How are you metering with your M8

[ChrisC]

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I have an absolute hatred of blown highlights in digital files. The larger the intended print size, the more intolerable blown highlights become.

 

I am old school in the sense that I have always manually metered my photography regardless of the camera being used. I talked with a friend about modern metering yesterday [an old school Advertising photographer] and he conceded that with his D2x work he left it on auto exposure on the basis that it's metering was 'probably better than metering manually.

 

So, file-perfectionists, please can you give me some feedback on M8 metering so I am prepared when my camera arrives. How do you meter for consistent highlight-perfect files?

 

...............................Chris

[wparsonsgisnet]

Chris, I confess that I am only carrying my meter when I use a studio setup.

 

The M8 gets it right -- and I chimp the shot to verify.

[jaapv]

I carry my little VC meter, but yet have to use it. Normally AE is perfect, when I want to compensate I go to manual. So far the only blown highlights are those that are supposed to be blown, like the sun.

[Photoskeptic]

chris, I'm with you on blown highlights. I even got rid of one camera because of the way it blew 'em. The M8 has been superb so far except for the usual blooming sun. If in doubt use the histogram w/clipping feature. In a few cases I've found it better to have the tiniest bit of highlight clipping over none at all because you sometimes end up being under-exposed;) .

[charlesphoto99]

I find I'm actually underexposing more - I may end up just leaving the ev adjust set to -1/3. It's been noted elsewhere here that the M8 performs better in the shadows than the highlights. So I would expose for highlights and let the shadows be. Digital is most akin to slides. And remember, it's easier to take away info but one can never add (once those highlights are gone they're gone - one can usually open up the shadows).

 

The auto exposure seems to work nicely in about 75% of situations (better than M7 auto imo) but I still find I usually prefer manual metering.

[stunsworth]

If you're going to use an external meter bear in mind that the actual ISO may not match the ISO you've set in the camera. So you may select ISO 160, but the actual ISO could be 250.

[jaapv]

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I use 160=200

320=400

640=800

1250=1600

2500=3200

 

and that works fine.

[sm23221]

I find that my M8 underexposes so highlights rarely get blown. The metering pattern is heavily centerweighted so meter on the most important part of the scene, recompose and use RAW files. Bracketing by changing shutter speeds is awkward while bracketing with aperture is convenient.

[johnwolf]

Chris,

 

I still carry a Sekonic 358, but find the M8's metering quite good. When when I'm concerned about highlights I use exposure lock on an appropriate part of the scene. Then there's bracketing. Very subjective, I guess, but the external meter has become a last resort.

 

John

 

John

[andit]

Hi Chris,

 

From what I understand, a digital sensor has a very small exposure latitude, in much the same way as reversal film has. So, if metering the same way as for slides, meter for the highlights. I have found that the sensor can capture an incredible amount of information in the shadows. Even in shots where the shadows look completely black, by using PS it is amazing how much details are actually hidden away there. I agree with you that when the highlights blow, it looks real bad.

 

Hope this helps you.

 

Andreas

 

PS: I also tend to always set exposure compensation to -1/3 to -1/2 stop.

[Stephen.s1]

I, like johnwolf, find it easiest to move the camera and watch the exposure drop a tad. Lock it there, reposition and shoot. YMMV

 

By and large, I'm pleased with the job the meter does.

[grober]

Everything on Auto.

 

Other than shots where a flash (or flashes) are the primary light sources, I haven't yet taken a shot in anything other than 'A'. The bonehead-simple (always good in my case) LUNA-PRO digital F meter is worth its weight in platinum.

 

-g

[AlanJW]

The M8 meter is weighted so you can select a highlight area and hold the exposure while you recompose. The beauty of digital is the instant feedback -- where you miss you will know it and go back. I will generally expose for the highlights and then if need be pull out more shadow detail in CS2.

[hammam]

I use AE and exposure lock plus recompose most of the time. When it gets really tricky, for instance snow, of which we have a lot in Montreal, I will use manual and overexpose anywhere from +.5 EV to +2EV. I almost never use exposure compensation when in AE. And I don't think Leica did a good job implementing the feature in the M8, anyway. That's five steps, not including removing the camera from your eye and bringing it back. There should be a button somewhere on the top right, used in conjunction with the wheel. Not the «Set» menu thing.

[jaapv]

I did not have any of such in my M6, so I do not think the EV compensation useful at all. That is one feature they could have dropped in the spirit of minimalistic user control imho.

[ChrisC]

Everyone - Thank you for your contribution, this helps me. Perhaps some contributors thought it my intention to use a hand held meter with my M8, when I was really considering whether I would need to manually use the camera's meter, sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

On an associated matter, I have always thought it odd that every digital manufacturer gives us histogram representations of entire scenes. With digital, when metering a scene the only information of any help to me is the highlight corner and the shadow corner, and in that order. Sometimes that blown highlight can be difficult to see on a camera's histogram. For me, a histogram cannot be big enough, and I would love a display option to show a histogram magnification of just the two corners in a sort of split-screen mode. Just a thought.

 

........................Chris

[Englander]

Chris,

I think you might be missing one of the nicest features of the M8 playback: as you zoom, the histo reflects only the zoomed section. So if you want to know what your highlights are doing, zoom in on them and then look at the histo.

 

Joe

[lars_bergquist]

I have had my M8 for a few weeks now and I have been shooting most everything on auto exposure (and AWB) just to find out what the exposure system does. During this time we have had several days of very harsh sunshine from a cloudless sky, and as I live at 60° N the sun has been quite low too. I find that under high contrast conditions the M8 is prone to blowing the highlights even out of doors. One EV underexposure does improve things – but that blinking red dot in the finder is irritating!

 

My Minolta Color Meter II will not give me more than 4400K at high noon, and you can imagine the rest. AWB out of doors functions OK while I am in the sun, but open shadow, as on the north side of a hill or the shadowy side of a house, is a disaster. Everything goes blue. Indoors AWB does usually give acceptable results, but sometimes the WB has taken sudden and unexplainable leaps without any perceptible change of lighting or camera position. This to my mind is the most serious weakness of the M8 just now, and I doubt if I would take the trouble to update the firmware until Leica have given us something better.

 

The old man from the Age of Daylight Kodachrome.

[cbretteville]

I use 160=200

320=400

640=800

1250=1600

2500=3200

 

and that works fine.

 

Excellent Jaap. Thanks for those numbers. I use a digisix frequently and this will help. I whish my M8 had the semi-spot my M6 has.

- Carl

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[tashley]

I have an absolute hatred of blown highlights in digital files. The larger the intended print size, the more intolerable blown highlights become.

 

I am old school in the sense that I have always manually metered my photography regardless of the camera being used. I talked with a friend about modern metering yesterday [an old school Advertising photographer] and he conceded that with his D2x work he left it on auto exposure on the basis that it's metering was 'probably better than metering manually.

 

So, file-perfectionists, please can you give me some feedback on M8 metering so I am prepared when my camera arrives. How do you meter for consistent highlight-perfect files?

 

...............................Chris

 

 

I generally try to 'expose to the right' so as to maximize DR, but without blowing highlights. I use the M8s internal meter, but often meter the part of the scene I want then recompose, or swithc to manual and overide. One useful tip is that when chimping, the M8 will start to flash red blown highlight warnings on areas that are in fact not quite blown. So if you chimp til you *just* see a speck of red, you'll have it about right.

 

I assume you know the whole math about exposing to the right but if not, I'll provide links.

 

Best

 

Tim