Sekonic L-308S vs. L-358

I am looking at buying a light meter. I have been comparing these two in particular. This will be my first one and a learning curve at that. A few questions for anyone interested in answering.

1. Are these units lacking any features that a newbie should be concerned with?

2. What features/design qualities does the 358 offer over the 308s that would make the extra cost worth while?

Thanks...

I own the 308s. I'm very happy with it. The light meter gives me all I need (at least at the moment) to get correct exposures.

The 358 is able to choose between aperture and shutter speed priority modes and the 308 only shutter speed. The 358 has a good memory management in order to have balance comparissons.

As I understand, those are the main differences.

eechip said:

I am looking at buying a light meter. I have been comparing these
two in particular. This will be my first one and a learning curve at
that. A few questions for anyone interested in answering.

1. Are these units lacking any features that a newbie should be
concerned with?

2. What features/design qualities does the 358 offer over the 308s
that would make the extra cost worth while?

Thanks...

Click to expand...

--
Ramiro Escobar
La Paz - Bolivia
Nikon D80
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR
Nikon 50mm f/1.8
SB-600

The L-358 is
Weather sealed
Has a retractable dome
Has a swivel dome
can accept a radio module for pocket wizards
can accept a spot metering attachment

The L-308s advantages
is smaller and more pocket-able
Is easier to slide the dome to one side for reflective metering
is cheaper - not a lot.

Thanks for the answers. Very helpful.

eechip said:

I am looking at buying a light meter. I have been comparing these
two in particular. This will be my first one and a learning curve at
that. A few questions for anyone interested in answering.

1. Are these units lacking any features that a newbie should be
concerned with?

2. What features/design qualities does the 358 offer over the 308s
that would make the extra cost worth while?

Click to expand...

I have a L308S and am very pleased with it. As a flash meter, it does everything I need to meter flash units. But the 358 is not a huge cost more, and does more (but which I dont need to do).

I would not want the 308 as a general purpose reflective meter outdoors, because it only does shutter priority. But shutter priority is is the only thing reasonable for a flash meter to do, not a problem for flash. And I use the camera meter outdoors anyway.

Metering flash, suppose one light meters f/10, and you want to set a second light to be 1.5 stops less than that. How much is that? The 358 will store two readings and tell you the the difference (with some button manipulation).

But.. you can simply set the 308 to read in tenth stops, so that the f/10 reads f/8 + 0.7 stops. Then you know exactly how much 1.5 stops less is (f/5.6 +0.2), so it is no problem at all to use.

Thanks, good info!

I have the 308s and I use it in the studio and outdoors.

I shoot manual and the shutter only priority metering is not really a problem. To balance flash with outdoor, you have to make readings in two modes.

That said, I'd buy the 358 if I didn't already have the 308s.
--
Scott