Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/03/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Frank from Tulsa writes: >How accurate is the meter? Is there any tips or advice when using the >built in metering system? > I find that the rangefinder is right on. When I first bought my M6, I tried it with slide film (which is not my usual film type). I moved the film from the M6 to an M3/with a MR meter to an R6 while shooting a street faire. You could not tell by the final slides where the changes in camera bodies had been made. Look at your manual to see where the approximate area of coverage is. I try to carry a grey card and try to take an initial reading on that card. I have found that if I relax and go with the ttl metering I am ok with at least 95% of the shots. >Is black and white preferred over color transparencies with the M-6? Not necessarily. I prefer black and white for several reasons, but these are personal and have nothing to do with the camera body (rather it is that I can control the results of black and white given my present state of process ability). But the times the few times that I shoot color transparancies, I get great results. As regards rangefinder focus (vs. SLR focus which I use the same techniques since I started with rangefinder), I usually will have the lens set to very close to the proper distance as I walk around "photo-seeing" (similar to sightseeing). With a 35mm lens, I will usually have it set on the hyperfocal distance. Very fast to change to control a specific shot. There have been a lot of tips in this forum...one of which is to use something such as a wire tie positioned to the bottom (or wherever you are comfortable) so that you know by feel at which distance the lens is positioned. Hope this helps, Bill ohlen@lightspeed.net