Metering Tips

[SJB]

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So i have been using the M6 for 2 weeks now granted I have never used a rangefinder before. Yet I love the feel and the ablilty to see what is going on in the frame. So far I'm still struggling with the red arrows and when I'm close to a subject, my 2 year old daugher the focusing is a bit tough. Any suggestions?

Also I do plan use this camera in a year to photograph weddings(note I have been shooting weddings for 6 years now digitally) and would like to know from those who use the rangefinder for weddings, is it recommend for fast moving sections of the wedding, e.g bride coming down and leaving the isle? Thanks

[spydrxx]

Hi SJB & welcome to the forum. Photographing any 2yr old who is running around is tough. When my daughter was that age I either used a 35mm Summaron or a 135mm Tele-Elmar lens (only 2 I owned at that time) on my Leica M4, typically used bounced flash indoors, and mostly shot pics when she wasn't moving too much - so yes it is doable. If you can't focus fast enough, plan the shots and focus ahead of where you expect her to be and wait for her to move into the frame. As far as weddings go...it really depends on the wedding and what you plan to shoot. Two years ago I shot that same daughter's 2nd wedding with a Leica - this time I used an  old Barnack with a 50 Elmar 3.5  for an old fashioned look. No I didn't get every shot I wanted, but basically I followed the official photographer around, with her permission, and shot in B&W. Used bounce flash indoors, outdoors was chilly, windy and overcast, but it worked fine. Tip from the photographer which was a revelation...she (using a digital with autofocus of course) always focused on the subjects' feet and then quickly moved the camera up to the subject's eyes....said it gave her a much better keeper ratio. Her results were phenomenal.

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[chrism]

Fast-moving kids present more of an issue for focusing than for metering in my experience! Film has enough latitude that setting the exposure will generally be fine for all shots. All you can do is to use the smallest aperture (and thus the largest depth of field) you can get away with, and to pre-focus on certain spots. When the kid arrives in that region, click goes the shutter. It sounds frustrating, but doing it this way is actually quite rewarding, and in fact if you had an auto-focus camera it wouldn't usually work fast enough to give a sharp photograph. Anyway, a little movement will convey the motion of the busy child with some movement blur and make a better picture than one of a child frozen in mid-stride with perfect focus and a fast shutter speed. Revel in the limitations of film as they often turn out to be advantages!