Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>> Nikon F5 Spot pattern >According to the manual, it is indeed 4 mm in diameter, but this represents >about 1.5% of the image. Thank you. Math error on my part. So they went with a 75/25 split on the F5 CW pattern? Interesting. The traditional Nikon CW pattern is 60/40, the F3 is 85/15, the EM (and maybe the FG, although I'm not sure) is a weird 40/60 split. If that's true for the FG, it might explain the discrepancy in your readings with the FG compared to the spot meter. >The tower is a very delicate iron lattice and at a distance there >is significant daylight shining through even for a spot meter. >It can be hard to gauge exactly how much is influencing the >meter, though. I have learned from experience to overexpose by >1-2 EV, except with the F5, which correctly exposes without any >compensation. I've shot the Eiffel Tower on numerous occasions. Incident meter readings are generally right on the money, reflected light readings are rarely a problem with standard Nikon center-weighted metering or the Leica M6's selective area meter (that's what you call the large-spot type meter). It is about -.5EV from the 18% reflectance gray; I tend to add a half stop of exposure to ensure more shadow detail on negative films and print it down a bit. The hardest meter to use is the narrow angle spot meter for exactly the reason you cite. Godfrey