New shooter Leica S 007

[jhulton]

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Folks; I am new to the S and wondered what peoples preferred methodology is for using the S. Do you first look at live view, adjust to get the histogram where you want it and the click twice back to compose thru the viewfinder? I miss of course at first blush the auto-live view sensor.

Do some of you shoot with P mode?

Love to hear your advice.

 

 

[ropo54]

One suggestion: shoot to underexpose;  the files have lots of latitude.  Rob

[BernardC]

To be honest, it's not an exposure-critical system. There's lots of dynamic range, and the exposure meter works well.

I trust the meter, unless it's a tricky exposure (strong back-light or extreme lighting ratio). Only then will I check the rear LCD and histogram.

I never use P, but I use A in changing lighting. I mostly stick to M mode because it makes it easier to match exposure between a series of shots.

A different workflow could be better if you are shooting for a single image (a print, for instance). In that case you might care about every little bit of dynamic range, and you would want to check your histogram for every shot.

[jhulton]

Appreciate the input!
 

[peterv]

Congratulations on your new camera, I also have a 007 and it's a great image making machine.

As for PSAM, I use aperture priority when I want to ensure I have the right amount of depth of field for a certain shot and I use shutter priority whenever I want to make absolutely sure I am going to get a steady exposure, without any motion blur. The S lenses are very sharp and my hands are rather shaky, so in those cases I may need an exposure time of 1/1000 or less to make full use of the incredible resolving power of the lenses. I only use manual when I am in studio mode and with flash.

[tom0511]

I use A mode (I set f-stop and camera chooses exp time) 90%.

I also often use auto-iso with 1/250 as long as ISO do no go over 800 to avoid shake/blur softness.

Overall I rather expose on the lower side and adjust afterwards.

Enjoy the S-System, I find it is a great system.

 

[Stuart Richardson]

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I find that P mode makes pretty good decisions, so I generally stick to that along with exposure compensation unless I feel like I specifically want to define an aperture for depth of field reasons. In that case, in normal lighting I will use A, and in difficult lighting or for long exposures I will generally use M. I do not use auto ISO...it is on base ISO 98% of the time. I cannot really advise regarding live view, as I use the S006. The viewfinder is one of the main selling points for me, so I did not miss live view except when doing artwork reproduction in the studio.

[jhulton]

Thanks again all! 

Stuart: wonderful looking book there!!