Metering complexity

[setuporg]

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When thinking about the new metering, I’m mostly concerned with our own human mental model of zone metering.

As we know from SL and Q, the camera selects zones based on its own AI algorithms.  You don’t know what it’s doing, you can’t really have a full mental model of it, you can only observe the results.

With a simple classic model you have an idea.  As @Tailwagger concisely said it, you lower the camera away from the sky if you have a lot of it but need foreground not underexposed.

A better metering will still fail in more subtle ways than M10, but you won’t be able to have the same feeling of control over its failures as before.

This is what makes me think more about the upgrade at this point.  The extra complexity of function buttons goes in the same direction, you now have to think about them.  With the SL and Q we already are computer operators, and the new model for M tilts in that direction.

Edited January 17, 2022 by setuporg

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[Stevejack]

Yeah but you can ignore all of that off and just use your head if you prefer, otherwise you still get to choose centre-weighted or spot metering if you need more control, with spot metering being the best of the lot if you're having trouble understanding what the camera is doing. 

I get what you mean that it still requires learning the quirks of a new metering system, and perhaps those of us who use other mirrorless systems are used to it by now and have a head start. 

I would suggest just going by your own judgement and ignoring the camera's metering for a while. I just leave my ISO set to 400 and I know that the interior of my home is 1/60 at f/2.8, the early morning sun is 1/500 at f/8, the shaded balcony in the late afternoon is 1/250 @ f/5.6... after a very short time you just get to know what settings you need and you can work from there. It's an enjoyable way to shoot an M, and you're not really thinking about metering at all (well certainly not shot-to-shot). Then you'll only wish you could turn off the red arrows in the OVF! 😆

 

[setuporg]

I’ve been shooting SL2 and Q2 since 2019, and had one of the first cameras to offer some metering on the live view, Olympus 8080 in 2004.  I believe I understand what they are doing.  I just don’t want for M to become SL.  Sounds like the metering will make them even closer.

[Stevejack]

28 minutes ago, setuporg said:

I’ve been shooting SL2 and Q2 since 2019, and had one of the first cameras to offer some metering on the live view, Olympus 8080 in 2004.  I believe I understand what they are doing.  I just don’t want for M to become SL.  Sounds like the metering will make them even closer.

Gotchya, sorry I slightly misunderstood your first post.

Yes I do agree there, I pick up my M to try to get away from feeling like I'm shooting with a computer. I had the Q2 and sold it after a very short time, it was way too similar to any other digital camera and as great as it was, I didn't enjoy using it.

I only had the M11 in hand for a short time, but sent it back due to a faulty function button. Time will tell if I end up keeping the replacement. 

[shirubadanieru]

If the center / spot metering is still available that’s fine by me, all I have to do is set those settings accordingly. But yeah I want to make my own decisions, and spot metering or regular leica metering makes it easy for me to know what’s being measured, half press to lock exposure and shoot…don’t need a computer to set the exposure for me as it pleases

[tom0511]

"With a simple classic model you have an idea.  As @Tailwagger concisely said it, you lower the camera away from the sky if you have a lot of it but need foreground not underexposed."

Thats what I have being doing for nearly 30 years with the M now. However: you lower the camera away from sky too much - you get overexposed sky, you lower it not enough, you get undereposure. In real life it is a hit and miss. One of the reasons why a MD wouldnt work for me.

And if this is the way one wants to work -Y just choose spot or center weighted metering, or even manual. Spot should be even more "transparent" for the photographer than the grey point on shutter metering.

For me - for most situations - matrix metering works better. I allways had wished for a more sophisticated exp metering for the M camera.