M9: Manual or Aperture priority?

[alexsar]

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Given that the "next shot only exposure compensation" doesn't (yet) work on the M9

I have found myself using manual mode more and more;

I was wondering what the statistics are among M9 users: are you using manual or A?

 

Happy new year to all

 

Alex

[scottwallick]

I had been using AP since I got my M9 about a month ago. I too have recently switched to manual, though, as I need to force myself to think more about what I'm doing.

 

I've botched a number of shots because it seems I've trained myself to believe the camera is managing the shutter for me, so perhaps I've been using AP for too long. Using manual though has resulted in my 'keepers' having better exposure.

[alexsar]

The main difficulty I have with manual is that as I turn the shutter speed dial to reach proper exposure I sometimes wander down to too slow speeds ; nothing appears on the minimalist viewfinder to warn me;

or am I missing something?

[Leicakillen]

I started using AP with my new M9 (new to me, I don´t have an M7) but have left it for manual. I Sweden it is quite snowy now and with AP you get wrong exposures. So I am back to total manual - which for me is what Leica photography is all about - you are in full control and if is not 100% OK it is your own mistake (I even prefer to use a separate lightmeter). I am so, so happy to leave all other digital cameras behind who tries to make so many decisions for me. Now I am back to the right felling I had with my M2 and M6 many years ago - YES!!! And the images are even more beautiful.

 

Gott Nytt År - and thanks for a most interesting forum, I have learned a lot!!

 

/Anders

[adan]

Yes, I am using manual more. Because I turned off exposure lock in favor of the "soft" release.

 

I also have gone back to my practice of taking a general meter reading for the light available (off grass, or street paving, or my hand (less one stop)) rather than stopping to meter every shot - at least in stable situations (indoors, or outdoors away from the dawn/dusk times when the light changes fast).

 

But then I grew up with unmetered Nikon Fs and TLRs.

 

alexsar, you are correct. The M9 has no "long exposure" warning, although the left triangle will flash if the light is too low to meter at all. You either need to keep track mentally, or check the shutter dial visually every so often, or use the aperture ring for exposure adjustment (which at least "warns" you by hitting a hard stop at maximum aperture, forcing you to decide in favor of higher ISO or lower shutter speed).

[yanidel]

Why do simple when you can do complicated ...

I use AP 98% of the time, except for special situations when tweaking is needed.

I favor getting the shot with a slightly off exposure than not getting the shot with a perfect exposure. IMO, manual makes sense more in lanscaping or architecture shots, when you have time, but walking in the street constantly tweaking exposure takes some concentration off what is going on around you. In cities where you go from dark to sun to shade, you often go from 1/4000 to 1/60 in a second, I prefer the camera to deal with it.

[Samir Jahjah]

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Why do simple when you can do complicated ...

I use AP 98% of the time, except for special situations when tweaking is needed.

I favor getting the shot with a slightly off exposure than not getting the shot with a perfect exposure. IMO, manual makes sense more in lanscaping or architecture shots, when you have time, but walking in the street constantly tweaking exposure takes some concentration off what is going on around you. In cities where you go from dark to sun to shade, you often go from 1/4000 to 1/60 in a second, I prefer the camera to deal with it.

 

Street photography is a situation where you use manual, IMO : you set the ISO, the aperture, and then you just memorize two speeds...one for scenery in shadow environment one for sunny ones...otherwise in too many situation will you have your exposure off because of a passing white truck, dark or bright walls,...

[yanidel]

Street photography is a situation where you use manual, IMO : you set the ISO, the aperture, and then you just memorize two speeds...one for scenery in shadow environment one for sunny ones...otherwise in too many situation will you have your exposure off because of a passing white truck, dark or bright walls,...

There are a lot of stops and situations in between 1/60 and 1/4000th. I shoot wide open, F8 and 1/125th does not work for me. In case of bright walls and other contrasty situations, you can quickly lock in the exposure with a half press. This is still much faster than tweaking the speeds IMO.

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Im with Yanidel on this.

 

AP works well on the M9, also it seems to me that a new take on "mastering exposure" is maybe "Mastering Exposure Compensation" - learning and understanding what exposure compensation do for your image, using this as a exposure tool is very much exercising control over a successful exposure.

 

Got no arguments with pulling out a light meter and fixing a exposure, that also works great.

 

Now the hitting the road fixed at say 5.6 rangefocusing, that I am a little more on the fence about, yes I do it, but it seems to me that getting something pretty-much in focus is not really a reasonable use of our expensive Leica lenses, as far as I am concerned, wide open and manually focused to be really sharp is the only way to actually see what I paid for in the glass department.!

 

.

[alexsar]

I just want to get back to the importance of the"next shot only" exposure compensation;

My other system is an H3D Hasselblad which has this and I find it invaluable in combination with AP and looking at the histogram;

with the M9 I have already ruined quite a few shots by forgetting to turn off exposure compensation;

LEICA pls fix this in the next firmware update!

I have to admit though that anything that slows me down I feel adds to my photography as well as my experience of photography...

Alex

[Bo_Lorentzen]

Alex,

 

Agree on the "next shot only" exp comp option.! That should be selectable in the menu.

 

.

[Stef63]

The method I use might be a bit unorthodox but works fine for me.

 

I use AP on 99% of my shots. After taking one shot and when I notice overexposure (or underexposure) I reframe pointing the center of the viewfinder on a more suitable area, look closely what the shutter speed difference with the first over- (or under-) exposed shot was and hold the shutter button to lock the exposure. When I'm happy with the new shutter speed I reframe again to the original frame and make the shot.

 

This can be done without fiddling in the menu and tweaking exposure compensation, or having to go back to manual exposure. It's fast and easy and - if you carefully look what the shutter speed does - while reframing, you are in total control.

 

Again - it's al little bit an unorthodox way of compensating exposure - but it works for me.

[Ted W]

Unless you're using a separate light meter, you're just turning the shutter knob to match what the meter in the camera is giving you. So it's an extra, unnecessary step.

 

But if you're getting incorrect exposure, then you should meter a different spot. Either way, I find it's all easier to do with AP.

[jaapv]

Err... no. You do not only have your red dot that you turn to mindlessly, there are two triangles as well to tell you 1/2 stop under or over, 1 stop under or over, and after that you can count clicks.

[jaapv]

The method I use might be a bit unorthodox but works fine for me.

 

I use AP on 99% of my shots. After taking one shot and when I notice overexposure (or underexposure) I reframe pointing the center of the viewfinder on a more suitable area, look closely what the shutter speed difference with the first over- (or under-) exposed shot was and hold the shutter button to lock the exposure. When I'm happy with the new shutter speed I reframe again to the original frame and make the shot.

 

This can be done without fiddling in the menu and tweaking exposure compensation, or having to go back to manual exposure. It's fast and easy and - if you carefully look what the shutter speed does - while reframing, you are in total control.

 

Again - it's al little bit an unorthodox way of compensating exposure - but it works for me.

AE lock on the shutter button does not work when you are on soft release.

[Ted W]

In AP mode you get accuracy to thirds-of-a-stop. You'll never convince me me manual is easier or better.

[gwelland]

Next shot exposure compensation sounds like a useful option but not as the only mode. I've never had that feature on any other camera - dslr, medium format slr/dslr or af rf. You make it sound like a missing common feature but truthfully it's pretty unusual.

 

Personally, i shoot ap unless I know the light requires a constant adjustment in which case I may just dial it in manually. It all depends ....

[alexsar]

Indeed, it is a very uncommon feature that I have found very useful; it complements normal exposure comp very well, in fact I use it much more.

I do not know why other manufacturers don't include it, would seem fairly easy to do these days

[lars_bergquist]

The only useful 'compensation' on the M8/M9 is to change to manual. The reason is that auto compensation, because of the idiotic way it is implemented, robs you of that quick second shot -- because you have to start the 'point the camera in a different direction, press release halfway down, keep it that way while you recompose' rigmarole all over again. And again, for a possible third shot ...

 

What we need, if we are at all to shoot on auto, is a lever (preferably) or a toggling button to lock in exposure -- needless to say, with a big red 'C' flashing, not a microscopic dot -- until a movement in the other direction unlocks it. Impossible? Unusable? Too complicated? Both the Oympus OM-4 and the OM-2 Spot had this feature, and I have owned and worked with them both. The lever sat more or less where the 'mode lever' of the M9 is. Pull it to the right (outwards) and you locked exposure. Push it the the left (inwards) and you unlocked it. This worked very well indeed -- and that was two decades ago. Oh, I forgot -- Leica will not adopt a sensible innovation which is not at least two generations old. See e.g. the combined viewfinder, and the non-rotating shutter speed dial.

 

So let's say that this toggle lever replaces the present 'mode switch'. Where do we put this mode switch? Well, we do not need it often, or very quickly, so put it under the speed dial instead. -- A button is less convenient. A 'lock while pressed only' button, S2 style, makes for a cramped, locked grip, and a toggling button -- 'on when you press it, off when you press it again' is un-ergonomic: It doesn't engage our unconscious 'muscle memory' the way a two-way lever does, you have to use your cerebral cortex, which may well be otherwise employed at the time.

 

So this is definitely a desideratum for a M10 -- or even for a M9-2. Meanwhile, the M9 is a manual exposure camera.

 

The old man from the Age B. A. T. B. (Before All Those Buttons)

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Hallo,

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[Guest Jockele]

Aperture priority !