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Warning: Your camera's light meter might be lying to you and here's the $8 reason why
I got a roll of Portra 400 back from the lab in Denver last week and 14 of 36 frames were way underexposed even though my meter said they were dead on. I started digging around and found a forum post from 2019 where a guy tested 8 different film cameras with a calibrated light source. Turns out the old selenium meters in cameras from the 60s and 70s drift about 1 to 2 stops off over time because the selenium cell just degrades, no way around it. I grabbed a $8 phone light meter app and compared it to my Canonet, and sure enough my camera was reading a full stop brighter than reality. I know everyone says trust the camera and learn your gear, but honestly if your meter is old and you don't have a way to check it, you're just guessing. Since I started cross checking with the app my hit rate went from about 60 percent to almost everything usable. Has anyone else tested their old meter against a known source, or am I just late to this party?
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