Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/19

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Consistent underexposure problem
From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 07:35:18 +0200

From: Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>
Sent: Sunday, September 19, 1999 20:34
Subject: Re: [Leica] Consistent underexposure problem


> A small point: I'm not so familiar with the Nikon
> F5 specifics but I seem to recall the spot circle
> on the F5 focusing screens being 4mm in diameter.
> That's closer to about 3% of the image area.

According to the manual, it is indeed 4 mm in diameter, but this represents
about 1.5% of the image.

> The Leica M6 meter integrates it's reading from an
> approximate 12mm central spot so it's about 13%
> of the image area.

So it is quite different from true "spot" meters.  In addition, it's not quite a
center-weighted meter, either, since 100% of the metering is concentrated in the
central circle.  On the F5, 75% of the metering is concentrated in the central
12-mm circle, and the rest is taken from the periphery of the image (for
center-weighted metering); this can be modified by the user.  This implies that
the M6 requires a technique that is never used on the F5 in any metering mode.

  -- Anthony