Newbie question about AE lock

[jackieboi]

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I've just got Q2 as the first Leica camera ever. I've been dabbling its AE lock but can't quite grasp it. Let's say I want to take a picture with a subject (a person) on a street surrounding by elements. I place subject under lighting. How do I focus the lighting on my subject and darken the shadows around? I try spot metering and focus point towards subject and low exposure -1 but the whole picture gets so much darker. In ricoh gr iiix, there is a feature link af and ae to focus the lighting to the subject and darken the shadow. 

I'm very new to this. I really hope to find the answer. 

[Miltz]

I’m not sure what you’re asking. I’ve had the GRIII, the Q2, and now the Q2. You can’t compare shadows and exposure between the cameras. Leica’s metering is very different than Ricoh’s and my Nikon Z. The Leica always is darker and more contrasty when similar modes are used across different cameras. For example highlight metering on my Nikon Z looks like the evaluative metering on the Leica Q3. That’s how much darker the Leica is.

[clasami]

You can assign AE-Lock to a function button - but there is no option to assign an AE-Lock mode that automatically switches to spot metering. This is quite useful on my Sony cameras. 

When I want to achieve a certain exposure for part of the image, I use the EV dial.

[dpitt]

11 hours ago, jackieboi said:

I've just got Q2 as the first Leica camera ever. I've been dabbling its AE lock but can't quite grasp it. Let's say I want to take a picture with a subject (a person) on a street surrounding by elements. I place subject under lighting. How do I focus the lighting on my subject and darken the shadows around? I try spot metering and focus point towards subject and low exposure -1 but the whole picture gets so much darker. In ricoh gr iiix, there is a feature link af and ae to focus the lighting to the subject and darken the shadow. 

I'm very new to this. I really hope to find the answer. 

I think you sort of got the concept of AE lock wrong. It is not a Leica related issue.

AE lock stands for locking the current exposure metered value. It allows you to recompose the image and shoot subjects as if the 'locked' value is the one that is metered.
This works in all modes except the Manual exposure mode. In this case it is you that decides what aperture/shutter time and ISO value is used.

So, suppose you want to chose a scene with heavy lit area's and/or shadows that are deep. Your automatic exposure is going to turn your picture too dark or too light depending on what area is influencing the meter. Now, check metering mode:

• multi point or matrix mode - the camera makes the best of it and takes an average. AE lock will not help much
• center weighted mode - The objects in the center of the frame will be exposed properly most of the time. AE lock can help if your main subjects are not in the center and you want them properly lit.
• point metering mode - the small zone under the cross is used to expose the entire photo. This will result in exposures you do not want without help of the AE lock, because what happens to be in the small zone is exposed as a middle grey object. In this mode, you have to carefully point the camera to an area that is neutral in color and lightness, then lock with the AE lock and reframe.

AE lock is done by pointing the camera to the zone you want to be exposed as middle grey. Usually in a landscape, some green grass can be used for that if you want the area to be exposed properly. Point the camera, press the AE lock (usually by pressing the shutter halfway), then reframe while keeping the AE lock engaged, and click through when you want to take the shot. Your camera is now exposing the scene as if the green grass was in the center of your scene. Try to get the hang of it in center weighted mode before using the point metering.

What is middle grey? ... The light meter is a dumb thing. It will try to expose whatever you point it at as if it is a grey object. So if you point it to snow (or bright colors), it will under expose so that it looks grey on the photo. If you point it to black, it will show the black as grey by over exposing. The effect is not as outspoken with center weighted metering because most subjects will be larger than the center area, and everything is averaged out, but if you experiment with point metering you will see what I mean.

It is up to you to choose the subject that looks a bit neutral and worth exposing properly, point and AE lock and then recompose.

HTH

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by dpitt

[clasami]

There is something else: The Q2 doesn't allow to assign AE-Lock to an Fn button. So the only way to lock exposure is by half pressing the shutter button. One way to quickly move to AE-Spot metering is by "cropping" the frame to 75mm on the Q2 or to 90mm om the Q3. The AE measurment will only be taken for the cropped aread.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, clasami said:

There is something else: The Q2 doesn't allow to assign AE-Lock to an Fn button. ........

Both the Q2 (FW 5.0) and Q3 allow you to assign AE-Lock to a function button.

[jackieboi]

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Thanks everyone. I've managed to just use spot metering and stop down to -2/3 then adjust later in lightroom. Lock exposure in surroundings to make sure subject is properly lit and highlights maintained. Then do the trick later in post processing. 

Just a random question: I always shoot raw but does anyone find a good setting (profiles, white balance, light metering, etc) to render a leica-ish color SOOC for JPEG? I feel like Jpeg is unique for each camera while RAW may be tweaked further away from the original look. 

[clasami]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb Corius:

Both the Q2 (FW 5.0) and Q3 allow you to assign AE-Lock to a function button.

You are right, the Zoom button can be used for AE-Lock on the Q2.

[ianforber]

Initially I used centre-weighted metering and did the usual half press the focus button on the area I wished to be in focus and metered correctly, then recomposed. I thought about configuring the zoom button as AE-lock but decided I preferred it as a zoom button. 

I’ve since moved to highlight-weighted metering so AE-lock isn’t much use and just use the EV compensation wheel. The resulting pictures are no better or worse though.