M11 - meter response from light to dark with half press exposure lock

[JohnnyG]

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Good day all, my first post here. Really interesting and helpful forum.

Very happy owner of an ME since 2013 and most recently a black M11 which is running FW 1.6.1

Coming from my ME with its traditional Leica centrally biased metering, when dealing with a high contrast scene, I often meter off a neutral area in the frame, half press the shutter to lock, recompose and take the shot. I tend to do this very quickly, in under a second.

With my M11, I’ve tried to maintain this method despite the excellent multi-field or highlight metering on the M11, just to remain ‘traditional’ in my style and actually also to keep the muscle memory going when shifting to my ME.

I’ve noticed something rather strange though with my M11, and I’m wondering if this is just my one or common to all M11s…

… setting the camera to ‘A’ and fixed ISO, with metering to centre-weighted or spot, meter off a very bright area…

… then half press the shutter button, the little red led above the selected shutter speed (between the leftmost and adjacent shutter speed digit) will illuminate indicating AE lock…

… then very quickly move to a darker area of the scene… does your shutter speed remain locked (as it should) or has it in fact shifted (to a lower speed if you’ve moved to a darker area of the frame)?

If you wait around a second, then the lock occurs OK, just when moving from light to dark very quickly. My ME locks instantly.

Edited June 25, 2024 by JohnnyG
Corrected assertion

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[Derbyshire Man]

Hi Johnny

Just checked my M11P and M11M on the latest firmware. I don't get that. They lock on immediately.

The M11M did freeze immediately on switching on when I pressed one of the back buttons by mistake when turning it on!

[Knorp]

 

No issue here with my M11P @ 2.1.1

Tried with shutter dial @ A and ISO dial @ 200. Locked shutter speed remains the same when moving between bright and dark areas.

Can switch my camera on and while initializing (red light on) can press any back button but no freeze.

[kiwidad]

Just checked my M11 and it stays locked on same shutter speed

[MikeW]

I have an M11-P running the latest firmware, 2.1.1. In all metering modes, including center-weighted and spot, the exposure lock functions as expected when rapidly moving from a light scene to a dark one.

[JohnnyG]

Thanks to all for trying things out and confirming that a firmware upgrade will likely resolve my issue.