Sekonic Flashmate

L-308x guide
Contents

The Sekonic Flashmate – [Page 1]

Custom settings: setting the metering mode – [Page 2]

Different Metering modes – [Page 2 - 4]

1. HD Cine – [Page 2]
2. Cine – [Page 3]
3. Photo – [Page 3 - 4]

Light metering options – [Page 4 - 5]

1. Incident light reading – [Page 4]
2. Reflective light reading – [Page 5]

Making a reading – [Page 5]

1. Fixed aperture reading (HD cine mode) – [Page 5]
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The Sekonic Flashmate

The Lumisphere covers the sensor. This can be

shifted up or down to activate or deactivate the
sphere depending whether you want incident or
reflective metering. Keep the lumisphere over
the sensor when not in use.

Power button.

The Flashmate auto shuts down

after 4minutes of inactivity.

The Mode button is used Pressing the

to change the modes and Measure button
sub-modes of the light on the side will
meter. initiate a reading
Photo, HD Cine, and Cine on the current
are the metering modes mode selected.
available.

The arrow button on

the side are used to
change the values of
Pressing the ISO button certain functions.
on its own does nothing, For example, in HD
it is instead used with Cine mode the
the arrow keys to change arrows are used to
the ISO Value. change the shutter
speed, or frame rate
values.

Flash synchro terminal. Can be used to link

to an external flash gun to measure the flash
intensity to help establish the shutter speed
and aperture value. Photo mode only.
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Custom settings: setting the metering mode.

To set the metering mode press and hold the mode button and power button at the same time.

This allows you to enter the custom settings mode the default of which is Photo CS1 (Photo Custom
setting 1) each mode has 3 custom settings (CS1, CS2, and
CS3)

Pressing the mode button toggles between the different

metering modes; Photo, HD_C (HD Cine), or Cine mode.

Pressing the up and down buttons will toggle through CS2

and CS3 on each mode.

CS2 determines the shutter speed and aperture increments. The increments are seen on the lcd
screen as 1, 0.5, or 0.3, representing a full stop, half stop, or third stop respectively, and are changed
using the mode button.

It is advised you to set this to 0.3 as this will allow for the widest range of shutter speeds and
apertures available. It is also not possible to have the standard 1/50 shutter speed used with our
cameras without the increments on 0.3.

CS3 determines the light intensity reading function of FC (foot candles), Lux, or none.

Once you have the settings you want, press the power button to turn off, and again to turn back on.
It should have saved the settings.

Different Metering modes

HD Cine

[T] icon represents The ISO measure

shutter speed. This can be changed by
is changed up or pressing the ISO
down using the button and then
arrows on the side. going up or down
with the arrows on
the side.
The F icon represents the aperture. The aperture cannot be
changed manually and is altered by the meter reading gathered.

To establish the appropriate aperture needed for balanced exposure you must first make sure the
ISO and the Shutter values match the cameras. The native ISO of a Canon C100 is 850 for example,
and the normal shutter speed is twice the frame rate, so 25fps = 1/50 shutter.

It’s worth noting that the Sekonic can’t be set to 1/50 shutter unless changed to 0.3 shutter
increment in the Custom Settings.
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Cine

f/s icon represents the The ISO measure

frames per second of the can be changed by
camera. Cine cameras pressing the ISO
don’t set shutter speeds button and then
as these are automatically going up or down
set depending on the with the arrows on
frame rate. the side.

The F icon represents the aperture. The aperture cannot be

changed manually and is altered by the meter reading gathered.

To establish the appropriate aperture needed for balanced exposure you must first make sure the
ISO and the F/S values match the cameras. The native ISO of most Cine film is 100 and native frame
rates are 24fps.

Photo

The Photo mode works very differently to HD and Cine modes due to the extra functions it has
available. These are, Ambient light, Cordless flash, and Corded flash mode. Ambient light mode is
split into Shutter priority, Aperture priority, and EV mode. These can all be accessed by pressing the
mode button.

Cordless Flash
Ambient light Corded Flash

The ISO measure

can be changed
T icon represents by pressing the
shutter speed. ISO button and
then going up or
down with the
arrows on the
side.
The F icon represents the aperture.

• Shutter priority mode is active when the T shutter icon is in a box [T] this allows you to
change the shutter speed manually using the up and down arrows on the side. In this
priority mode the meter reading will indicate the aperture value required for good exposure.
• Aperture priority mode is active when the F shutter icon is in a box [F] this allows you to
change the shutter speed manually using the up and down arrows on the side. In this
priority mode the meter reading will indicate the shutter speed required for good exposure.
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• EV mode (exposure value) is used to measure the EV difference needed for perfect
exposure. It is made up of a combination of shutter speed (TV) and aperture (AV) as shown
on the table. A main benefit of this is that if you need a deep depth of filed caused by a small
aperture, or a shallow depth of filed with a large aperture, it shows you the shutter speed
needed to balance this out.

• Cordless flash, represented by the lightning bolt symbol, is used to detect the total amount
of light from the flash and background light to determine the aperture.
• Corded flash is not available for our Flashmates at present. It works in the same way to
cordless flash but instead it can trigger the flash itself and give a more accurate reading.

Light metering options

Incident light reading
When the Lumisphere is placed over the sensor the Flashmate becomes an incident light meter.

Incident light is a measure of the intensity of the light falling onto a subject. This is useful in
understanding how much light is hitting a subject at different points so you can balance the light
accordingly.

To measure incident light the light meter should be facing away from the subject and should be
taken where the subject is, or as close as possible to it.

The light it measures can be from a range of sources, including natural light, artificial light, or light
bouncing off a reflector.

It is worth noting that incident light measurement does not account for the light reflecting from the
subject. For example, darker colours absorb light far more the brighter colours, so the light reflected
from them will be less.
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Reflective light reading

With the exposure meter uncovered by the lumisphere, the light meter can measure reflected light.

Reflected light is a measure of the light reflected from a subject to the camera. To measure reflected
light, point the sensor toward the part of the subject you want measured, their face for example,
from the camera position or direction of the camera.

It’s worth noting that the Flashmate cannot single out an area to measure reflection such as a spot
meter can. It will instead measure the light of the whole area it can see but focus more on the centre
of the image. Therefore, if aimed at a subject face it will focus mostly on the face but may also
average out the readings of the background and the clothes the subject is wearing. The further the
camera is from the subject the less accurate this reflective reading may be.

Making a reading
Once you have set the mode, and metering option you want you can now make a reading.

Unless in Aperture priority or EV mode in the photo mode, most readings are used to test what
aperture value you need for a scene.

1. Set the shutter speed to that of the camera. Most cameras used in the department will have
a basic shutter of 1/50 as this is double the frame rate. If you are going slow motion or
wanting a specific shutter speed for a shot, then this value will need changing.
2. Set the ISO you are using to be that of the camera. To change the ISO, you need to press and
hold the ISO button then press the arrow buttons up or down.
3. Set the Flashmate up in the appropriate location depending on metring option.
4. Press the measure button on the side.
5. This will give you an aperture value you can use for exposure.

Fixed aperture reading (HD cine mode)

If you are in HD Cine mode and want to have a fixed aperture due to the shot style you require,
shallow depth of field for instance, you can establish what ISO or shutter to use instead.

1. Set the shutter to 50 or the ISO to a random number and then do the reading as normal.
2. Once the reading has been made press the arrow buttons up or down to change shutter
speed or press and hold the iso button and then arrow buttons up and down for ISO.
3. Do this until the aperture value lines up with your camera’s aperture value. As you change
the shutter or ISO up or down the aperture value should change accordingly too.

Once on the desired aperture it will instead give you the required shutter speed or ISO value
accordingly.

Be aware, changing the shutter up or down too much can drastically alter how movement looks in
the scene. Furthermore, changing the ISO too high can cause loads of grain and noise in the image.