Here's my take on the question....
If one knows how to
actually use a hand held meter correctly, with very, very few exceptions, a hand held meter exposure is far more accurate and precise than any inbuilt camera metering system! Incident light readings generally are far more accurate than point and shoot reflected light readings, even from a camera like a D3 et al.
I still shoot mostly medium format neg film so have to use a hand held meter but, even when shooting with digital, I'd never rely upon any in-camera metering if the shot was actually important.
The simple answer is to get it right in the camera at the time of exposure - job done.
I know digital media is unlike film in that there is instant replay and very little restriction on the number of shots that can be taken etc but, if one knows how to measure the light of a scene correctly, then one doesn't even need to look at the rear screen, histogram or use any other form of chimping to make sure the exposure is correct!
Again, many users see shooting RAW as a silver bullet and rely upon RAW + PhotoShop et al to get their exposures correct while sat at a computer but, it wastes a heck of a lot of time in the process and whading through a multitude of shots and fixing bad exposures is pointless when it could have been done correctly in the first place.
As for
shooting to the right with digital - now this term really gets to me ( but it does make me smile)!
There is simply a limit to the recording ability of any sensor with regard to highlights - exceed this and the highlights are gone forever and no amount of tinkering with the RAW file will recover it, just as it is for film. Although film is generally accepted as having more EL than a digital sensor, it's still subject to constraints with regard to highlights and must still be exposed correctly - especially where reversal film is concerned so, whatever the media used, accurate exposures are the way to go.
This term of so called shooting to the right is what I and many others would simply see as getting the exposure right in the first place and is
NOT a special skill or method as many would want others to believe! If an image is more than 1/3 of a stop out, then the exposure was incorrect in the first place.
I'm quite sure there will be many that will disagree with me but I can't see the point of spending many 1000's of $ or £ on a camera just to use it as a point and shoot.
The results from in-camera metering even in a top end camera is at best, imprercise when compared to an accurately used hand held meter, simply because in-camera metering uses reflected light which is accepted and proven to be far less accurate and consistent than incident readings in most situations. Very often in outdoor situations, even the
Sunny 16 rule is more accurate than an camera's reflective metering system.
A good hand-held meter is an invaluable tool when used correctly - obviously there are times and situations when it would be impractical to use it for a scene and the in-camera metering would be the next best thing but, generally speaking, it would give far more accurate and consistent results for most scenes and situations.
Now where did I put my flame suit!
Tony
--
The only thing that gets sharper with use is a woman's tongue!
http://www.le-femme.co.uk 
