Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]jeremy.kime@bbc.co.uk wrote: > > James wrote: > > Q: I would like some info on the Leica MR-meter. Does it just average > the > entire scene? > A: No, it's centre weighted, approx 90mm field of view for the 50mm lens, > instruction and sales leaflets explain more. One minor point of clarification: The field of view of the meter is approx equal to the 90mm lens, regardless of which lens is mounted on the camera, since the meter does *not* meter through the camera. In other words, if you're shooting with a 50mm, it will meter less than the area seen for the 50mm frameline in the viewfinder. If you are shooting with a 90mm, the meter area and the frameline of the lens in the viewfinder will correspond pretty well. If you shoot with a 135mm, the meter will still be metering at an angle corresponding to the 90mm lens, so it will take into consid- eration the reflectivity of items that will be outside the final image. A commonly reported "trick" is to use the frame preview lever to select the 90mm frame in the viewfinder, point the camera at something that you want to meter off, and then press the meter button on the MR. This works regard- less of which lens is mounted on the camera, since it's not a TTL meter. Of course, frame selection becomes unnecessary with the 90mm mounted, or with the 28 mm mounted on an M4-P, since the 90mm will be in view. Jonathan Eastland writes about the MR meters in the "Leica M Compendium" in an easily understood, plain, and natural style. Unlike above, in other words... ;-) M. - -- Martin V. Howard, Application Systems Laboratory, | Dept. of Comp. & Info. Sci., Linkoping University, | Just DOHH it! SE-581 83 Linkoping, Sweden. Tel +46 13 282 421, +----------------+ Fax +46 13 142 231; marho@ida.liu.se; www.ida.liu.se/~marho