Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/11/04

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Subject: Re: [Leica] polas
From: "Henning J. Wulff" <henningw@archiphoto.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 17:54:56 -0800

Hello Alistair,

>thank you, I'm off to rotate filters ;-)
>
>How do linear filters affect an R8 though?

The light meter is in the bottom of the mirror chamber, and has to go
through the semi-silvered central part of the mirror. This polarizes the
light to some degree. In conjunction with a linear polarizer, this could
lead to erroneous readings (leading to mostly overexposed film) if the
polarizer is adjusted in a way that the two polarizations are at 90 degrees
to each other.

AF cameras also generally use semi-silvered mirrors, so the AF function is
affected. Some cameras, such as some Nikon models, have their matrix and
averaging metering done in the prism, and the spot metering in the bottom
of the mirror box, so besides AF, spot metering is affected.

BTW, I enjoyed you posts on HCB. I'm personally also not blown away by his
photos, although I admire the way he developed and staked out the genre. On
the other hand, one of my favourite photographers is Kertesz. His shots are
maybe not quite as much 'of the moment', but for that the whole photo: the
composition, moment and technique do a lot for me.

   *            Henning J. Wulff
  /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
 /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
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