Is my Old Light Meter Reliable? A Little Test and the Results
The seperate exposure meter was an indispensable accessory in the time before built-in and through the lens meters became the norm. Nowadays, when the attractions of old, all mechanical cameras has taken hold, exposure assessment often has to be made by the photographer in some way. In the past, a photoelectric meter could be had but a cheaper option would be a calculator like the Johnson of Hendon range, all I could afford at first, or you could just rely on the film instruction sheet. Granted, tolerances were not tight (e.g. ±30% for shutter speeds) and film could tolerate some variation so we can be moderately relaxed on the subject.