Light meter - the mood killer

[rafael_macia]

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I guess some of you guys missed my point. There's no need for a light meter to know what I think, I never asked for it. I'm aware it can be tricky for the meter in case of extra light sources, but the elements in the samples I took are more or less evenly lit from the light comming through the window to the right.

 

I simply stated the camera should expose properly i.e. the way scene really looks like, the real light amount in the scene.

 

There is no "scene" ......

only shades of grey. The camera only looks to make all 18% grey. If you want your "scene" to be darker than 18% grey you need to figure out;

(where to point the camera to lock in the exposure, then re-compose.)

or

how to do the math

( how to look at the "scene" and see it as darker than 18% grey, and adjust the setting, to get your result).

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[jankap]

The camera is a technical device, that cannot look after moods.

The camera offers the best possible solution for the work after taking the picture. It tries to minimize under - and/or over exposed areas in the photo.

I mean, after taking the photo you are responsible to interpret the scene with Lightroom or Photoshop. You are the artist, the camera is the means.

Jan

[charlesphoto99]

It's why pros use manual metering 90% of the time. That way the only thing to blame is yourself. I was surprised when shooting at Sundance film festival that even the wire pros shooting the celeb stand and repeats use manual on their portable flashes (SB-910 etc). That way the camera never tries to "think" for them and therefore ruining a shot by doing something different from what's needed. It takes a lot more thinking but that's what we get paid for.

[Ulev]

Mirekti,

 

If the outcome of your pictures is not the way it should be, it means that your meter is thrown off for one reason or another.

 

Since the camera is a DD ( in Dutch that's "Dom Ding, translated it means "stupid thing), you need to help/correct it in non-common situations.

Such as taking the "black cat in the snow"pictureand let the camera do it's thing, resulting in a picture where neither the cat is black, neither the snow is white, but both are grey-ish.

 

So the main reason for getting a incorrect exposure is "user-error".

One should compensate for the ambient, the "mood", since the camera is a DD, remember !?

How do you compensate ? Exposure value ( + - ) OR you can compensate/influence by taking the metering from a certain area and than recompose.

 

Without correction, the camera will "place" the metered area in zone V.

If the metered area actually IS a zone V, you're fine, if not, you should compensate.

When the outcome is 1 1/2 stop lighter than the original, you obvious "feed" the camera with info that's 1 1/2 stop "darker" than "reality".

In other words, you measure on a zone that's in between zone III and IV, which the camera wants to "compensate" for ( bring into zone V) and therefore the 1 1/2 stop overexposure.

 

I must say, I try to " analyse" your photo/the scene.

Let's say the door ( white with detail) is a zone VII, the red curtain ( mid grey) is a zone V.

Shadow areas fall between zones III - IV.

 

Depending on the ambient light, these values (might) vary. For example, the white might rather looks yellowish and it's reflective value went down for two stops.

Taking a reading on the door would result in a correct exposure (since it went from zone VII to zone V).

 

As I said, you can compensate/influence by taking the metering from a certain area and than recompose.

 

Looks almost as if you did measure for the right part of the scene, being dark in the given light circumstances, which the camera did want to compensate for and therefore the overexposure.

 

BUT I guess you did not recompose, so I'm wondering ..

 

You don't have extreme values/contrast in the scene either( which would/could confuse your metering that much) ...

 

Wondering, what lens did you use and what aperture did you selected ?

 

( maybe you're having the Fuji X100 dissease, called "sticky blades", and you're selecting f3.5 but your lens remains at f2 ... don't take this too serious ... yet !) :-)

[Overgaard]

I have a question in regards to the light meter in general.

Not sure if this happens with all camera brands or it is the case with the M's meter.

 

Many times when I use the A mode, and trying to take a photo of someone in the room which is a bit dark or has the "mood", the meter is trying to compensate and all photos look as if it is a daylight. I even miss a shot because of too slow shutter speed due to this phenomena.

 

Is there a way Leica could improve this, or this is something all cameras have, and I have to live with it?

 

Here is a quick sample. The photo on the right side is more or less the way it should look like and it is a stop and a half darker.

 

A lightmeter will always simulate daylight, and will do so by assuming that the scenery in front of the camera is middle grey. Meaning a mix of cars, houses, sky, people and all that all together (if on made ones eyes out of focus), would be a middle-greay mass.

 

That is why snow landscapes are always grey and not white, and why evening photos are always too bright. Because the lightmeter try to make it look middle-grey.

 

The whole thing with photography light controls, and the light meter, is to make everything look natural by getting the right exposure. The camera producers have simplified and automatized cameras for the last 40 years to make the cameras take the photos for you. And they can't do it. The genius thing with Leica is that they don't hide the light controls, so you can actually take over and make the photo exposure right. The lightmeter is not pretending to know what you shoot but simply tell what the exposure would be, in case what you are looking at is middle grey in daylight.

 

Har to explain, but simple to apply with some training. And there is no automatic way of doing it right.

 

leica.overgaard.dk - Thorsten Overgaard's Leica Pages - Leica M9 Digital Rangefinder Camera - Page 17: "Light metering with the Leica M9 and Leica M9-P and Leica M Monochrom"