Clarification Requested on Metering

[sanyasi]

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The Leica Manual discusses how to meter a scene by holding the shutter release to the first position. It indicates that in full manual mode (setting aperture and shutter speed yourself), the reading remains for 12 seconds after you release the shutter so you can recompose and then take the photo.

 

Am I correct that when you are in A (Aperture priority) mode, pressing the shutter release to the first point also captures the meter reading and continuing to hold it in that position holds the reading, but if you take your finger off the shutter release before taking the photo, the reading is lost? In other words, there is no 12 second memory and you have to recompose the shot with your finger still on the release.

 

Thanks

 

Jack Siegel

[jaapv]

Those are two completely different things. The metering circuit will shut down in twelve seconds both in manual and AE, provided you do nothing to keep it active, like using press-and-hold (in AE) as you describe. If you take your finger off the shutter button the camera will take a new reading of the area you have in the spot at that moment. You can press-and-hold again if you wish in that case.

Press- and hold is to do a spot metering of a particular part of the image in AE. It will not work if you set the shutter release to " soft" Of course, in manual, the settings are mechanical, so pointing the camera elsewhere or letting the meter go into auto-shutoff will not alter anything to your exposure.

[Overgaard]

In A mode, when you lock the metering, the top dot in 2:50 will be on constant, showing you have locked the metering.

 

Without locking: 2.50

Locked: 2:50

[sanyasi]

Thanks

[lars_bergquist]

I use the soft release, so I can't lock the exposure on A. But I never did that in any case, because it is pretty useless. The lock goes off not only when you lift your finger, but when the exposure is made. So if you need a quick second shot, you have to go through the whole locking rigmarole again. So this feature is strictly for photographers who take only one picture at a time, and then they wind the roll film on with the aid of the little red window in the camera back ...

 

Absent any way of deliberately locking in an existing reading and keeping it locked until you equally deliberately unlock it -- a procedure I routinely used with my late Olympus OM cameras -- I change over to manual in any kind of lighting where a straight center-weighted reading won't do. So should you.

 

But with the M10, Leica should definitely introduce a finger-operated toggle switch for AE lock/unlock, like the one on my OM-4. This idea has been in quarantine so long now that even Leica might dare touch it with a pole slightly shorter than nine feet.

 

The old man from the Age of Ye Redde Window

[erl]

I remember a time when I used to wind the film soooooo slowly past that red window because the numbers 'flashed' past so briefly, that I thought I had missed that frame and had to proceed to the next frame.

 

Yeah! It was a long time ago.

[Peter Lea]

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I too would like to see a way of locking the exposure reading as Lars describes. Peter

[lars_bergquist]

I too would like to see a way of locking the exposure reading as Lars describes. Peter

In many situations it would be faster than switching to manual. I found it very handy.

 

The way to implement it on a future M would be to put a small spring loaded self-returning switch either by itself on the top plate, or under the speed dial. I presume that the position concentric to the shutter release is by now sacrosanct, but it would have been even better.

 

Press the lever to the left (inwards) and the exposure locks and a big flashing 'C' replaces the speed number, while the lever returns to its normal position. Press it in the other direction (right, outwards) and the exposure unlocks, replacing the C with the usual shifting speed value.

 

An alternative would be the S2 way -- a button to push with your right thumb, locking the exposure while you continue the pressure. But I would vastly prefer the toggling lever.

 

The face looking out at you from the red window

[elgenper]

Possibly this is an issue that divides the generations. For myself, I started photography long before auto exposure (or even in-camera metering) was an alternative, so I feel most at home with full manual once the "A" setting isn´t doing what I want.

 

Locking the exposure never was an alternative I liked, except with spot metering cameras. With multi zone metering, it is sheer nonsense; you´ll never know how your re-framed scene is interpreted by the system, but that´s not pertinent to the M9, of course.

 

Dialling in an EV adjustment? After all, it´s just a "coordinate transform" from absolute settings of speed and f/stop; it does work quite well with the Zone System school of thinking - if you have a spot metering of sorts (I still miss my Leicaflex SL´s in that respect). EV adjustment was convenient while we had snow here, but otherwise I don´t really use it much.

 

So, FWIW, I personally feel the M9 has the facilities I need to nail the exposure. It´s not ideal (an M5 style semi-spot would be better, but I´m aware of the technical complications with an RF finder). Lars´ suggestion would indeed be a better exposure lock, but I don´t need any exposure lock at all in my workflow...

 

But then..... I´m the old fogy from the age of handheld selenium meters.....

[Peter Lea]

Well, so am I - my first was an MC meter on an M3, and my second, a Weston Master V (which I still have). But I did find the exposure lock on an OM-4 (which I don't have any longer) to be very convenient. Peter