New to night shooting

[dix]

I've been getting more into night and low light photo's. Most of the stuff I've done has been with 400 speed b/w pushed to 3200. Like the grainy look of it pushed, so that's not a problem. My camera only goes to 2 seconds max exposure time, so outside of town there is few things that will work. I have a Canon AE-1, and figuring out how to use it fully manually is really confusing, so usually I leave it on aperture priority. This however only lets a few times work, usually 1/30 and 1/60.

I want to be able to shoot more where there's little light, but can't with only a 2 second max exposure. I was looking into an external meter, but I'm not really sure how they work, and info online is slim. Do they plug into the cable release, and work that way? Or do they just tell you how long to expose for?

 

[Sangetsu]

There are several meters you can choose from, just look at the dial on the meter and see what the lowest/longest exposure is, 2 to 4 minutes should be enough. Once you have the appropriate shutter time figured out, you can time it with your watch and use a cable release.

If you want something that is easier to use, try to find an old Nikon FE with whatever lens you prefer. The FE's meter reads off the film, and the shutter will stay open for several minutes if necessary. You can get one off eBay with a lens for less than the cost of a decent used light meter.