How do you meter with your M-A?

[shirubadanieru]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

12 hours ago, M.RB said:

I’m with this general approach. There really aren’t that many possibilities, especially if like me you tend to use 1/125 or 1/250 whenever possible unless it compromises the aperture you need for adequate DOF. 

I also use a IIIc in the same way. I do meter if it’s critical or unpredictable light but light is relatively predictable for everyday situations (they are every day after all.)

I think if you use a Sunny 16 approach you quickly realise that there are just a few frequently used settings perhaps, whereas with a meter there is a disconnect from the what you’re actually doing. It’s why I use an M-A personally anyhow, otherwise maybe a camera with a meter might be a better choice. 

exactly, on a sunny day I mostly use only two settings: F8 under bright light, F2 in the shade, while keeping shutter speed at 1/1000. Very easy : ) 

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[BradS]

I don’t have an M-A but do have a few cameras without a built in meter. I use either a handheld Gossen or an app on the iPhone (myLightMeter). 

[JimmyCheng]

I found it most convinient with iphone apps, there are a whole bunch out there, each with strengths and weaknesses, just try them out.

[abrewer]

On 11/27/2019 at 2:22 PM, colint544 said:

I use this one. It was free, but I don't doubt there must be a lot to choose from

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

That's the same one I use, too. 

[Edgy01]

Everyone should own a meter-less Leica at some point in their lives--preferably, early in their shooting career.  It forces you to learn how to judge lighting.  Remember those information sheets put inside every package of film you bought?  They should be read, and followed.  The basic sunny 16 Rule is fundamental to shooting.  If there are lighting conditions under which you shoot a lot, learn what the EV is for that condition and memorize it.  For example, I used to shoot in classrooms a lot when I was a chief photographer, and with Tri X, you got very useable negatives at 1/60th and f/5.6.  The learning curve is, fortunately, quite steep.  If you are lucky enough to also have a digital Leica, don't mindlessly let it select exposure values--let it, but then actually look at the values it recommended--and learn.

[Steven Seven]

3 hours ago, Edgy01 said:

Everyone should own a meter-less Leica at some point in their lives--preferably, early in their shooting career.  It forces you to learn how to judge lighting. 

I agree with the spirit of your post, but that's not what 35mm format is for. A meterless TLR, an RB67 or any other medium format camera on a tripod - sure. But Leicas are meant to be used in the moment. There should be no time to do sunny-16 math or fiddle with a handheld light meter. And if you have time, it means you're doing medium format photography with a tiny 35mm camera.

[Matlock]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

1 hour ago, Steven Seven said:

I agree with the spirit of your post, but that's not what 35mm format is for. A meterless TLR, an RB67 or any other medium format camera on a tripod - sure. But Leicas are meant to be used in the moment. There should be no time to do sunny-16 math or fiddle with a handheld light meter. And if you have time, it means you're doing medium format photography with a tiny 35mm camera.

So Leitz intended meter use in the 1930s ?

[a.noctilux]

Forgot to mention with what I learned to bypass "metering' when I fancied to use LTM Leica some years ago:

Exposure-Mat

I had learned a lot 😉

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by a.noctilux

[adan]

2 hours ago, Steven Seven said:

There should be no time to do sunny-16 math

Complete instructions given to painter/photographer Ben Shahn by his roomate Walker Evans, when Shahn borrowed Evans' 35mm in the mid-1930's for street photography, working for the Resettlement Administration:

"f/11 on the sunny side of the street, f/4 on the shady side, 1/100th sec - and don't forget to focus."

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/ben-shahn?all/all/all/all/0

Honestly, some photographers today are such helpless snowflakes.

55 minutes ago, Matlock said:

So Leitz intended meter use in the 1930s ?

Leica didn't intend M metering (permanently) until 1985.

[a.noctilux]

10 minutes ago, adan said:

Complete instructions given to painter/photographer Ben Shahn by his roomate Walker Evans, when Shahn borrowed Evans' 35mm in the mid-1930's for street photography, working for the Resettlement Administration:

"f/11 on the sunny side of the street, f/4 on the shady side, 1/100th sec - and don't forget to focus."

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/ben-shahn?all/all/all/all/0

Honestly, some photographers today are such helpless snowflakes.

Leica didn't intend M metering (permanently) until 1985.

Thanks for the anecdote Adan.

...

M TTL metering ...

Adan early than that (1985) with M5, "best M metering system" from 1971 .

[Matlock]

1 hour ago, adan said:

Leica didn't intend M metering (permanently) until 1985.

Quite, which makes a nonsense of any claim of doing medium format photography with a tiny 35mm camera. 😄

[WvE]

Anyone experience with the KEKS EM-01 light meter? 

[a.noctilux]

6 minutes ago, WvE said:

Anyone experience with the KEKS EM-01 light meter? 

a thread is opened, here

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/311749-for-the-non-metered-m-camera-keks-em-01-light-meter/

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/311749-for-the-non-metered-m-camera-keks-em-01-light-meter/?do=findComment&comment=4016624

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Next to 3YO thread. I wonder if OP is ever made to his special way to meter with M-A.

I wonder too. I started photography with FED-2 and ORWO slide film. Not Leica M4 and Kodachrome. With my bottom of cameras approach I  used S16, only outdoors.

At some point I grow to get used M4-2 at low price and still been on the bottom line only managed to get TwinMatte. I was able to use it even indoors. Then I switched to mobile phone app and at some point just for S16, including indoors. 

It was not done by  buying prestige Kodak films and sending it to the lab for developing and scans. I went low again, Kentmere and even Polypan F. Bulks. Loading to re-usable cassettes. Developing, printing at home. Hundreds of rolls per year. Not something common for these days of two plus film M and dozen or less rolls per year on average. 

Oh! Here is Leica way. Instead of M7, get used digital M. It is less expensive than M7. And try to use. With my M-E 220 I realized what best metering technique is .... S16. But digital M allows you to practice with shutter speed, ISO and aperture in most practical and closest to M-A way. Just select ISO100 or ISO400. 

[adan]

8 hours ago, a.noctilux said:

Adan early than that (1985) with M5, "best M metering system" from 1971

You did notice that I carefully included the word "permanently?"

The M5 died commercially within 4 years (it was extremely impermanent) and Leica reverted to unmetered Ms for a decade.

[earleygallery]

13 hours ago, Steven Seven said:

I agree with the spirit of your post, but that's not what 35mm format is for. A meterless TLR, an RB67 or any other medium format camera on a tripod - sure. But Leicas are meant to be used in the moment. There should be no time to do sunny-16 math or fiddle with a handheld light meter. And if you have time, it means you're doing medium format photography with a tiny 35mm camera.

Oskar Barnack devised the original Leica as a convenient camera to take on mountaineering trips. Hardly 'in the moment' photography.

[IkarusJohn]

Well, you could use the “Snapshot” mode, if you still use an M9; then you could spurn that and go Auto WB (because it’s good enough), Auto ISO (because the new sensors are ISO variant), and Auto shutter, trusting the camera’s centre-weighted averaging meter …

Back to the M-A, ISO is set, and provided you remember to take the lens cap off and focus, you start out with a shutter speed that matches ISO, f/16 and work backwards.  In practice, this is very quick as you will have an idea of the brightness of the subject, the aperture you want and the limit of 1/1,000 of a second.  There really isn’t much to it.  Yes, you can use a light meter, but really you should be thinking for yourself.  It isn’t that hard.

As for @Steven Seven’s post above, I’m not sure what the point is.  The M-A and all meterless M and LTM cameras which proceeded it are pointless?  The beloved HCB would suggest otherwise.  The reality of a camera like the M-A is that you’re not messing about with camera settings - you have the camera already set at the aperture and shutter speed you are likely to need - it becomes second nature …

[adan]

3 hours ago, earleygallery said:

Oskar Barnack devised the original Leica as a convenient camera to take on mountaineering trips. Hardly 'in the moment' photography.

So the story goes. Although if one looks at Banack's preserved body of work, pictures made while mountaineering are notable by their scarcity. Even Barnack ended up using it mostly for other things.

The hammer was devised to crush or shape objects. It still serves that purpose, but in most people's hands it is used to drive nails.

The telephone was devised for aural communications at a distance. It still serves that purpose, but also may others. E.G., reading this forum - or "as a convenient camera to take on mountaineering trips."

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[Steven Seven]

8 hours ago, earleygallery said:

Oskar Barnack devised the original Leica as a convenient camera to take on mountaineering trips. Hardly 'in the moment' photography.

Exactly. That is a perfect case for medium format photography with a tiny camera. The kind of a compromise a physically ill man would have to make. Oskar himself would've agreed with me. I didn't say there's anything wrong with that. Let's just be aware what you're doing if you're signing up for a meterless body.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Steven Seven

[Mark II]

On 5/11/2021 at 3:39 PM, Ko.Fe. said:

Next to 3YO thread. I wonder if OP is ever made to his special way to meter with M-A.

Yup. I mainly use the M-A outside at night in the city. I just set the shutter to 1/50th and the lens to f1.4 at EI1600. If it looks really dark or unusually light I vary the exposure by up to 2 stops up or down. I rarely use a meter as relying on experience from shooting and developing seems both quick and accurate. When exposures are off it is almost always because there was not enough light for any meaningful hand-held exposure.

The nice thing with this is that moving through the 1/50th shutter speed has a slightly different feel. With a bit of practice it is possible to just set the speed by feel.

When necessary I use a hand-held incident meter (Gossen F2) and meter only when the light changes. I tried a hot shoe meter, but it is a pain to swap between cameras and no where near as accurate.

Unfortunately a year of lockdowns and a nighttime curfew has pretty much killed any meaningful photography here - although the worst restrictions were finally lifted last weekend...