Zone metering with the Sekonic L-508?

[l2oBiN]

I am wondering how to most effectively apply zone metering with this meter. How do people utilize zone metering with the sekonic?

[Bill Burk]

I use a Zone System sticker on my L-578 which may work on your meter too.

http://www.beefalobill.com/images/zone.pdf

It merely serves to remind you the blinking reading is V and reminds you which direction is up towards VII and which is down towards II. Obvious when you think about it but sometimes not so easy to think...

[l2oBiN]

Exactly how do you use this Bill? Perhaps you have a photograph of your meter?

[neil poulsen]

I use EV's with my 508, as I recall.

For example, if I place a Zone 3 in a scene, and the EV reading is 9, subtract 3 from 9 to get 6. Subtracting "6" from any other reading will give you the correct zone with respect to the 3 that you placed at an earlier time.

I use this same system with my Pentax, and it works quite well.

[dsim]

Steve Simmons posted a Zoning article some time ago here (http://www.viewcamera.com/pdf/zoning.pdf). The Sekonic L-608 was used but the technique can be applied to the L-508.

Hope it helps.

[Bill Burk]

Here's a photo of my meter with sticker applied and screen protector over the top.

The L758 has clipping points that I moved out to match Zone I, II, VIII and IX.

http://www.beefalobill.com/images/sekonic.jpg

1. Use the meter in Shutter Priority metering mode, the mode with f/stops scale showing on the LCD.
2. Spotmeter a part of the subject you want.
3. The blinking cursor indicates the f/stop for Zone V.
4. To "place" the reading at Zone II for shadow, use the f/stop at a clipping point, in my photo Zone II would be 1/15 at f/32 or f/45.
5. If your model lacks clipping points, you will need to count out the stops in your head.

The only reason it is hard to do in your head in the first place is that Zones IX and VIII are on the left and it "feels" backwards.

[Bill Burk]

Thanks dsim,

The article makes sense, and accomplishes the same ends as my steps. My sticker will work with the instructions from Steve Simmons...

[John NYC]

I am wondering how to most effectively apply zone metering with this meter. How do people utilize zone metering with the sekonic?

After studying the Ansel books, I boiled it down to this way of working for me with the L-758DR, a similar meter.

1. Set your desired ISO and f/stop on the meter. Verify that you have no current stored exposure readings in memory.

2. Meter the part of your scene where you absolutely want to keep very good shadow detail. This will be "placed" in Zone III in step four. Hit the memory store button.

3. Meter the place where you absolutely want to keep highlight detail. This will "fall" somewhere on zone system scale in step four. Hit the memory button.

4. You now have two stored readings. While holding down the Mid Tone button, move the jog will to place the first reading tick indicator on EV-2 (Zone III). You can then see where the upper reading falls on the EV scale. Be careful to note the shutter speed before releasing the button. This shutter speed will get you the exposure. If the upper reading is above EV+3 (Zone VIII), you are going to lose some of the highlights there and you have to start making some compromises.

Whenever friends with DSLRs start making fun of my meter and film camera, I challenge them to use any metering mode they want on their camera and then take a picture, then I use the above method and make them enter it in manually. The results are either a tie or the zone system exposure is better, without fail.

The trick is knowing WHERE in your scene to take your two meter readings, and that is what takes practice.

[atlcruiser]

Maybe I am just too basic on this :) I use the same meter.

I use EV only. I set the the film speed then measure the darkest area I want detail in...zone 3. My meter tells me that is the EV for that area at zone 5. I add 2 stops of film speed with the ISO dial and that gives me zone 3 for that area. From there I pick f stop based on the scene, focus point and how I want to record it. I can see possible combos at once as I dial the f stop up/down.

I can do the same thing for the hi values by reducing film speed. I count in my head the difference between low/hi values

My goal is a 5 EV spread at N development. Depending on the scene I might use zone 4 not zone 3 to help get me there.

I also, almost at random, throw in an additional stop of exposure if i am at all unsure of what i have.

I use the average function a lot with roll film. I will also take a survey of the scene recording the values into the memory so I can get an overall feel for the range prior to messing with my film speed as above.

[John NYC]

Maybe I am just too basic on this :) I use the same meter.



Your way is similar to mine, if you follow the steps I outline, you don't have to do any calcs in your head and the whole process takes about 5 seconds.

[Pawlowski6132]

I think I'm missing something. I have the 508 (or is it the 558). And it seems pretty simple. Regardless of mode:

1. Point at highlight, get reading
2. Point at shadows, get reading
3. Note difference in stops
4. Reduce Explosure form #2 by two stops (assume you want in ZIII)
5. Does new exposure keep highlights in desired zone? I yes, Dev N. If now, adust accordingly.

This method works with ANY spot meter. Why are you asking about the method for a certain meter?

[John NYC]

I think I'm missing something. I have the 508 (or is it the 558). And it seems pretty simple. Regardless of mode:

1. Point at highlight, get reading
2. Point at shadows, get reading
3. Note difference in stops
4. Reduce Explosure form #2 by two stops (assume you want in ZIII)
5. Does new exposure keep highlights in desired zone? I yes, Dev N. If now, adust accordingly.

This method works with ANY spot meter. Why are you asking about the method for a certain meter?

Yes. This is exactly what I outlined. It is just that the sekonic has a memory function and a toggle function that means you don't have to do any head calcs at all. You do need to do shadows reading first to do what I said.

Another advantage of using the process I outline with the Sekonic is I can meter as many areas of the scene from shadows to light and use the toggle function to place the lowest one and see where ALL of them fall on the meter simultaneously.

[Jehu]

After studying the Ansel books, I boiled it down to this way of working for me with the L-758DR, a similar meter.

1. Set your desired ISO and f/stop on the meter. Verify that you have no current stored exposure readings in memory.

2. Meter the part of your scene where you absolutely want to keep very good shadow detail. This will be "placed" in Zone III in step four. Hit the memory store button.

3. Meter the place where you absolutely want to keep highlight detail. This will "fall" somewhere on zone system scale in step four. Hit the memory button.

4. You now have two stored readings. While holding down the Mid Tone button, move the jog will to place the first reading tick indicator on EV-2 (Zone III). You can then see where the upper reading falls on the EV scale. Be careful to note the shutter speed before releasing the button. This shutter speed will get you the exposure. If the upper reading is above EV+3 (Zone VIII), you are going to lose some of the highlights there and you have to start making some compromises.

Whenever friends with DSLRs start making fun of my meter and film camera, I challenge them to use any metering mode they want on their camera and then take a picture, then I use the above method and make them enter it in manually. The results are either a tie or the zone system exposure is better, without fail.

The trick is knowing WHERE in your scene to take your two meter readings, and that is what takes practice.

John,
I read this over a couple times and was intrigued. It compelled me to pull the 758DR out of the bag and try it out. It was a simple procedure that I didn't know about. I had no idea what the mid-tone button was even for. After a couple of practice runs, I had it down to about a 5 second procedure. The plot thickened. I grabbed my D3000 and tried out that challenge. The results were stunning. Picture one was program mode. Picture two is the method you just taught me. Thanks for the lesson.

[ROL]

I used a Sekonic Dual Spot 778, until it was stolen. The basic metering display is pretty much the same as yours. As others have indicated, I metered for the shadows ("placed" Z III), reduced exposure by 2 stops, almost always by increasing shutter speed as I am a B/W aperture sort always on tripod. For color or highlight metering, go the opposite direction (Z VII or VIII), increase exposure (+2 or +3, respectively). Use aperture adjustment if that is your bliss.

It took some (dare I say) thinking for each exposure. But that turned out to be the valuable part in that I was forced to think about and really understand the Zone System (for exposure). I replaced it with a Zone VI Modified Pentax Digital Spotmeter, which while not improving my skills, is so easy and "automatic" to use with the ZS that I sometimes find myself question the numbers.

[John NYC]

John,
I read this over a couple times and was intrigued. It compelled me to pull the 758DR out of the bag and try it out. It was a simple procedure that I didn't know about. I had no idea what the mid-tone button was even for. After a couple of practice runs, I had it down to about a 5 second procedure. The plot thickened. I grabbed my D3000 and tried out that challenge. The results were stunning. Picture one was program mode. Picture two is the method you just taught me. Thanks for the lesson.

Great!!! I was beginning to think I could not explain the benefits of letting the meter do this automatically very well!

If you read my later post, you can see that you can meter many different areas from the darkest to the brightest and use the same memory procedure, then you can see where all of them will fall. I didn't mention that at first because I thought it would confuse people used to two-meter zone system readings.

John

[Bill Burk]

John NYC offers a strong system that is worth following.

For the record, my sticker doesn't work for the Sekonic +/- EV scale. The +/- scale is properly oriented to the Western mind.

[ki6mf]

The steps have been documented above. Keep in mind each click of an aperture/shutter/EV setting as measured on the meter lets in twice as much or half the light for each "Click". The meter reads each click like it is an Zone V 18% gray card. So to get the correct exposure take you reading for shadows you must interpolate two stops other wise you dark areas are overexposed. Assuming the measured shadow reading is f64 at 2 seconds and you are using shutter to adjust exposure you would change the shutter speed to 1/2 second @ f64. Alternatively you could adjust ISO speed to compensate for these two stops and take the reading off the meter as is.

[gbogatko]

Might as well join in. I have a 508.

1. set meter to show ev's.
2. aim spot meter where you want place zone III. press 'thumb' button.
3. roll the dial until the black spot is on your chosen aperture -- that's zone V.
4. My dial 'clicks' in 1/2 stops, so for zone IV, I click DOWN 2 clicks. for zone III 4 clicks, for II, 6 clicks. etc.
5. If I'm placing the highs, it's the opposite. VI is 2 clicks UP, VII is 4, VIII is 6 and so forth.
6. After going up or down, the number on the left is the shutter speed to use with your chosen aperture.

Example:
Assume aperture of f/22. Find zone III with the meter (click the thumb button). Turn dial until the black dot is opposite '22' -- Shutter speed (let's say it shows 15) will now expose for 18% grey (zone V). Turn the dial (2 clicks) until the black mark is opposite f/16 ( speed now shows 30) -- that's zone IV. Down two clicks more to f/8 (now shows 60) is zone III. Read the shutter speed (It's the number on the left that's been changeing as you click, i.e. 60 -- That's 1/60 at f/22 to place your significant dark on zone III.

As posted before, you can use the 'memory' function (the button under the trigger finger) to 'remember' zone III and then see where the highs fall (a second black dot appears). Adjust accordingly to get everything in 5 zones and so forth.

George

[mitomac]

Pen and paper. I have my sekonic set to EVs. I scan the scene for light values which I write down in a small moleskin notebook with film number, type, duplicate, etc. I then pick an EV based on the range and where I want highlights and shadows to fall. Flip over the meter and refer to following spreadsheet (http://goo.gl/kc51z) taped to the bottom of my meter. This very quickly gives me the values for aperture and shutter for a given EV. I could just never get the hang of how the sekonic rounded stops between the display and the tick marks.

cheers,

mitomac

[John NYC]

Pen and paper. I have my sekonic set to EVs. I scan the scene for light values which I write down in a small moleskin notebook with film number, type, duplicate, etc. I then pick an EV based on the range and where I want highlights and shadows to fall. Flip over the meter and refer to following spreadsheet (http://goo.gl/kc51z) taped to the bottom of my meter. This very quickly gives me the values for aperture and shutter for a given EV. I could just never get the hang of how the sekonic rounded stops between the display and the tick marks.

cheers,

mitomac

Rounding the stops? The Sekonic 758DR doesn't do that. It displays even fractional stops.