Proper exposure on leica R4.

[chris giroux]

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Hi i recently bought a leica R4 and would like to know how to recognize when there's proper exposure,i can see the meter light up on the right but other than the bottom triangle and top triangle which i'm guessing means it's under or over exposed? I'm used to seeing a needle that hovers around the middle on digital or other film cameras..but the r4 just has circle or square lights and to the left of that the shutter speed numbers.Any help would be appreciated thanks 😊

[adan]

In Autoexposure modes P, T, A and (a) - the camera is doing the exposure setting, and thus there is no indicator for "correct" exposure - you just have to assume the camera automation knows what it is doing. The Top/Bottom arrows show that you are outside the possible range of the automation (the camera cannot find a shutter speed or aperture to set for the lighting and the film ISO available).

In fully Manual exposure (m), the R4 also does not have a "correct" +/- indicator as such. You must do one of the following:

1) choose a shutter speed, and set it manually on the dial. Then turn the aperture ring, while looking through the viewfinder, until the viewfinder speed LED matches or "suggests" what you remember you already set on the shutter dial - or

2) choose an aperture, see which shutter speed "suggestion" lights up in the viewfinder, and then take the camera away from your eye and set that speed on the shutter dial.

It is a rather kludgy 1980s system, adopted whole from the Minolta MD-11 on which the R4 body is based. The Canon A-series (AE-1, AT-1, etc) was similarly not well indicated for manual. It was assumed that users who wanted "fast" metering would just use the brand-new, fancy Auto modes, and that anyone using full manual would be taking their time, and be happy to look inside and then outside and then inside again.

In the Leica R6, a pure mechanical/manual version - you get three LEDs in the finder and can adjust the dials by feel until only the center LED lights up. Similar to centering a physical meter needle. The R7 managed to overlay both systems - in Auto it was like an R4; in manual, it is like an R6.

Keep in mind that the R4 only operates in manual with a very-narrow semi-spot (or "selective") metering area - reading just the area of the center finder circle. It cannot "average" the whole picture brightness when set to (m). Be careful what you are pointing it at when manual metering..

Edited December 8, 2019 by adan

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[wagner]

Hi Adan! 

Well, since the R4 shows you preset time in the viewfinder - same with the XD7 - , there is no need to take the camera away from your eye while shooting in manual mode. 

Surely,  I do prefer the manual mode of the Leica R6/R7 models. Easier to use. But you are right with the Canon models. They are really not nice to use in manual mode.

 

Torsten 

 

[chris giroux]

Thank you very much Adan it's much appreciated 😀

[ramarren]

Chris,

I would recommend downloading and reading the Leica R4 Instruction Manual ... M.Butkus has it in his library of film camera manuals: 

https://www.butkus.org/chinon/leica/leica_r4/leica_r4.htm

The instruction manual details the operation of the metering system pretty clearly. (FWIW, Minolta never made an "MD-11" that I recall or can find. They made a model called the XD-11, which I owned and enjoyed using. The R4 metering system doesn't seem very similar to what my Minolta XD-11 operation was from the manual and my (likely degraded) memory of the XD-11. ) 

G

[adan]

You're correct, of course - I mistakenly conflated Minolta and XD-11 in typing.

[chris giroux]

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Thank you ramarren ,that was the first thing i did,and though it detailed the different types of exposure it didn't explain in layman's terms how and when you were in proper exposure, Adan's advice was more helpful.😀

[ramarren]

I'm glad it was helpful, and Adan's explanation made sense to you. 

It seems pretty clear to me straight from the manual, but then I've been messing about with this stuff since the 1960s and it all seems pretty obvious to me now... LOL! Yet another proof that I'm old!

G