Well, many guys don't bother with a meter at all and use the "Sunny - f /16 rule"...
It goes something like this: on a bright sunny day, set the lens opening to f / 16, and the shutter to the inverse of the ASA / ISO rating of the film you're shooting
For example, if you're shooting ASA 200, then you set the camera for f/ 16 @ 1/200.
Then you can adjust the lens opening / shutter speed accordingly for "cloudy-bright", "overcast", "open shade", "heavy-shade", etc.
I've gotten reasonable results this way. Might take a couple rolls to get the feel of it. (Stay with one film / ASA until you master it ! )
If you want a meter (and that's okay too ! ), you're probably best-off looking for a CdS meter such as a Gossen Luna -Pro, Luna-Six, Luna-Pilot; these are great meters, and are very sensitive to low light levels.
Most pre-1965 meters are selenium cell (no batteries), and many times the cel gets weak or goes dead entirely, so don't pay a lot for one of these.
The better selenium meters are the Weston Master IV or V, and the later Seikonic meters. I also have a couple of GE PR-1 meters, which are early 1950's ( black bakelite with a big silver knob) that work pretty well. If you get one of these, try to find one that has the ivory-plastic "incident light" attachment with it.
Avoid the really early Westons that are rectangular black boxes, with the meter scale placed to the right of the exposure calculator dial: many times the cell is dead, plus, the film speed rating is in the earlier Weston index (pre-1947; needs to do conversion to modern ASA), and tops-out at around 100 or 200; it's great for a display, but not too practical as a user.
I have been using a Gossen Luna-Six exclusively for several months now, and my only complaint is that it is a little bulky.
Good Luck !
Luddite Frank
