Thanks for all the helpful replies and advice. I hadn't figured on light meters being annoying to use. I am glad to hear this before rather than afterwards! Next March I will be abroad for four months and I was planning on documenting my time away by using slide film. I thought a meter might be more accurate for the exactitude required by slide film. Now the thought is emerging that I should get another Takumar lens instead!
Tom S I will hold out on that offer for a little while, if you don't mind, until I learn more about light meters and research some of the meters advised and mentioned in this thread.