Re: [Leica] Leica R8 vs Nikon F5 light metering

["Harrison McClary" <hmcclary@earthlink.net>]

Joseph Codispoti wrote:

> However, there is indeed merit for the latest advances in meter technology.
> Especially for the photographer working in rapidly changing situations and
> lighting conditions.  The artist photographing a still life, has ample time
> to meter, interpret and consider all aspects of exposure.  The "action"
> photographer, on the other hand, does not have that luxury.


I don't care how good the meter is, the photographer is still the 
deciding factor in what the exposure is, and to obtain good 
consistent results you must be able to know what the light is doing 
and how to be sure your meter is not lying to you.

It doesn't matter if you shooting something sitting still as in your 
example of a still life or something moving like a NFL football game, 
if you blow the exposure you blow the exposure and the results are 
the same.  In my work I shoot 95% color transparency film and I have 
learned that I get correct exposures if I shoot what my Minolta meter 
tells me to shoot.  I cover everything from non-moving subjects 
to NFL football and NASCAR racing and shoot most of it on color slide 
film, and have used the Nikon F4, EOS 1, and now the Leica R8--- no 
matter which body I am using I have seen situations daily that the 
internal TTL meter was just dead wrong.   I am not an "art" 
photographer, I have always considered myself a reporter with a 
camera, it is my job to get images that tell the story of 
whatever I am covering on film.  I now I shoot exclusively for 
magazines and corporations who require chrome, and I used to shoot 
for newspapers and wire services in the days when chrome was still 
the preferred color film.  Chrome has almost no margin for error.  
You either get the correct exposure or you don't.  Negative film has 
a huge latitude and a lot of room for error, comparatively speaking.

 If you take the time to learn how to us an incident meter and how to 
meter for various lighting circumstances you will learn how to get not 
only well exposed images, but grow an understanding of light, how it 
works on film and how to control it and use it to your full advantage 
to create images that express what you are wanting to express.

Too bad Fred Ward is no longer on the list as his dissertation on 
incident metering is the best worded description of why and how to 
use them I have yet seen.

Harrison McClary
http://people.delphi.com/hmphoto