It's Sekonic's 70th birthday! And there's a commemorative light meter on the way

(Image credit: Sekonic)

Specialist light meter and color meter manufacturer Sekonic is celebrating its 70th anniversary – and it is marking the occasion by releasing a commemorative, limited edition light meter.

Sekonic was founded on 01 June 1951 as Seiko Electric Industries Co. Ltd, by Ryuichi Mitani, as an engineering, manufacturing and design company for light meters and selenium purification systems. That same year it released the Sekonic L-1 and is today renowned for making some of the best light meters for photography, changing the company name to that of its flagship brand by 1960.

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"We are immensely humbled and proud to be celebrating our 70th Anniversary in 2021," announced Sekonic in a discreet press release.

“For 70 years, we have designed and manufactured the most innovative and sophisticated light measuring instruments in the photographic and cine / video industry," added Kenji Sawai, Sekonic director and COO.

"Our commitment to meet and exceed the demands and expectations of our customers continues with more passion than ever. Sekonic is a company that never wants to forget where it comes from, while still focusing on innovative products for the future."

The manufacturer is responsible for many firsts, including the first all-weather meter, the first combination spot and incident meter, the first flash meter with radio triggering functionality, the first flash meter to create and display exposure profiling, and the first handheld spectrometer to measure flash and SSI.

It also holds some significant photographic honors, such as when the Sekonic L-518 Digipro X-1 meter was chosen by NASA for use in the space shuttle missions that it launched in 1984.

Nothing has yet been revealed about the commemorative light meter, but the manufacturer will be spilling the beans next month. "Sekonic will launch a special limited edition light meter to celebrate this milestone. Details will be released to the public on 01 July."

James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.

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