Re: meter spot

[Paul Schliesser <paulsc@eos.net>]

>"The M6 meters a circle that is about 2/3 the height of the frame, so you 
>need to estimate where it is by looking at the frame line in use."
>
>
>As I type, I am looking at a photo trying to make sense of the above
>statement.  Why would the "circle" not be located exactly in the center of
>the viewfinder?
>

You need to estimate the size of the circle, so that you can tell where 
in the scene you are metering. By "where it is," I meant that you need to 
estimate the area (within a frameline) that the meter is reading. It is 
always in the center of the frame.

The circle doesn't physically change size. The meter reads the light that 
reflects off of a white circle on the center of the first shutter 
curtain. However, the light that falls on the shutter curtain is the 
light that passes through the lens, so the meter only "sees" a portion of 
what the lens "sees." A short focal length lens will have a wider angle 
of view than a longer lens, so with a shorter focal length the meter sees 
a wider area than with a longer lens. Because you always see a (little 
bit bigger than) 28mm angle of view in the viewfinder, no matter which 
lens is attached, you need to learn to estimate what the meter sees when 
you look in the viewfinder. You do this by estimating a circle about 2/3 
the height of the frameline for the lens you are using. With a 135mm lens 
attached, the circle covers an area about the width of the rangefinder 
patch. With a 28mm lens attached, it would be taller than the the 50mm 
frame. You can memorize references like this for each lens that you use, 
but I find it much easier and more intuitive to use the 2/3 frame-height 
estimate.

If you had an SLR, the circle would always be the same size in the 
viewfinder no matter what lens you used, since you see exactly what the 
lens sees. On the M6, the meter is looking throught the lens but you are 
looking throught a separate viewfinder.

- - Paul