what you see is what you get?

[mati22]

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hi to everybody. i am new here and new to leica- cameras. 4 weeks ago i bought my d-lux 4 and only 2 weeks later i got the bug (like many others before me cause of the sites from thorsten "d2" overgaard): the end was a digilux 2 from ebay. i am very lucky with both cameras. now my silly question:

when pressing the shutter to focus on my d-lux4 i see what i get. doing the same with the digilux 2 its not that way. in the monitor the picture looks still good and the light is fine, but having pressed the shutter down, seeing the result is quiet another thing: the picture might be much too dark. so here is: what you see is not always what you get. am i doing something wrong or is this the camera, perhaps her age, another philosophy?

thanks for everybody who can answer me. great forum. i am reading here long before i got my first leica.

[mati22]

hji you all, out there. nobody likes to answer?

[Overgaard]

Everybody is occupied with the M9 and X1 news. I thought about answering yesterday but didn't have a D2 near by. And still don't.

 

I recall it as if I see a preview, but then again, perhaps not.

 

What I do see is that I almost always check the metering in the bottom of the EVF to see what it says; and this I compare with what I see. So if the lightmeter says it's under-exposed I look what the sguare in the middle points at. It it's pointed at something white, I leave it, because then the exposure will probably be right.

 

Or I point the camera towards something midle-grey, lock the metering, and then shoot. Or if I want it real overlit, I point the lightmeter (the shuare in the middle) to something even darker and lock the metering.

 

But nevertheless, what you always get if you shoot series, is a preview of the last picture just after you finished shooting. And when shooting manual, that's your guide to if you have to change the settings.

 

If you shoot auto, the metering is quite right in many instances. You can see what it says when you take the picture, or you can preview a photo and see what metering (time and f-stop) the camera used, and then correct accordingly.

 

I often lock the f-stop on 2.0 and then only work the shutter time.

[John Thawley]

Another thing you'll want to consider is the LCD is not going to provide an accurate "look" due to the ambient light. For instance, if you take a photo at dusk and then check it on the preview of the LCD, I guarantee it's going to look nice and bright... even though it may be underexposed. Why? Because it's almost dark outside and you're checking your images on a TV screen. It's a light bulb. It WILL appear bright.

 

I know this from shooting motorsports at night on my Canon cameras. I have to very vigilant in the nighttime exposures. Relying on the preview screens will leave me very disappointed with the end result.

 

The same can be said during the day. The preview screen will render darker than it really is. Why? Because the bight sunlight is actually brighter than the screen.

 

As Thorsten said... trust the camera's meter.. and trust your skills. You now if your subject is backlit, go a little over the meter's exposure. If it's an extremely harsh sunny day, go a little under.

 

Personally, I'm often amazed at the Digilux 2's accuracy and how well it forgives being slightly over or slightly under.

 

Hope that helps.

 

JT

[daveleo]

the brightness of the EVF and the LCD can be changed manually, and they are separate in that the brightness setting applies only to one or the other at the time its is set (see page 124 of the manual (English version).

 

additionally, of course, the exposure value (actual exposure of the image) can be set manually +/-2 stops (page 138).

 

in addition to the comments already made, perhaps checking and tweaking these values will get the results you expect (?)