Your experience..Please

[fursan]

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Your skills/knowledge/experience could give me a headstart in my journey with

the mp.

 

Where and how do you folks go about metering with your leica?

 

I am fairly comfortable with my nikons and its metering. besides, i have the rgb histo

and chimping, and exp. compensation etc., I also know the area that is being metered

and assigned the weighting factors.

 

my first roll with the mp ( tmax 400 ) was horrid..overexposed, underexposed...all over the place. wonderful experience though.

 

is the mp metering more like the nikon spot with a larger area or nikon cw with a smaller

measured area.

 

Please share with me your experience and skill and give me a headstart.

 

Thank you.

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[earleygallery]

I understand that the MP meter is like a large spot meter. Its not centre weighted in that it only reads from the 'spot' area - there is another thread with examples of the metered area for different frameslines.

 

I generally prefer to take incident light readings (with a handheld meter) or use the sunny 16 rule. You could buy a grey card and take a reading from the card with your MP. Green grass is roughly equivalent to a grey card and is also a good point to use.

 

Without seeing examples of the under/overexposed frames its difficult to comment on where you may be going wrong, but I would suspect that you are framing the image and adjusting the aperture to get the 'correct' exposure but forgetting that you are exposing for just that central area?

[stunsworth]

As James says, the metering pattern is like a fat spot rather than centre weighted. I point it at the subject, set the metering and press the shutter. Nothing more complicated than that. If the subject doesn't look as if it will average to a mid gray I adjuist the exposure to compensate. So for black subjects I'll underexpose by say a stop, for white ones I'll overexpose - this is all relative to the meter reading. If there's some grass in the frame meter of that. Another trick is to meter off the palm of your hand and open up a stop.

 

Mostly I go with what the meter suggests without problems.

[fursan]

Thanks James. Shall post some pics, once i get a scanner.

 

I understand that the MP meter is like a large spot meter. Its not centre weighted in that it only reads from the 'spot' area - there is another thread with examples of the metered area for different frameslines.

 

I generally prefer to take incident light readings (with a handheld meter) or use the sunny 16 rule. You could buy a grey card and take a reading from the card with your MP. Green grass is roughly equivalent to a grey card and is also a good point to use.

 

Without seeing examples of the under/overexposed frames its difficult to comment on where you may be going wrong, but I would suspect that you are framing the image and adjusting the aperture to get the 'correct' exposure but forgetting that you are exposing for just that central area?

[fursan]

Grateful Steve. maybe my greys were not really greys! shall calibrate to my hand,

and open up 1/3 stop:D

 

As James says, the metering pattern is like a fat spot rather than centre weighted. I point it at the subject, set the metering and press the shutter. Nothing more complicated than that. If the subject doesn't look as if it will average to a mid gray I adjuist the exposure to compensate. So for black subjects I'll underexpose by say a stop, for white ones I'll overexpose - this is all relative to the meter reading. If there's some grass in the frame meter of that. Another trick is to meter off the palm of your hand and open up a stop.

 

Mostly I go with what the meter suggests without problems.

[jolsen]

I use only slide film. It is easy to scan, and I don't need to worry about color correction compared to negative film. However I need to get the exposure right.

 

I almost exclusively shoot my boys. My best results are when I measure the exposure off their faces and over expose by half a stop. On a M6TTL, that is light in the red dot and triangle to the right of it in the finder.

 

I just tried the sunny f16 rule the other day. I found the results were horrable. Under exposed. Sunny f11 seems to fit better. I will use this in "emergency" situations, meaning when I can not measure my boys faces.

 

Hope it helps. Nothing better than testing it yourself.

[likea]

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My experience with 400CN and the MP is exceptional. It's the absolute joy of black and white, with the ease of leaving C41 with the local photo shop. Lovely tones, and full gradation without over- or underexposure.

[j. white]

is the mp metering more like the nikon spot with a larger area or nikon cw with a smaller

measured area.

 

According to the manual for the M6 TTL, the metered area is a circle roughly 2/3 the size of the height of the framelines for the lens in use. I could be wrong, but I doubt the metering pattern is noticeably different between the film models.

 

So as you say, it is rather like a large spot meter.

 

 

-J.

[thomasw_]

try taking your meter reading from the subject's knees...or off pavement.

[fursan]

Jens, Peter, J. White, Thomas.

 

I appreciate all of you taking the time to provide me with your advice. Now it is my

turn to put it to good use. practice and more practice...

 

God Bless.

[Guest darkstar2004]

With Velvia, I meter with my Sekonic L508 almost 100% of the time.

 

With print film, I will use the in-camera meter and meter off green grass or green plants, or clear blue sky outside and use that exposure straight up, or off the palm of my hand and open up 1 stop from that.

 

I get good results either way.

[steed]

Find someone with a grey tee shirt. Never fails. Green lawns are good too, but beware of placing th subject in front due to changes in light. Finally, its true, the hand rarely lies.

Good luck

John W

[spydrxx]

I have found either incident light metering or sunny 16 to be my favorite "metering" techniques. If I have gone for several weeks without shooting, I'll take my incident meter and match my sunny 16 estimates against the reality of the meter reading. Within a day or so, I'm back on track. When using my M6 rather than my other cameras, however, I do rely on the meter, as my previous testing has shown it to be really accurate...with the proper compensation for very dark or very light subjects. Stick with one or two films to understand their unique characteristics and light responsiveness, and it is hard to go wrong.

[amorteguy]

This first thought that popped into my head was dump the tmax and use tri-x. Use a handheld meter. That's the recipe I use for my M3 and I rarely have exposure problems as tri-x has a wide exposure latitude.

[JBA]

Here's the "sunny 16" rule explained in brutal detail.

 

Ultimate Exposure Computer

[abrewer]

The MP meter is kind of finicky, something William Lamb alerted me to.

 

I was near total in my frustration with it when I first started using the camera with color film, not so much with the black and white.

 

My suggestion is to stick to subdued light at first, as high contrast scenes were murder for me to master. I probably over-improved my Photoshop skills way beyond what's the norm simply because I needed that much help to get a satisfactory result when shooting in broad daylight (which I do a lot with the racecars). "Shadows/Highlights" is your best friend, trust me.

 

One suggestion to do right away: change the battery. I'm convinced I spent the first six months of shooting with a battery that was partially discharged and that contributed to the problem.

 

And, of course, always verify you have the ISO and the film speed synchronized.

 

 

Thanks.

 

Allan

[abrewer]

This first thought that popped into my head was dump the tmax and use tri-x. Use a handheld meter. That's the recipe I use for my M3 and I rarely have exposure problems as tri-x has a wide exposure latitude.

 

Another alternative is use the camera so damn much you can read the light without any meter.

 

That works too!

 

 

Thanks.

 

Allan

[lee_lo_ban]

I use Velvia 50 most of the time and usually take the reading off the grass, blue jeans, my hand with watch all together. I have tried even pointing my M6 to the clear blue sky to get a very acurrate reading... turned out a nice beautiful blue color out of the sky

 

- Carlo

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[fursan]

Folks, thanks a lot for all your suggestions and experienced advice.

 

Best regards.

[efreddi]

Normally I measure something down - ground, grass, concrete, asphalt... of course paying attentionn that this is really a middle range tone. Since I do in this way I never miss the exposure.

 

Regs

 

 

Elia