Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/05/01

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Subject: Re: M6 metering
From: "Jeff Segawa" <segawa@netone.com>
Date: 1 May 97 23:10:54 -0700

On Thu, May 1, 1997 8:41 AM, Ian Stanley <mailto:ian@mos.com.np> wrote: 
>Like you, I prefer the Pentax spot meter and trust it more than any
>in-camera meter that I have come across so far.  If I don't have time to
>check the exposure I will use my best guess and if the situation allows, I
>will meter later and shoot again.  When using the M6 meter I always try to
>find some zone V stuff to meter off of or meter off of my hand as a zone
VI
>reading.  Even when using meters I find that there is still a bit of gut
>feeling involved and I seem to know when it just feels right.  I find
meters
>most useful early in the morning or late in the evening as the rest of the
>day the light is easy to read.  It also helps to limit the types of film
you
>use and really get to know how to use them.

Thanks Ian.

I've been hauling camera and meter about, and trying to learn just how the
camera's meter will depart from my own results, using the spot meter. I
soon hope to be familiar enough with it that I can simply say "oh yes,
it'll be 1-1/2 stops under" for a given situation. I admit that I am often
not after a literal rendition of a scene, but rather, one which captures
what I felt at the time-or what I *wished* to :-) I have not yet chosen a
particular film, run film speed tests or done any contrast control via
development, but even at this early stage, I'm very encouraged by the the
results I'm getting with Zone System techniques, and feel that my recent
images are some of my most powerful yet. Now to learn the in's and out's of
that simple, built-in meter, so that I can acheive much the same results,
with automatic convenience.

Jeff