Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Wed, 27 Jan 1999, Bill Christensen write: >Leica R camera also require a circular polarizing filter. For some reason, >linear filters may produce an inaccurate meter reading. It's because of the partially-silvered mirror that lets some of the light reach the meter cell. A linear polarizer in the light path will block light waves which are not aligned with the polarizer. The semi-silvered mirror also acts as a polarizer to a certain degree and if the polarizing filter and the mirror's polarizing effect are not perfectly aligned the meter cell will "see" less light than the film will. In the extreme case where the polarizer and mirror are mis-aligned by 90 degrees the meter will get no light at all. You'll get the same effect with the polarizing filter and polarized sunglasses (or, I suspect, with polarized sunglasses and any Leica SLR viewfinder aside from the Leicaflex Standard). Doug Herr Sacramento