Carry On: Sekonic L-308S

Photos © Brian Adams

The Sekonic L-308S light meter is another wonderful tip handed down to me from my mentor Clark James Mishler. Clark has been photographing professionally in Alaska for 20+ years, so I never take his advice lightly, especially when it comes to choosing the right gear for photographing in Alaska's harsh weather.

The model above is my second Sekonic light meter. The first one I had was the Sekonic L308, which served me well for over five years until it finally just stopped working. By the time my L-308 died, the L-308S was introduced to the market with some nice new features. The L-308S is an incident and reflective light meter, and you can easily switch between incident or reflective with its sliding system without ever having to remove the dome, so you never have to worry about loosing anything. It only weighs 3 ounces, so it doesn't drag your pocket down, and if you're like me, it's always in your pocket. In short, it's a wonderful, simple, light, accurate light meter that I couldn't shoot without.

The photos above are just a few good examples of the benefits of using a handheld light meter. The photo of Ash in the middle was taken using the incident light; it was a nice overcast day, so the exposure was solid on the foreground and background. The second photo is of my friend Marian Call, and on this paricular shoot, I forgot my digital camera, which I usually use when shooting film so that I can double check my exposures for the film. For this photo, I used three flashes, and I adjusted the flashes until the exposure was even on the foreground and Marian. I was proud of this image when the film came back, knowing I used three flashes and no digital camera to back me up. It just goes to show you how important a handheld light meter is when shooting film; the light meter is never wrong.

Carry On, Carry On.