Night time in the city: exposure

[jrp]

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Is it just me, or does the M240 try to render nightscapes as daylight (using advanced multi-zone mode)?

Is there anything to be done other than dial in -2-3 stops of exposure compensation?

 

All my other cameras recognise night and need little further adjustment.

[jaapv]

Of course - the exposure meter will always attempt to equalize the exposure.

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[BerndReini]

You have to keep in mind how the M metering works: it is center weighted. Most cameras have multiple metering points around the frame trying not to overexpose any part of the frame, which in many cases leads to underexposure of what you actually want to expose for. The M uses a patch in the center of the frame, around where you are actually focusing the rangefinder patch. If you use this area to meter, the camera will try and place the exposure to a corresponding mid-gray.

[jaapv]

Of course the M does offer multi-field metering, but I see little advantage over the classic metering, maybe because I am used to it. At night, there is a case to be made for using the spot metering; just place the middle gray exactly where you want it.

[jrp]

Multi-field metering in other cameras seems to be sufficiently sophisticated to recognise night time. I'm surprised that the Leica doesn't.

[colonel]

Hmmm

As jaapv says, I find I am used to spot or centre metering. It's much easier for me to get the effect I want:

 

Edited January 19, 2015 by colonel

[jaapv]

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Multi-field metering in other cameras seems to be sufficiently sophisticated to recognise night time. I'm surprised that the Leica doesn't.

Don’t confuse multi field with matrix. Matrix metering is designed to short-circuit the photographer’s judgment.

[bocaburger]

I prefer shooting "night" shots which have sky in them just after dusk. The meter usually biases toward the highlights and so the sky goes dark so it looks like it was shot much later at night, but still with some cloud and/or light and dark detail, which I personally find more pleasing than pitch blackness.

[colonel]

I prefer dawn to dusk

Metering is always tricky as the Sky dominates and the buildings become a black silhouette.

So you need to meter for one and use the cameras dynamic range on the other:

 

[bocaburger]

I prefer dawn to dusk

Metering is always tricky as the Sky dominates and the buildings become a black silhouette.

So you need to meter for one and use the cameras dynamic range on the other:

 

Shooting at dawn presupposes me waking up at dawn or before, and that's not happening

 

Agree with you about the metering, dawn or dusk, if you want it to look natural. Making dusk (or I imagine early dawn) look like night is easy as long as the city lights are on. I have no idea at what time they go off in the AM, never been up that early for as long as I can remember

[DTM]

Shooting at dawn presupposes me waking up at dawn or before, and that's not happening :

 

 

I'll 2nd, 3rd and 4th that!!

[rodluvan]

Is it just me, or does the M240 try to render nightscapes as daylight (using advanced multi-zone mode)?

Is there anything to be done other than dial in -2-3 stops of exposure compensation?

 

All my other cameras recognise night and need little further adjustment.

 

it's a sad day that now even Leica comes with so many bells and whistles that the weekend warriors are comfortable detaching from the very fundamentals of photography

[colonel]

it's a sad day that now even Leica comes with so many bells and whistles that the weekend warriors are comfortable detaching from the very fundamentals of photography

 

What, getting the exposure right !!! It's a myth that real photographers just press one button.

 

Ansel Adams and many like him used all techniques to extend dynamic range both during picture taking and in the lab. He would have been all over digital technology.

[rodluvan]

What, getting the exposure right !!! It's a myth that real photographers just press one button.

 

Ansel Adams and many like him used all techniques to extend dynamic range both during picture taking and in the lab. He would have been all over digital technology.

 

exactly ; pressing the button and expecting the camera to take care of the exposure is letting something else do the driving and thinking for you. thank you for making my point with the AA example; there's a guy who understood exposure and would never set a modern digital camera to auto-everything and snap away

[thighslapper]

errr..... and you do have the facility to take up to 5 bracketed exposures with whatever EV interval you want for precisely these sort of circumstances......

 

..... all you need is one to be ok ......

 

I will never be in the 'get it right first time one shot brigade' and have no intention of ever buying an M60 ..... educated guesswork and trial and error has served me fine over the years ......

 

..... just don't ask what my profession is .....

[Bill Livingston]

Surgeon?

[jrp]

I do understand that you or I can choose to do the work or bracket to get the right exposure.

 

I was just expecting the advanced metering mode to be more intelligent when I want it to do the work for me.

[jaapv]

This thread has rather surrealistic overtones to me....The M tends to underexpose in night cityscapes, as the meter is easily fooled by bright highlights, yet the OP complains about overexposure. Secondly, I suppose it is possible, but it is not very likely, that somebody who has the photographic interest to buy a M240 (and lenses one may assume) is unaware of the basics of exposure...

Edited January 21, 2015 by jaapv

[BerndReini]

Ansel Adams and many like him used all techniques to extend dynamic range both during picture taking and in the lab. He would have been all over digital technology.

 

Probably, but you can be sure that he knew exactly what every exposure would look like later at the moment he pressed the button. If anyone knew his materials and how to pre visualize, it was Ansel Adams.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[chris_tribble]

Night time exposure for me is best done manually and with a bit of trial and error It's certainly possible to get visually correct exposures with the application of some pretty basic knowledge of how digital sensors respond to light, and to get more than usable results.