Re: R8 metering (was: incident metering)

["Elliot M. Puritz, MD" <drpuritz@li.net>]

> Ted, I've been using my R8 for two months now and on a general line I can
> agree with you. I made a lot of night shots (R8 mounted on the Leica
> mini-tripod and ball head) both on slide and photo film under various
> circumstances (e.g. lot of contrast between dark scenes and street lights).
> The results were excellent indeed. The black parts of the scene become more
> detailed when using matrix metering instead of spot or central metering
> (because of the longer exposure time the R8's computer is choosing), and
> skies become somewhat lighter but more dramatic. A nice overall result.
> 
> In more general photography, the matrix metering works all right most of
> the time. I have, however, already had some overexposed pictures. These
> mostly happen when you photograph a normal subject (e.g. a person) against
> a much darker background (e.g. trees in a wood). Apparently, the computer
> thinks it must take a longer exposure because of the large dark parts (the
> background), with the result that the main subject is overexposed. I would
> say this is about 1 f-stop. Noting dramatic if you are shooting photo film
> and printing pictures yourself, but as this is not my case, the result is
> not quite perfect.
> Other thing: sometimes I have obtained underexposed pictures simply because
> there were some white (reflecting?) parts in the picture (it was a white
> garden table with white plastic chairs around it). There the R8 thinks
> there is too much light, so it must expose shorter. Again, nothing
> dramatic, but not the  exposure you would normally obtain if you measured
> light with a spot metering (at least, if you have some experience). As this
> was on slide film, the problem was quite obvious.
> 
> BTW: did you know that the meter of the R8 is factory-calibrated on an
> underexposure of -1/3 ? This was done to have slides with nice, saturated
> colors (information read in the French magazine Chasseur d'Images).
> Apparently, Leica must think most of us are shooting slide film. If you
> combine this with a slide film with very saturated, deep colors such as
> Fuji Velvia, the results can be very dramatic, depending on your personal
> taste. So, some experimenting is at its place. I am leaving for the Swiss
> mountains  in a week, and will take a mixture of Fuji Velvia 50 ASA and
> Fuji Provia 100 ASA. I wonder which film will prove most appealing to my
> taste.
> 
> So, I am in general very satisfied with my R8, but I would not dare too say
> that the matrix metering is flawless in all circumstances. It sure is in
> case things must go quick, and if you let someone who's not used to SLR
> metering take a few shots. It sure is if you want to take pictures without
> bothering too much about technicalities and if you want to concentrate on
> your subject and picture composition.
> 
> Pascal
> Belgium
> 

Pascal:  I recently received my new R8...some questions about the 
metering.  In the situations that you cite, would the spot or central 
weighting feature of the R8 meter system have solved the question of 
under and over exposure that you noted?  

Elliot