Re: [Leica] M6 metering question

[Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>]

>Hi
>
>I have been using my M6 for a few days now and I have a question.  I
>pointed the camera at a whitewashed textured wall, with ISO 400 Tri-X
>loaded, a 50mm f/2 attached and with the film speed dial set to 400, and
>the red dot appeared when the camera was set to a shutter speed of
>1000/sec at f/13 or f/14 (whatever the half stop between f/11 and f/16
>is on the lens).  I pointed my Nikon F5 at the same spot on the same
>wall using an ISO 400 speed and an 85mm f/1.8 lens and, using spot
>metering (therefore switching off any colour metering capability), it
>registered settings of 400/sec at f/10.
>
>There is a significant difference here and I wondered if anyone could
>explain to me the reasons for the difference in metering and subsequent
>camera set-up.  I have always trsuted the F5 meter and it has never been
>anything other than spot on.  I am sure the M6 meter is equally
>accurate.  However, given that I would probably want to dial in some
>overexposure on the white wall to get the whiteness and texture on the
>film, I do not have any f/stops or shutter speed left to enable me to
>overexpose by 1 or 1.5 stops.
>
>Simon

simon,

i'm not sure why the readings are different, and i can see by previous
responses that no one seems to know for sure. but, like henning pointed
out, to overexpose, you simply open up the aperture or use a slower shutter
speed, and you've got plenty of both of those options left on the m in the
situation you described.

changing the iso, as some one pointed out, does *not* change your exposure;
it merely gives another reading of the scene. you still have to manually
change the aperture or shutter speed for the compensation you want, and if
you still need to do that, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to
change the iso in the first place.

what ho!

guy