RE: [Leica] M6 metering calibration

[Alan Ball <AlanBall@csi.com>]

On Tuesday, July 14, 1998 4:08 PM, Jim Brick [SMTP:jim@brick.org] wrote:
> I do not believe that Leica alters the meter in favor of either over or
> under exposure. This would be a disaster with Velvia. Velvia is really an
> EI 40 film. Meters are usually set to 50 for Velvia already giving a
> "skinny" exposure. Velvia does not do well with underexposure. I use tons
> of velvia in my Leicas and if they were underexposing, I would be in 
trouble.

Jim,
I use almost exclusively Velvia myself. Could it then be said that "other 
brands" tweak the metering for slight overexposure (with negatives in mind) 
? With my Nikons, I usually keyed ISO 64 for Velvia when I wanted extra 
saturation. Doing this with the M6 really overdoes it. I did not know that 
Velvia was considered as "really ISO 40". Is this a generally accepted fact 
or the result of your own experience ? Do you routinely expose it at ISO 40 
?

> Remember, TTL meters are "reflected" meters and it's what you point them 
at
> that creates the apparent over or under exposure. Take a small (4"x5") 
18%
> gray card and after metering the scene, hold up the gray card directly in
> front of the lens (filling the viewfinder frame), in the same plane as 
the
> film, and re-meter. Chances are that the scene has stuff that is too 
light
> and giving you a false reading. It's easy to check your meter with a gray
> card. If it is off, either make appropriate adjustments in your methods, 
or
> get it fixed.

Thanks for the explanations but I am usually quite aware of metering traps. 
To the point of carrying a grey card in the gear box....

Friendly regards,
Alan,
Brussels-Belgium