Re: Lightmeters are they sill relevent?

Spot metering will only evaluate the specific area that you have focused on and nothing else. In your case, you should have used Matrix metering which will expose for the whole frame. Hence, your fence would have been perfectly framed

Re: Lightmeters are they sill relevent?

I think focusing manually is a far more important technique to master with modern cameras.
Sharp photos are always nice

Re: Lightmeters are they sill relevent?

My wife had a lovely Olympus SLR film camera years ago. It was totally manual and she said she preferred it in the same way as she has always preferred driving a manual car. Total control. It teaches you to use the camera as a controlled tool rather than a fixed path machine that decides the process for you - not always the exact process you want. Unfortunately that beautiful camera got dropped off a boat and is now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean somewhere off Cairns.