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How long did it take to guess exposures?


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had to put it to the test yesterday ..

 

bought an old Ikon Nettax last week for 30 EURO...a lovely 120 folder of course with no light meter.Well a non functioning one.

 

Woke up yesterday and it had snowed in the night so loaded with Delta 100 and off I went for a walk..

Was overcast but quite bright...set it at 100th and shot away between f5.6 and f8..

 

Got home, developed and the results are lovely, and thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of 'guessing' and setting and shooting.

 

Very rewarding indeed

 

best andy

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had to put it to the test yesterday ..

best andy

Thanks for the nice image. I got into photography back before built-in meters, and that's how we used to shoot. Today I still set an initial aperture and shutter setting before checking with a meter, and seldom am far off.

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had to put it to the test yesterday ..

 

bought an old Ikon Nettax last week for 30 EURO...a lovely 120 folder of course with no light meter.Well a non functioning one.

 

 

Very nice. If you had used a meter it would probably have ended up under-exposed. :)

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Hello Everybody,

 

It would meter overexposed (reflected, not incident) IF you metered the snow & forgot (not likely) that the snow was Zone VII. Or if you didn't just meter the large hill to the right of the house.

 

Meters do have a certain utility value. Like any M or Barnack they benefit from the user having a degree of skill in terms of their use.

 

It's not as if to meter or not meter is a right or wrong choice. Each is simply a personal choice.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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Well put. I would add simply add that using a meter is not helpful if you don't understand what you are metering and the impact it will have on the photo -- such as letting the snow influence the reading in the above. That one is simple but others are a bit more complex as we all know. Sometimes I think that using a benchmark for certain situations leaves you with a better shot than just letting the meter take over. For example taking a picture of someone by a lamp in a nighttime living room. In other words, use a meter and your head.

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20, 30, 40+ years. I stopped counting. I have used meters for about 3/4's of that time but always did calculations in my head, until I started using Leicas! I found the M6/7 meter to be very reliable, provided you knew how to use it! ie. understand what situations fool it (or any meter) and learn to compensate. For many years I did stage and theatrical shoots (13 rolls of 36exp) shot in a couple of hours (in the dark). Very fast reaction time demanded so NO time for referring to hand held meters, or light to read it by! Centre of action often in spotlight, surrounded by dimly lit areas or even 'blacks'. The in camera meter will give a reading, but you must understand where to aim it and then what that reading means.

 

For me, the most accurate is a spotmeter to measure both the brightess highlight to retain some detail and the darkest shadow to reatain detail. Average these two for the full subject range. If it exceeds the dynamic range of your film, choose which end of the 'histogram' you want.

 

I have just acquired a Leica 111f (meterless of course). Currently I am scraping the 'rust' from my brain to return to dedicated estimation for exposure. My Spotmeter is my crutch at present, but I estimate what it will tell me before I look at it. Just like returning to riding a bike. Once you get a leg over, your OK.

 

Since I went digital (M8/9) I got lazy with the availability of an LCD for rapid checking and stopped estimating. My 'new' 111f is reversing that.

Edited by erl
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Large format helped me a lot. One learns a bit more quickly when each film sheet is so expensive, and when the darkroom assistant (same person) has to deal with the consequences. In any case, practice is the key.

 

Over time, one learns not just exposures, but whether or not a particular subject, under a particular lighting situation, is likely to be conducive to producing a worthy print. I used lots of film and paper getting to that point, and figuring out what not to shoot in the first place.

 

I found the transition from film to digital rather seamless after learning the underlying concepts and some experimentation. Shooting both slide and negative film provided some useful guidance. Admittedly, though, one can tend to be a bit more lax given the flexibility of digital processing. I try not to fall into that trap.

 

Jeff

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This may sound stupid, or it may help.

 

We are all aware (I believe) in changes in the weather, including brightness and darkness. We often comment, "it's bright today" or "it's looking like rain" or "gloomy sort of day".

 

So we do perceive light changes. I suggest instead of, or as well as, saying "it's bright today," say "it's 1/1000 @ 5.6 today". Always do it for say 100ISO film and learn to recognize that when the clouds come over you lose 2 stops for example. It's simple association of the unknown with the familiar. Worth a try.

Edited by erl
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  • 2 months later...

Erl

 

i agree....last week was in Paris with my M2 and TRI x and no meter.

just set the shutter speed to film speed, in my case I selected 1/250th instead of 1/500th to over expose a bit.

and then just varied my aperture between f8 (was overcast day) and 2.8 early evening.

Indoors just shot at standatrd 2.8 and 1/30th

 

on the whole roll there we maybe 3 shots where I was really off due to not paying attention.

 

so maybe the exposures were not 'perfect' but with tri x you really do have a lot of room .

 

best

andy

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When I started photography in the 1960s we mainly shot Tri-X and didn't use meters. I bought my M4 in 1968 and had no meter, but then added a Leicaflex SL with meter and began to rely on them because they were there. Just lately began collecting and using pre-meter cameras again, and the old habits have come back. Today took my M5 to an indoor event, looked around and set exposure before bringing the camera to my eye. The meter then read exactly what I had set. So it's taken me... 45 years to get back to "guessing"?

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Brian,

 

Maybe I'm a coward, but, for me, the cost of slide film plus the developing cost meant that I should try to get each picture properly exposed.

 

I used my Dad's GE meter until I raised enough cash for a Norwood and switched to incident metering.

 

Incident metering didn't solve all the problems, but the built-in reflective meters came in handy. Best of both worlds.

 

Currently, I use a Sekonic 308S. Relatively inexpensive and uses a single AA alkaline battery for power.

 

Since 1939, I've guessed at the exposure - - then double checked it with a meter. I'm still in the 50-60% range of being to guess accurately for slide film.

 

Just a thought.

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I just read this thread

 

Well some of it

 

You NEVER guess exposure

 

You ALWAYS (when it's sunny) have the rule to start from; and you have your experience (it didn't take me ten years either)

 

Shooters forget that you have a good 2 f-stops latitude WITH FILM

 

If you are just "in the ballpark" you will be fine--your lab will fix it if they are any good

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I posted this already in the german forums. All you need is a Leica base plate, a printer, some tape and the sunny 16 rule. Works perfect for me (for about two month).

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I You ALWAYS (when it's sunny) have the rule to start from

 

I is good to note that the sunny 16 rule only works on Rochester, New York. :)

 

Seriously, I did some work near the equator, metering and finding surprises due to the polarized light.

 

Discuss...

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I is good to note that the sunny 16 rule only works on Rochester, New York. :)

 

I live near Syracuse, NY and travel to Rochester frequently. Although the rule does indeed work, you are far more likely to be using the " I hate 8" cloudy day or "5.6 it's raining/snowing bricks" rules. :)

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