I have commented on this any number of times on my annual Montana trip and it bears repeating now: we're into the winter light season...great for train photography but don't forget your light meter.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I've stood with folks on the east side of Marias Pass in October at 9 am in gorgeous morning light, only to meter it and hear the comment: "...hey, something's gotta be wrong, this meter's showing one stop off..." We Southern Californians are particularly vulnerable, because any time we leave Southern California for northern climes, particulary in winter, the light gets lower in the sky, not as bright. My point: always have some sort of light meter with you...one that you trust! Use it. The newer Canon and Nikons get a lot of praise for their auto-focus systems, but the meters in cameras like the EOS-1N, F5 and N90S are the really hot features. I have done many tests with my Canons and am pleased to report the cameras usually calculate near perfect exposure...I'm sometimes right, sometimes wayoff. Admission: I'm just finishing up labeling 24 rolls from Montana earlier this month. I write this after tossing a sequence of eight motor frames, PK-64 film, shot at dawn in the snow at Bison MT, two weeks ago. I was sure the light meter was screwed up, so I set exposure manually at what I considered "good" light here. Result: not even in the ball park. Hope the guys who were standing there next to me made a better exposure decision than I.... An old adage in the news photography business: When you think you pretty much know everything, it's a signal that you're on the verge of really screwing something up in a big way..." --DB --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
