Took my Pentax K1000 to the Oregon coast last weekend and got back 3 overexposed rolls

Everyone online swears by shooting sunny day beaches at f/16 with 400 speed film but my meter was reading way different and I should have trusted it. Has anyone else learned the hard way that generic advice doesnt work for every location?

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river_bailey21d ago

My buddy thought he could just dial in the standard beach settings on his Nikon FE2 down at Cannon Beach and came back with a whole roll of white nothing. He was so sure the meter was broken but turns out that bright sand and overcast sky combo messes with readings way more than people admit. He spent like two hours trying to salvage those frames in Lightroom and only saved maybe 3. Now he always brackets exposures on the coast even when he thinks he knows what works. The sea spray and weird light just throw everything off compared to a normal sunny day inland.