Re: [Leica] M6 Meter Area

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

I guess I'm having trouble figuring out why this is a topic. I don't
mind... but I fail to see it's meaning. When you meter, unless it's a grey
card, or blue sky, or green grass, (a large solid color), there's a lot of
stuff in the area where the meter reads. The exact defining lines around
the precise metering area does not, at least to me, seem relevant. You put
a sample of what you think will average out to 18% grey in the center of
the frame and meter, then reframe and shoot. So where do the exact
percentages come into play, and who cares about a smidgen of difference
between infinity and close focus? I'm still at a loss as to the utility in
knowing the exact parameters. No matter what, when looking through the
finder, it's all guesstimating anyway. Mental interpolation that cannot be
precise. So do these percentages actually mean something to somebody?

Thanks,

Jim


At 12:36 AM 3/29/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At 07:36 PM 27-03-98 -0800, Jim wrote:
>>I'm at a loss here, understanding this percentage, infinity, close-up,
>>etc... metering area on the M6. When I look in my M6, with the shutter
>>cocked, no lens, I see a reflective circle painted on the shutter. The size
>>of this circle never changes, regardless of which lens is on the camera,
>>where it's focused, or even if it's focused. The film laying behind the
>>shutter is always the exact same size, regardless of all of the
>>aforementioned conditions, it's a 35mm frame of film. So, since the spot
>>size doesn't change, and the film size doesn't change, it sure seems to me
>>that the spot covers a particular percent of the film frame under ALL
>>conditions. Assuming that the frame lines in the viewfinder depict exactly
>>what is going to register on the film, in focus or out of focus, I fail to
>>see what the argument is. 
>
>The problem is that the frame lines do not depict exactly what is going to
>register on the film, and the discrepancy is a function of focusing
>distance.  At the closest focusing distance, the frame lines are supposed
>to show something like 94% of the frame (from memory, so don't shoot me!
>;-)). As you focus towards infinity, the difference between the VF frame
>and the film frame increases.  This happens with SLRs, except most people
>don't notice it, and the TTL viewfinders compensate for it.
>
>Dan C.
>