Goethe was right (even if it killed him to say it). I need more light. Continuous lighting, with several bright CFTs (these) isn't giving me enough, especially when using paper negatives. So I bought a single strobe kit and want to play. My initial plan is to use a digital camera and set it to manual, correct ISO, shutter of 1/60 and play with the aperture until I get something that looks right, then transfer the settings to the LF camera and shoot. Initial tests with the set up suggest for HP5 at ISO400, I require 1/60 and f16 - and that's with the strobe set to about half power. Is this a reasonable and valid approach, or should I buy a flash meter?

Second question: if it has to be a flash meter, any advice on a decent cheap-ish model and does anyone know of any online tutorials for their use?

Chris