Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]David wrote <snip> You're all wrong. Too much thinking, not enough shooting. <snip> Not to worry. I average a couple of rolls a week of 135 and another three or four of 120 just bombing around town - and this was before the famous PAD project. I was just looking for a little illumination :) on an old photographers saw that I'd always been to embarrassed to ask about. The difficulty I've been having occurs when I shoot my Hasselblad where I seem to constantly underexposing everything (yes I bracket all the time and yes that chews up a lot of great big frames). Much of the problem comes from my use of a spot meter (which I bought at least in part so I could learn about proper exposure). I'm presently at the stage where I spend all kinds of time metering this and that value in one degree snips (which I believe is your point). But without a clear sense of what you're doing and why, it's really little better than guess work. I know all about gray cards and mid tones, and green grass, and zones, and all the rest. But not all scenes present themselves so neatly and finding something in the scene that looks to be a mid tone value and then reading it with a one degree spot meter doesn't ipso facto guarantee a good overall exposure. With but just 12 frames per roll, I was thinking it might be nice to get more than two or three decent images. After spending all manner of time and money having my lenses and meter checked I concluded it was I who was the problem. Shooting with the M6 is much easier because the meter is such a blunt instrument. In that case, I think your counsel definitely applies - or like Ted and Tina say (perhaps in jest), light up the two little red arrows and shoot. Wiggle your aperture or shutter speed either way and you've got your brackets. In either case, bracketing to CYA, protect yourself against processing vagaries, or to give you some options in terms of your final image is one thing. Bracketing because you don't understand exposure is another. FWIW, the first roll of 120 I shot after this wonderful little thread yielded 12 excellent images (including the brackets). So it helped. Kevin Hoffberg