Metering low-light cityscapes.

[baachitraka]

Nice pics from India, I have a plan to fly on first week of FEB mostly to South-India.

Photography is still a hobby for me, so I prefer to print rather scanning it.

[jordanstarr]

How you meter it will depend on what you want your interpretation of the image to look like in the end and the scene. If it's low-key lighting at night and you want to print with texture in the whites still, expose off the brightest spot and increase the exposure 2 stops -you probably don't want to meter off a light source, but something that you want to be bright white, but still with texture. Bracket above and below the exposure (1-2 stops) when you find a composition you're intrigued with. One of the 3 will come out printable. You just need to make sure the film is developed properly and that should work for you. If it's a scene with a balance of lights, a spot meter of 5-15 degrees that reads 18% grey on the scene should give you a decent approximation of where to start bracketing.

[baachitraka]

Now I understand little bit how spot-meters are so helpful to dramatise the exposure. Sure incident meters and exposure calculators can give best approximation but it may not be the exposure you want.

Indeed, it requires an enormous training and an artistic eye to use spot meter. May be I will start saving for (incident/spot combo).

[Sirius Glass]

Light meter ... phooey!

I have used this for decades [with earlier versions] with great results:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2604955/jiffy

Steve

Do I need to have a permission to use this exposure calculator?

I found the first version in a 1963 copy on Modern Photography magazine. Since then I has seen several variants, some by the original author, some not but all free. There are some that are plastic and are for sale on the internet.

Short answer: I do not think so.