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A quick question (no, two) on the MP meter


jacarape

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Hey folks,

 

As I continue to fall in love with my MP two years after I bought it used, I'm pondering two exposure questions.

 

The first is easy. After you take a photo, is the meter circuit off? A thread read some time ago said no, but the answer made no sense. As the red ball is off, it indicates to me that the circuit is off and there is no risk of battery drain as my happily dusty MP is jostling in the pack.

 

My second question is how many f-stops (or fractions) of exposure are between a "red ball" and a fully illuminated left (or right) arrow? I ask this as I really love to shoot slides and am looking to be able to add a tad of EV in certain situations.

 

For example, below is an as scanned (9000 ED) jpeg output of dog Jupitor. The stones in teh foreground, his fur around the training collar and the back ground are pretty much exposed how I want them to look. But the black nose, ears and face miss.

 

This can also be a problem for folks shooting street of non Caucasian minorities. Any idea?

 

Thanks-jac

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There is one stop between the red circle and a fully illuminated left or right arrow.

 

Your dog is effectively back-lit, so opening up a half or one stop would have given a greater exposure on his face. But at the end of the day, he has got very dark brown fur on his muzzle. However, you can do things in PS, which would help, such as use the Shadows and Highlight adjustment. You don't need to do it on the whole image, as I have done below for expediency's sake, but you could just select his face and head, and leave the background as is.

 

[ATTACH]224093[/ATTACH]

 

Slide film has much less latitude than C41 film, so you really do need to get the exposure absolutely right.

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Hey folks,

 

 

 

… The first is easy. After you take a photo, is the meter circuit off? A thread read some time ago said no, but the answer made no sense. As the red ball is off, it indicates to me that the circuit is off and there is no risk of battery drain as my happily dusty MP is jostling in the pack.

 

 

Thanks-jac

 

I think the battery drains unless the shutter speed is set to B/off. How fast it drains I have no idea.

 

Jeff

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The only thing that drains the battery is the meter. The meter is always switched off when the shutter is not cocked - metering would not be correct in any case, because the second curtain has no white metering spot. This is why the meter is switched off as soon as the shutter fires.

 

Now most people are in the habit of advancing film and tensioning the shutter immediately after exposing a frame. In that state, the metering circuit might be activated by inadvertent pressure on the shutter release, i.e. when the camera is carried in a bag. For that reason, there is a 'main switch' in the shape of the 'B/OFF' position on the shutter dial. But I do not think there is any battery drain when the shutter is un-tensioned, or even when the meter has automatically gone to standby.

 

The old man from the Age Before Electricity

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The older M6- cameras had some batterydrain, when not switched

off. It happened only, when pressing the release button halfway,

which was easily achieved, when it touched something (slightly)

in the camerabag during transport.

 

The newer ones incl. the MP - which actually comes along

as a refined M6, technically - have more advanced electronics

which prevent this drain. So it should be o. k. to put the

MP- camera away without switching it off. But since you

might not always know for sure it´s NOT cocked, I would

develop a habit to switch it off when stored away or transported.

Have a look in the manual, this point should be made clear in there.

 

The >>dog´s question<< was perfectly answered by Andy ...

 

Enjoy your MP !

 

 

Best

GEORG

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Andy, thank you for taking the time to answer and also for your quick edit. The original is on K64/35/1,4 ASPH. Your post will be a great help when I move on to another E6 in the next few weeks, I'll have the knowledge to play with exposure without waving the camera around and try to figure out where I want to meter.

 

One of the things I like about E6, is that is if I get the exposure correct, there is little or no PP to due. I can't afford and don't want to upgrade Elements 5.

 

Jeff Lars and Georg, thank you for answering. I can now feel comfortable on my habit of cocking the shutter as I bring the camera to my eye.

 

Georg, the MP sure is a sweet camera! My used "EX+" is now a happy BGN grade. From New Mexico to Angola, Nigeria and back, now parts East. I have always seemed to follow life through the VF of a camera without my own itinerary.

 

ed. sp.

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The older M6- cameras had some batterydrain, when not switched

off. It happened only, when pressing the release button halfway,

which was easily achieved, when it touched something (slightly)

in the camerabag during transport.

Hi Gerog

 

Do you know (the serial) when the change over was?

 

Noel

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>> Noel

 

The first came perhaps three years after production started.

 

The M6 was build for a VERY long time, a productionperiod

unknown in the digital camera- jungle of today, and they

changed quite a bit during this time.

 

No numbers available here, perhaps somebody else knows ...

 

Best

GEORG

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