As we go farther back in time, cameras were less and less likely to have built in exposure metering, even the match-needle non-auto-exposure type. Even today many cameras for larger film formats do not have built-in meters. Ye Olde Photographer started with the "Sunny 16" method, but soon yearned for a more precise measure.

Meters, at least some of the older ones, made use of very delicate mechanisms, having to replace one wasn't much of a surprise. And then sometimes Ye Olde Photographer just got the itch to have a more advanced set of features.

What we see here starts with the most recent acquisition and walks backwards through time. Some of those shown here are no longer functional, or hampered by the fact that mercury cells are no longer available. That problem can be addressed in various ways, but we were ready for some newer technology for other reasons anyway.

The latest to arrive is a fancy spot, ambient & flash meter. YOP was inspired to re-photograph the various meters with a 120 rollfilm box for size comparison.

Note also, these days there are apps for "smart phones" that work reasonably well for light metering. Some are even designed to allow use of tiny apertures and long shutter speeds for pinhole work!