Flashmeter necessary for studio lights?

Carrigman

I'm thinking of getting a set of Elinchrom D-Lites with my SSIA dosh and dipping my toe into the whole area of studio portraiture.

Is a flash meter still necessary with a digital camera or can you happily get by just by looking at the histograms?

I would imagine that with a bit of testing one could easily settle on a particular
ISO/Aperture/Speed/Light-placement combination that would suffice for most shots and thus render the need for a meter redundant.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated as always.

Regards,

Cameraman

If you plan on always taking the same shot, with the lights in exactly the same position - then fine.

As an analogy, if you would be happy if your camera didn't have a meter, and you worked out the correct exposure by trial and error - then fine.

Otherwise, a flashmeter is highly recommended

digitalbeginner

This is an excellent Flash Meter which is also one of the cheapest: http://www.amazon.com/Shepherd-Polaris-Digital-Flash-Ambient/dp/B00009X3UA/sr=8-2/qid=1172014837/ref=sr_1_2/105-1120244-6463610?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

The fact that it can also be used as an ambient (available light) meter is a real bonus. I've used this in my studio for about 3 years, on the same AA set of batteries!