I would recommend the Sekonic L-358 for your metering needs. Before you buy a meter try this little trick. Im manual mode... Find an area in composition that is near 18% gray and use the cameras settings. OR Find an area in composition that is black and adjust your exposure down 2 stops. (i.e. -2) OR Find an area in composition that is white and adjust your exposure up 2 stops. (i.e. +2) Reasoning in this technique is that ALL digital cameras see black and white and gray as 18%gray. So when you point at a black surface the camera sees gray - you compensate by lowering your exposure -2 stops to make the black actually black. Same with the white, the camera sees white as 18% gray so you compensate by upping the exposure +2 stops to make the white actually white. If at all possible use something close to 18% gray in your composition, makes life easier. But of course that takes a little time to train your eye to what is actually 18% gray. Try a little test...Take an image of a white sheet of paper. Then take a picture of a black piece of paper. They should be both grey as seen by the camera. There is a great book on this subject called - The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System By: Bahman Farzad Hope this helps, Thomas