[Leica] M6 exposure meter problem

[John McMaster]

How does the film look up to the light? 

John - who never uses AUTO

-----Original Message-----

Earlier today I scanned a 36 exposure roll of 400 TMY. Every frame was shot with the exposure meter on AUTO as recommended by one of our colleagues. Every frame was overexposed. 

I bought the M6/0.85 at the end of its production when dealers offered a factory authorized rebate of $500 or thereabouts. I don’t remember the year; the S/N on the hot shoe is 2433148.

I am thinking of determining the M6 meter’s measurement error by the following procedure:

1.  read the exposure setting of my M8 on AUTO of a frame filling exposure of my venerable Kodak Gray Card at f/8 and ISO 160.

2.  read the exposure setting of my M6 that would supposedly result in a correct exposure of the same card at f/8 and ISO 160. 

3. Calculate the exposure compensation setting or an equivalent increase in the ISO setting for the M6.

I will be grateful for corrections or recommendations.

Oliver

PS FWIW the “restore colors” setting in VueScan gave an approximately correct rendering of the image; the “restore fading” setting was too dark. Checking neither showed overexposure. I will be glad to email samples to interested parties.