.

This is a great meter in my opinion. Very accurate in all modes and very easy to operate. Easy to see readings in poor light. Works great with the optional extra 1 degree spot attachment.

It didn't feel too fragile or plasticky to me but YMMV.


I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

Customer Service

None needed

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Mar 29, 2008]
jmuxica
Professional

Strength:

Ease of use. Spot on readings and with proper adjustments for different lenses or filters, it works flawlessly.

Weakness:

Not found a real one yet ...

Just got it a couple of days ago. I travel a lot and I usually rent my heavy gear to make it easier on myself. In the case of this meter, I really fell in love with it when I rented it. At first I was confused about the dials and compared to the Minolta's that I had been using, it seemed kind of harder to use... but after a few moments of using it I realized it was actually really easy and just a matter of reading the manual once (light reading) and your are ready to go. One could argue about the plastic casing but in the end is probably only a factor if you have a tractor drive over it... other than that, it's one that I would recommend.. I am loving every bit of it .. I wish my elinchrom remote triggers would work with it so I don't have to go buying PWs.

Customer Service

Not used it yet!

Similar Products Used:

Minolta V

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jul 23, 2007]
knipser
Professional

Strength:

Top quality, fair price, multiple functions, better than most other light meters.

Weakness:

none

Best meter I ever had. Very useful with the built-in radio transmitter to trigger monolights and flashlights. No cords, just photographic luxury. Very nice: quad triggering and the analyzing function which shows the ratio of ambient and flash light.

Customer Service

never needed since today.

Similar Products Used:

Aspen Polaris 1 Lightmeter

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 25, 2006]
darrelll
Expert

Strength:

Fair price, top quality, accurate, weatherproof, PW trigger, expandability and lightweight.

Weakness:

Case should be designed to hold the reflected light module.

I love this meter! It is more than weatherproofed! While shooting in Yosemite for a week with my 4x5 and my Nikon Dslr, I accidentally dropped my L358 meter in the Merced River and chased it about 10 ft down the river. I didn't want to try turning it on after being submerged in the river so I dryed it with a cloth, removed the battery and let it dry in the sun for an hour. It did look dry inside I will say. anyway, after allowing to dry, turned it on and it worked perfect. I'm sure I could have turned it on and used it while it was wet, but since it said it was only weatherproof, I didn't want to take a chance. Anyway, I won't be scuba diving with it but I am not going to worry about it getting wet in a rainstorm or in the snow.

I did get the transmitter module with the purchase and I just recently got the PW Multimax triggers and they work great together. This is after I wasted $80 on two sets of those worthless cheapo radio triggers found on feebay. Those things worked okay for the first few times and got worse and worse until they wouldn't fire at all.

Similar Products Used:

Weston, old Sekonic, L308

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 11, 2006]
footdr
Professional

Strength:

Weatherproof
well made
Delta ev function
upgradeablet to wireless
clear well written instruction book
three year warranty
accurate

Weakness:

a mlittle bit larger than i would like

An excellent weathrproof meter with a low learnigncurve. Well constructed has large digitsl bvavklit dispaly and nma=many advanced functions, Can be upgraded to wireless transmiter. Competiveky priced and made well. Three year warranty frim the MAC group

Customer Service

none

Similar Products Used:

polaris

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
4
[Sep 02, 2004]
gururover
Intermediate

Strength:

Nice size and features.

Weakness:

Very Plasticky not what you would expect of this company.

I have owned a number of sekonic meters and have always found them to be exellent to use.I first owned a 308 b2 which was a joy to use and is perfect for a begginer or intermediate. I then upgraded to a 508 which had all the bells and whistles and really makes you stop and think about what your doing but it is really geared more towards proffesionals. I have for some time now been using Digital Slr's and have been making do with a very old sekonic studio deluxe meter. I recently decided to buy the L 358, certain of its Quality and features. At first glass in the shop it seemed a bit plasticky, which was not at all what i was expecting from past experience. I purchased it anyway and took it home, the features on it were very good and just what i was looking for. After playing with it for some time and trying to get used to its functions i was then horrified, the ring to lower and raise the Lumisphere came off in my hand.Worst of all the part that came off seemed to be just held on with glue. Needless to say i returned it to the shop and my confidence was destroyed, they very helpfully gave me a refund. An echange was not even an option sadly. No one else seems to have had this problem though that i can tell of in the other reviews so maybe it was a bit of a lemon that i had picked.!

Customer Service

Glad it broke before that was neccessary.

Similar Products Used:

308 B2 508

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
3
[Jan 07, 2004]
Cowgirl
Professional

Strength:

Easy to learn, Easy controls, Price is good too!

Weakness:

The bag that came with the meter should have a small pocket in it to keep the extra reflective/incident dome seperatley, so that it does not accidently fall out when you open the bag.

WOW! What an easy to learn, easy to use meter! After some experimenting, I have really grown to love this meter. I've had it less than 3 weeks and I have photographed 1 wedding with it already - exposure is right on. Wedding results were great! Do some testing first to become familiar with it. Different lenses/cameras may yield slightly differnt results. I first metered ambient light only, then compared its reading with my different lenses and camera bodies. Then I did the same comparisons with 1 studio flash, then 2 flashes... Now I know what each of my lenses will do, and can make any adjustments to the meter's reading. I am really glad that I purchased this model. Many photographers on the Studio/Lighting Forum here use this meter, and it was highly recomended to me. I do not regret this purchase at all. Big, easy to read LCD screen lights up very nicely. Can give results with two different ISO readings, great if you have one camera with 100 speed film, and another with 400! Meter 1 time and adjust both cameras. For studio, wedding formals, and portraits, this meter is a must. Great for the beginner or Pro.

Customer Service

Not needed yet.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 10, 2003]
Chill Me
Intermediate

Strength:

Very easy to use. Very big backlit display.

Weakness:

None to mention

I used to shoot mainly 35mm but now I shoot with a Mamiya TLR Medium Format ( mechanical ) and 4x5 Views. Ergo, I needed a meter. The Sekonic does everything I need it to do and more. It does the basics very well and the advanced features such as multiple pops and exposure averaging are all there. The dial is great for quickly adjusting settings. Yes it is accurate. If you have any doubts, just send it to Mamiya for calibration. What I like MOST about the meter is that it includes a Pocket Wizard transmitter. I can now fire my Profoto lights without tripping over cords or switching cords from my camera to the meter. I may digress here, but if you have a transmitter on your camera and your meter, you are less likely to miss shots. I would buy another in a second.

Customer Service

Excellent - recalibrated my meter quickly

Similar Products Used:

Minolta

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 19  

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