without a built in light meter

[Rob-F]

Use a meter, but always guess the exposure before metering. Then when you need to shoot without metering, you will have a better idea of the correct exposure.

 

[raid]

I have two I use.

Pocket Light Meter is good. Set ISO and adjust either shutter or aperture and it will tell you the other setting along with EV at your ISO as well as referenced to ISO100. Will also do WB and you can take a picture with it logging exposure info and notes for later matchup to your film image. It can also be used with a Luxi for all for incidence readings.

The other I use is myLight Meter Pro. This one has two different screens available. One like an older 'calculator' light meter and one with a more modern take. The app lets you set lens presents. The presets will limit the max aperture the meter will open to (based on the lenses max) and it also will show you hyperfocal distance for that lens at the given aperture. This also has a reflected and incidence light metering mode. You need a white diffusion cup for the front facing camera if using the incidence mode. This one will also allow you to take a shot with exposure info on it for later matchup.

Either works well. The first is more of a spot meter, the second defaults to more of a matrix meter but can also be switched to spot metering.

Shawn

Thank you Shawn. I just bought the second one for $3,99.

 

[Jeremy Z]

Use a meter, but always guess the exposure before metering. Then when you need to shoot without metering, you will have a better idea of the correct exposure.

This is the correct answer. ^

 

[narsuitus]

Would you, do you, have you used the likes of a Leica M3 or a Nikon F without a light meter? Could you, have you, would you ever get past even using an external light meter? Or even use some kind of smartphone app for metering? In other words, using only sunny 16 or just your own accumulated experience. Have you, do you, would you?

All my medium and large format cameras do not have built-in light meters.

All my Nikon F2 35mm SLRs do not have metered viewfinders.

My Nikonos underwater camera does not have a built-in light meter.

My Argus C3 35mm rangefinder cameras do not have a built-in light meter.

All the meters in my M42 Pentax and Fuji 35mm SLRs may work but I never bothered to put batteries in the cameras.

When I shoot black & white film, I usually use the Sunny 16 Exposure Guideline.

When I shoot my large format pinhole cameras, my medium format pinhole cameras, or my large format view view camera, I use my battery-independent Gossen Scout 2.

When I shoot my Argus C3, Pentax Spotmatic, or Fuji ST705, I may use my battery-independent Sekonic Auto-Lumi model L-158.

When I shoot color slide and color print film, I may use one of my two battery-independent selenium light meters.

When I need a spot meter, I use my Gossen Luna-Pro with spot meter attachment (meter and attachment not shown).

When I shoot with my Fuji 6x7 and 6x9cm medium format rangefinders or my 6x7cm Mamiya medium format SLR, I use my battery-operated Gossen Super Pilot incident/reflected light meter and my battery-operated Wein 500 flash meters because they are more accurate and more sensitive to light than my selenium light meters or my cell phone applications.


Light Meters by Narsuitus, on Flickr

 

[madNbad]

Over the years I've bought and sold a ton of equipment. The one thing I have consistantly owned since I was a teenager is this little Gossen Pilot. My eldest brother got it in 1965 to use with a 8mm Bolex camera. He sold the camera and gave the meter to me. It's still accurate, fits easily in a pocket and even has an incident slide.

[/url]IMG_1793 by Michael DeLuca, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Pál_K]

It's interesting to read the experiences of others and their usage, or not, of meters. Perhaps many who don't rely heavily on meters are those who have started photography before built-in meters were somewhat a standard feature.

In 1964, before I was even a teenager, I used Kodachrome II in a simple ciné camera that had a fixed shutter speed and aperture adjustments only. There was no meter, so I had to estimate the light and adjust the aperture. Very quickly I became good at this and when I underexposed, I knew beforehand that would happen (indoors at night with room lighting, film is ASA 25, shutter 1/30, aperture f/2.7).

Even when I bought my first 35mm SLR, which did have a meter, I soon became afraid of the fragile meter switch breaking and so I never put batteries in for the meter. Even 45+ years later I don't use this camera with a meter.

Of the plethora of cameras I have, if they don't require a battery to function (e.g. Nikon F2), then I don't use the meter. If it does require a battery to function (e.g. Elan 7NE), then I do at least look at the meter reading.

One exception is when my mind enters "Ansel Adams Emulation Mode" for medium or large format landscape photography. In that case I'll have my Pentax Digital Spotmeter, and will be evaluating the exposure zones of the image.

The OP writes like Dr. Seuss!
...

Would you, could you, use a Leica without light?
Would you, could you, use a Nikon in the night?
Do you think in Sunny16, EV scales, or something in between?
Do you use a smartphone app or do you trust your Canon CAT?