Shopper : Why is this so expensive?BARRY B : Because you need it to calibrate your camera and meter. For what you pay for the meter it should come with meter.I think it a ripe off. It can't cost more than 20 buck to make this card.MIKE D : I have no idea why it is this expensive. It is of good quality and mine is framed in a sturdy plastic frame - but it should be priced more in the $35-$60 range. Maybe they don't want to sell too many of them. I bought it at the same time as my light meter.ROBERT M : It's expensive because it's not only precision made, but also precision tested. The targets have to be exactly accurate or they are useless. Think "hand made in an optical laboratory."DOUG T : It is a serious gray card, it comes in it's own cover, at least mine did. You get a quality solid gray card that is big,, on the other side you get different colors of gray to help your software to set up some really good profiles. At first, I thought the same thing, wow expensive, but now I can see why. You take profiles for your Sekonic light meter.It will last forever, it is good quality, heck, you could borrow one from someone who has one, I keep mine in my camera bag, right next to my laptop. If your serious about taking pictures then you really want to set up profiles for your camera's. I know I did. Hope this helps! Keep taking those pic'sFRANCIS I : Hello,
The card is expensive because its a calibrated gray scale. The device is designed to determine the dynamic exposure range on digital cameras.
Shopper : Has anyone tried this with film? Sekonic claims the 758 can be calibrated for digital and film, but I can't find any info on this being done. Thanks.DAVID G : Sorry don't know anything about film. But check sekonics site gov more info.Raj N : I have tried this with my digital cameraJIM M : Hey There,
Sekonic offers software from their website that helps you punch in a couple of photos using the chart, and then it creates a profile that's calibrated to your camera+lens. I also recommend checking out these resources for more info.
http://www.youtube (dot) com/user/sekonicvids?feature=watch
http://www.ryanewalters (dot) com/SP/sekonicprofiles.html
http://www.sekonic (dot) com
Hope this helps.
Also, excuse the (dot). The comments page does not allow me to post links.
Vince B : When taking the photos to be used for profiling do you take jpeg or RAW and how do you stop either the camera or photoshop from making default changes to the photo before they are used for the profiling procedure? e.g. the camera will optimize or stylise and photoshop will apply RAW default changes during the conversion to jpeg, thanks
VinceTR R : I shoot Raw and then in Lightroom I export to a desktop folder a jpeg image. I do no adjustments to the image and it works fine. As log as the exposure has not been adjusted it should be fine.
The Sekonic software works with jpeg not a Raw.
This has worked great for me.DEAN F : Am assuming you are making test shots to create a camera profile for the Sekonic Light Meter. I shoot in jpeg and set the white balance for the environment you are shooting in. The images are loaded into the Data Transfer Software to create the profile for the meter. Instructions and downloads can be found at the following site:
Do to the download section for Sekonic and the latest software and instructionsRaj N : Thank you for your question! .... That was indeed an excellent question. I had to learn the hard way. The Sekonic software doesn't accept RAW Pictures!! Therefore, when profiling and setting your sekonic light meter to adjust to your camera with a specific Lens, you will have to take the picture in JPEG format.
Once you calibrate and transfer the data in the Sekonic light meter, I think you can then change your camera setting to RAW format and then take pictures with the same lens. However, you will have to specify which camera and lens are specified as camera 1, camera 2 and camera 3 in your Sekonic light meter.
FRANCIS I : Hi Vince,
I take the photo in jpeg using the "Neutral" photo preset on my camera. I use Nikon cameras and in jpeg mode I go into the picture presets and choose "neutral". Neutral does not add any color or sharpening to the photo. I am not sure how to do this in other cameras. A friend who I shoot with does not have picture controls in her camera so she soots a raw image and converts it to a neutral jpeg using photoshop. Hope this answers your question.
