Metering with M6

[George Stoichev]

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Hi,

I use my Leica M6 for almost one year. I use it mainly for street photography. Having such a beautiful solid German camera is really nice, but I can’t get used to the manual light  metering.I’m not saying that I don’t know how to meter, but I’m slow. Even when I set the dept of field to be ready and use zone focusing I need from time to time to check wether the speed/aperture are set correctly.

this is what I do:

1. I set the lens for some fistance , let say 3-14 m for f/8.

2. I set the speed.

3. But when I walk on the street  there are shadows, bright places I should ajuste.

I use mainly color film and can’t count on B&W exposure latitude.

What is your style? How you do it

[a.noctilux]

Hello George,

my suggestion for free to gain freedom :

- need to be more involved

- more and more practices

- for exposure, you need to learn how to use Exposuremat (link)

- take out your M6 battery, then practice and practice

- you need not to have film in the camera to begin, only after some practices to learn the two/three "automatic" (well manual without thingking, that is ) settings

- color negatives do have some latitude for "errors" only you can live with this (or not)

- have fun learning to be free

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2022 by a.noctilux

[Anbaric]

3 hours ago, George Stoichev said:

I use mainly color film and can’t count on B&W exposure latitude.

Colour negative film has lots of exposure latitude, especially when scanned (Ilford's XP2, which uses the same C41 process as colour negative, has much more latitude than conventional B&W). Colour negative film is especially tolerant of overexposure, so it's safest to err on that side ('expose for the shadows'). Some people shoot various C41 films with the metering ISO set a bit lower than the box speed so that the baseline is a little 'overexposed' and the colours are a little more saturated. Here is one test of Portra with various deviations from the 'correct' exposure:

https://petapixel.com/2018/02/05/test-reveals-exposure-limits-kodak-portra-400-film/

Here is a test of a range of films:

https://www.richardphotolab.com/blog/post/find-your-film-stock-and-exposure-comparisons

Colour slide film is very different - it has much less latitude in general, and is especially intolerant of overexposure, so err on the side of underexposure ('expose for the highlights'), but not by much:

https://www.richardphotolab.com/blog/post/shooting-new-ektachrome-100

[spydrxx]

In my limited street shooting experience, I've found that metering the bright light and then the shadows at the beginning of the session are all I need. On the fly switching between those two settings, if required at all, results in good results without the hassle of constantly metering (and getting the same results).

[andrew01]

My advice is to not stress too much about the exposure for every shot.  

Learn how to estimate exposure using the sunny 16 for the film you shoot most often.  Use this for the first guess before lifting the camera to your eye and then fine tune using the cameras meter.  After some practise you will be able to guess within 1-2 stops.  

I usually work in ‘shutter priority’ in other words I set the shutter speed that is about right for the light and the tweak the aperture if needed.  For example in sunny conditions, shooting 125 film, the sunny 16 rule gives 1/125 at f16.  Most lenses perform best around f8 and this has plenty of margin for error in focus.  Therefore I set my shutter speed to 1/500, and lens to f8 as a first guess.

 

The M6 meter is a semi spot so be careful where you point the ragefinder patch when taking a meter reading.  Since negative film has more latitude on the overexposure side I like to point my metering spot towards darker tones in the scene.  Not the deepest shadows, but something on the darker side of mid grey.  

 

Once you have a meter reading for the lighting conditions, resist the temptation to mess with it for every shot.

[George Stoichev]

On 8/17/2022 at 11:23 PM, andrew01 said:

My advice is to not stress too much about the exposure for every shot.  

Learn how to estimate exposure using the sunny 16 for the film you shoot most often.  Use this for the first guess before lifting the camera to your eye and then fine tune using the cameras meter.  After some practise you will be able to guess within 1-2 stops.  

I usually work in ‘shutter priority’ in other words I set the shutter speed that is about right for the light and the tweak the aperture if needed.  For example in sunny conditions, shooting 125 film, the sunny 16 rule gives 1/125 at f16.  Most lenses perform best around f8 and this has plenty of margin for error in focus.  Therefore I set my shutter speed to 1/500, and lens to f8 as a first guess.

 

The M6 meter is a semi spot so be careful where you point the ragefinder patch when taking a meter reading.  Since negative film has more latitude on the overexposure side I like to point my metering spot towards darker tones in the scene.  Not the deepest shadows, but something on the darker side of mid grey.  

 

Once you have a meter reading for the lighting conditions, resist the temptation to mess with it for every shot.

Hi,

When I see something interesting to shoot and approach the viewfinder of the camera and see only one red arrow it stress me that the exposure is not right and I start moving the aperture ring in order to set it properly, in same time I have to adjust the focus, because with my 50mm lens the depth of file is too narrow.

One of the variants is to switch to wider lens and loose less time with focusing, But I like 50mm lens and another to get out the battery and use it by sunny 16 rules like it was Leica M-A.

[105012]

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As recommended above, remove the battery and learn to read the light.

Keep a small incident meter on you and guess the light, then check with meter. No camera needed for this exercise and it won’t take long until you get it. Bit harder when light is low because of the way our eyes adjust, but in time that will improve.

With no battery in the M6 you will be freed from worrying about the red LED and trust your own skills. Then upgrade to an M3 (since you are a 50mm person) 😀

[jukka]

On 8/17/2022 at 2:27 PM, George Stoichev said:

What is your style? How you do it

I find that often people don't appreciate how fast situations arise and light changes on the street. I used the manual FM2N for many years. Unlike many here, my conclusion was that setting the shutter speed really is an unnecessary step; it has no artistic effect. 

By setting the aperture, on the other hand, you influence the depth of field. Thus, I got myself first a Bessa r4a and then an M7. On my 50 cron I put on an ND filter. This allows me to use the whole aperture range even on a sunny day.

Thus, I don't really understand the traditionalist views that force you to use your expensive Leica glass on f8.

With an M6, I would first set the aperture (according to your vision) while lifting the camera to your eye, and then quickly set the shutter speed (with one motion) according to the meter, and then focus. With practice this can be done fast.

[andrew01]

I don’t think anyone was suggesting a workflow that forced you to use f8.  Once you learn to interpret the light set the settings for the look you want. 

The key point is that light doesn’t change much but the meter will jump around according to the reflectivity of whatever you point it at.  

[jukka]

19 minutes ago, andrew01 said:

The key point is that light doesn’t change much but the meter will jump around according to the reflectivity of whatever you point it at.  

Sure, in general that may be true.

In urban environment and public space, however, there are different situations with different lights. You walk inside and outside, in tunnels and under bridges, at waterfront and in concrete jungle, quasi inside at terraces, sometimes dealing with strong artificial lights from traffic, during day and night, in changing weather, and so on and so forth. Sometimes you may shoot into the sun and the next minute the sun is behind you; you also shoot from inside out and outside in – some use reflections in water. 

The advise to take batteries out and practice more seems a bit patronising when in an M6 there is a well-functioning build-in meter for just this purpose. Doing street is pretty challenging as is, especially with manual focus film camera. Each to his own of course