jim_chow Posted September 24, 1997 Share Posted September 24, 1997 I generally use my Rollei's meter for most shots, but in tricky situations (photos of dark green vegetation under dim lighting, etc.), I often use my sekonic 408 in incident light mode. I always seem to get drastically underexposed shots. Originally, I thought it would underexpose by about -2/3 so I adjusted the calibration to +2/3. I tried some test shots in a green house (overcast skies) of waterlilies for the sekonic vs. the camera's spot meter (spotted off a gray concrete pillar since I didn't have an 18% gray card). The camera's spot meter resulted in a shot that was about 1/3 stop overexposed while the sekonic was at least several stops underexposed (very dark). When using it, I placed the meter in front of the flower and pointed the dome towards the camera lens. Has anyone had this kind of calibration problem? Can I set the camera lens to infinity focus using the spot off a gray card under overcast skies and calibrate the hand meter's reading to this? Since the hand meter is so far off, I usually don't even bother carrying it. (I did have the ISO set to 40 for velvia on both the camera and the meter). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_montgomery Posted September 25, 1997 Share Posted September 25, 1997 I have a 408 and I do not have any of the problems that you are having. I assume that you are not using the dome in the recessed position and that the spot attachment was fully closed. I have gotten some bogus readings when I forgot to close the spot attachment or when it only got closed half-way. I was also wondering if your spot reading on the Sekonic matched the spot reading on your Rollei? <p> JM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirk_turya Posted September 29, 1997 Share Posted September 29, 1997 My first thought would be that your ISO setting was wrong, but you said it was set correctly. I've never had a wierd reading from my 408 in the year+ that i've had it. However, if I did start getting readings that were that far off i'd do the safe thing and send it in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_z._li Posted October 25, 1997 Share Posted October 25, 1997 Just wondering whether you have selected the lumisphere/lumidisc in the correct position when taking incident reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agnius_griskevicius Posted March 5, 1998 Share Posted March 5, 1998 I have a 408 meter, and it underexposes for about 1/2 stop. That is very obvious once I started using it in a studio with strobes, and other students had flash meters as well to compare against. I adjusted the meter via using built in calibration, and as long as the meter is consistent, will be happy with it. The meter is still under warranty, so I might send it to sekonic people to take a look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_chow Posted May 11, 1998 Author Share Posted May 11, 1998 In a follow-up about the sekonic 408's calibration, I finally have it adjusted so that the exposures match those taken by my Rollei slr, which gives accurate exposures. Interestingly enough, my sekonic was underexposing by exactly 1/2 stop, which is exactly what the other commenter discovered with his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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