[Leica] RE: Consistent underexposure partially fixed, I think

["Mark E Davison" <Mark_E_Davison@email.msn.com>]

Its good to find a matte finished object of known reflectivity which you
always have with you.

I use my open palm. It meters 1 stop brighter than a standard grey card.  So
I meter on my palm, and then open up 1 stop.

Some people use their camera bags, after checking them relative to a gray
card.

Some people bring along a small gray card. Avoid the plastic ones--they are
too shiny to get consistent results.

If you do meter on your palm, remember to center your palm over the lens,
not the viewfinder. Also leave your lens focussed on the subject, don't try
to focus on your palm! Focussing close will change the effective f-number
(since the lens moves away from the film plane) and throw off the exposure
measurement, since the M6 meter reads through the lens. (General tip: if you
are trying calibrate a throug- the-lens camera meter by reading a gray card
and comparing the result to a hand meter, you need to focus the camera at
infinity. This makes it a real pain to calibrate autofocus cameras that will
only meter when they focus!)

On gray days, I find using my palm as the reference (and opening 1 stop)
produces exposures very similar to what I get from my incident meter, to
within 1/3 stop.

On sunny days, I have to average a reading from my palm in sun and my palm
turned so it is shaded (and then open 1 stop) to get the exposure to agree
with an incident meter.

Indoors, with multiple light sources, it is hard to match the incident meter
reading, since the incident meter averages light sources over half of a
sphere, and its just too hard to hold your hand in enough positions!

Hope this helps.

Mark Davison