Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/11/30

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Why R sales down
From: Andrew Nemeth <azn@nemeng.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 98 05:52:06 +1100

tedgrant@islandnet.com (Ted Grant) wrote:

>you missed the accuracy of the R8 metering system, 
>as it is without question the best "in camera" 
>metering I have ever used

Hi Ted,

Thanks for the constructive reply!

The problem I have with in-camera meters is that
the area I work in - VR imaging - they just can't
cope with the extreme range of exposure ranges.

Whenever I photograph a scene, I have to shoot 6 shots 
at the same exposure value to capture a full 360-degree 
view.  For this a hand-held meter, especially one which 
allows me to average a range of incident readings, makes 
overall exposure estimation pretty simple.

Trying to do the same via the in-camera meter would
involve taking a number of readings off a grey card
(sometimes in the shadow, sometimes in the sun etc.)
Then averaging in my head.  Pretty awkward no?  
Especially when trying to VR crowd scenes!

Which of course is not to say that such meters are
useless for everybody.  Of course not!  But for me
and the kind of work I do, a range of built-in 
metering options it isn't a reason to buy a camera,
R8, F5 or whatever.

Like I said, just my 2¢!

Regds,

Andrew Nemeth
www.nemeng.com/vr