I just sold all my digital camera gear and...

[TheKidWantsTechno]

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...bought my very first Leica. A beautiful M6 TTL in absolute mint condition with original box and manuals.

 

 

I'm new to the Leica World and rangefinder-type cameras and it's been over 18 years since I last used a film camera (Nikon SLR).

 

I do have a question:

 

I've had the camera for about a week and put 3 rolls of film though it. Kodak Ektar 100, Ilford FP4+ and Ilford Delta 100. I will mainly shoot B&W with the camera.

 

Tommorrow I will go on a 10-day trip to Tuscany, Italy. Is there anything I should be aware of using the built-in lightmeter? Should I just frame the scene, adjust aperture/shutter according to the small arrows and the hit the release button? Or do I need to take a different and more analytic approach? I know this obviously depends on the scene but is it wise to meter mostly for highlights or shadows or something more or less neutral grey?

 

Thanks, Jake

[Guest]

Congratulations for your decision Jake and welcome to the forum.

What lens do you have?

How did the pictures with the three different films come out?

Which b&w film do you plan to use on your trip?

Edited September 4, 2014 by tri

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[hamey]

Congratulations.

 

I still love shooting Slide Film with my Leica R's and the M7.

Long live slide film.

 

Thank you Mr Fuji.

 

Ken.

[derphilipp]

...bought my very first Leica. A beautiful M6 TTL in absolute mint condition with original box and manuals.

 

http://i.imgur.com/VVI1on3.jpg

 

I'm new to the Leica World and rangefinder-type cameras and it's been over 18 years since I last used a film camera (Nikon SLR).

 

I do have a question:

 

I've had the camera for about a week and put 3 rolls of film though it. Kodak Ektar 100, Ilford FP4+ and Ilford Delta 100. I will mainly shoot B&W with the camera.

 

Tommorrow I will go on a 10-day trip to Tuscany, Italy. Is there anything I should be aware of using the built-in lightmeter? Should I just frame the scene, adjust aperture/shutter according to the small arrows and the hit the release button? Or do I need to take a different and more analytic approach? I know this obviously depends on the scene but is it wise to meter mostly for highlights or shadows or something more or less neutral grey?

 

Thanks, Jake

 

About the metering: It's important to know that the metering is center weighted. The manual will give you pretty good representation of which area of the viewfinder is metered. So you usually aim that area at your subject, meter and then recompose. In more complex/contrasty scenes (mostly landscapes) I usually try to read out the entire scene that way and then decide which setting is best to capture as much of the dynamic as possible.

[A miller]

To go along with your investment in film, you should invest in the mastery of exposure values. This is really the only way to get it right. In-camera meters lie, particularly where there are strong highlights in the background. I use a very compact hand-held Sekonic incident meter to confirm my exposure readings whenusing my M3 and IIIg. Usually I get it right but there are situations in which subtle lighting changes are hard to read, such as the different gradations of brightness on a cloudy day. I would recommend purchasing this meter for your trip. Have fun!

[bocaburger]

Cock/advance the shutter and take the lens off. Look at the shutter curtain, there is a white-ish spot on it. Memorize the proportions of that spot with reference to periphery of the shutter rectangle. When you look through the finder, imagine a spot the same proportions within the rectangle of whatever frame you're using (for the lens you have mounted). That's what the meter is going to "see".

 

As for your Tuscany trip: in the daytime, you have several options that work very well

 

1. If the sky is clear blue, point the lens at the sky opposite (away from) the sun and meter it.

 

2.Point the lens at something middle-toned, like a patch of green grass large enough to fill that imaginary spot I referenced earlier, and meter it.

 

3. With the lens at infinity, point it at the palm of your hand (careful not to shade it with your body!), meter it, and add 1 1/2 stops (ie, open up the lens 1 1/2 f-stops, or slow the shutter down 1 stop and open the lens 1/2 stop). Or you can set the ISO dial 1 1/2 stops lower numerically and just meter your palm, but I don't recommend that because you're apt to forget to re-set the ISO back again if you then choose to meter one of those other ways.

 

I have used all 3 methods to meter slide film with excellent results. With print film, unless I was dealing with a scene of varying contrast, I mostly tended to just meter and go with it, and it was almost always good, but the above methods are more precise with the narrower latitude films.

[Herr Barnack]

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... I will mainly shoot B&W with the camera...

With B&W film - HP5+, FP4+ and Kodak Tri-X, you will have a lot of exposure latitude. These emulsions are old tech and are more forgiving with regard to exposure than the newer T grain B&W films.

 

Something to keep in mind when selecting your emulsions...

[A miller]

Does the exposure latitude in film carry through to a digitized negative? Or, does the digitization transform the negative into a set of pixels that have a completely different set of latitude properties? I would have thought the latter but not quite sure.

[Manoleica]

You could invest in a hand held light meter, you can bracket. I once set up a shoot, everything was perfect, on the actual shoot everything was wrong! the reason the main subject changed his shirt from black to white!!

My first shot is always as per camera basic settings. After that I use my little cheat sheet which allows me to change settings on a known basis..

Therefore no guessing on when I see the results (negatives/prints or slides)..

[Brenton C]

The OP should be back now!

 

Let me join others in welcoming you (OP) to the fold, and congratulations on your acquisition of the M6!

 

Do you have some pics to share from your trip?

[otto.f]

You bought the right M6! I had the TTL 0.85, it was my third and best M6.

In cases of doubt or difficult situations I either used my hand as a greycard, push the button halfway and then compose the scene, or used the Gossen Digisix as an incident light meter. In most landscape situations this gave the right negative for printing.

[semi-ambivalent]

Jake,

 

I can also recommend the Analog Film Users Group (www.apug.org) for information. Just like here, they sometimes get bogged down by pointless flame wars or hung up on some bit of minutia or another. But there's hundreds of years of collective experience with film available there and you'll probably never be asked why you chose film over digital. Hope the trip went well and if the images are less than you expected you have a reason to go again.

 

Welcome,

s-a

[MarkP]

Hello?

Jake?

 

"Is there anybody out there?"

 

[MarkP]

Ignore my last post. I just realised that you will be away on your trip.

[MarkP]

or hung up on some bit of minutia or another.

 

 

And that never happens here?

[Brenton C]

And that never happens here?

 

Yes, I'm afraid I must take issue with the assertion that members can get stuck in the minutia.

 

I think it's unfair! I submit a more accurate rendering is to characterize some conversations as becoming passionate, sometimes to the point of perseveration, about matters of picayune significance.

 

;-)

[Manoleica]

Yes, I'm afraid I must take issue with the assertion that members can get stuck in the minutia.

 

I think it's unfair! I submit a more accurate rendering is to characterize some conversations as becoming passionate, sometimes to the point of perseveration, about matters of picayune significance.

 

;-)

 

I say Old Boy" steady on.. nearly spilled my whisky! the "club is quiet,

please keep it that way..........