[Leica] A meter is a convenience feature

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

Sandyquant: >>>As a longtime "F5 Matrix Meter Reliant" Nikon shooter
turned Leicaphile, I'm getting better at estimating; however, the
suggestion regarding practice with a handheld meter will certainly
expedite the learning process! Thanks for the anecdote and helpful
suggestions!<<<<

Sandy,
I really do think this is worth practicing--even if you DO use a metered
M6 and meter every shot.

Let's face it, the Leica rf is a camera one must practice. That's part
of its beauty. For those who dislike really "coming to grips" with their
photography (Andrew Mattheson's phrase), there is always the G2 or any
point-and-shoot.

Practice leads to mastery and mastery leads to freedom--a sense of
confidence and ease when shooting.

Guessing your exposures really only makes sense if you use one film; but
anyone who is slowly accruing a body of work will probably want to
standardize on one or two films, for consistency across the body of
work. And there is no question this works best with negative films--they
are more forgiving of mistakes and tolerant of variation.

For me this is Tri-X exposed at an approximate equivalent of E.I. 200 or
250, because full exposure fits my visual tastes in prints. That's only
an example--there's nothing magic about my choice. But for that film, my
end-point reference "anchors" are that broad daylight is f/11 at
1/250th, and ordinary "bright" interior light (fluorescent office
lighting is an example) is f/4 at 1/60th.

From these reference points I depart only seldomly in the more extreme
directions--one stop more closed down for really bright and glarey
situations, one or two stops further open for night scenes and low
interior light. But those choices are still made with the "reference
light" at the two ends in mind, and it's pretty easy to know when to try
them.

Between those two "anchors" there are only four other EVs:

1/250 @ f/11  <---ordinary outdoor daylight exposure
1/250 @ f/8
1/125 @ f/8                             --four other EVs in between--
1/125 @ f/5.6
1/60   @ f/5.6
1/60   @ f/4   <---ordinary levels of interior light

In total it amounts, ordinarily, to only six choices.

Anybody can learn to judge between six choices.

Outdoors, I think of any situation as "stops up" (open) from the basic
outdoor exposure--two for open shade, for instance. For me, open shade
is usually 1/125 @ f/8 (there are no real rules--you look at the light
in front of you). Bright sunlight coming through a window is one stop
up; heavy overcast is usually three stops up; and so forth.

Indoors, I think of "stops down" (closed) from the "anchor" EV,
comparing the light I'm in to my "reference" light.

So how do you learn how many "stops up" or "stops down" from the anchor
exposures any situation is? Simple: by trying it. If you're unsure, you
can meter, or you can simply bracket and then inspect your negatives and
see which one prints best. The nice thing is that your uncertainty
disappears over time because you are PAYING ATTENTION as you go, and
hence you are learning. Being "F5 Matrix Meter Reliant" you NEVER LEARN
and that is much of the problem with it.

For instance, say you come across a situation outdoors that initially
confuses you--say a dark open garage on a bright day. Okay. So you try
an EV based on a guess. Then you shoot two more frames, bracketing the
guess. When you get into the darkroom, you try the first neg, and find
that the garage interior doesn't show enough detail. So you print the
one-stop-more-exposed frame, and it's fine.

The difference here is that you've just learned something--because you
know what your initial exposure was, you know it wasn't enough, and you
know what exposure did work best. So the NEXT time you're faced with a
similar situation, that experience comes back to you--and you know just
what to do. A similar process takes place in many different situations.
Once you begin to amass this knowledge, setting the exposure controls
becomes as "transparent" as the M viewfinder--you feel a sense of there
being nothing between you and your picture.

This sort of thing is not foolproof, and it isn't short, sweet, and
mindless to learn. Again, as you know, the camera market is awash in
choices for you in case mindless (literally!) metering is what you're
after. But bear this in mind too: metering to find the best exposure is
not always a trivial task, even with a spotmeter; and sometimes, even a
matrix meter is fooled.

Furthermore, the common misconception that "meters read 18% gray" and
therefore if you simply meter a gray card in the light you're shooting
in, you'll get a proper exposure, is NOT true. At least not for negative
films with controllable ES.

The Leica is the absolute perfect camera with which to do this--even the
M6 lends itself to this sort of "mindful" practice. I'm sure a lot of
the photographers on this list, especially the older guys or the pro
shooters, either do this, or CAN do this if they need to. And if they
don't, it's no reflection on their photography--we all work out our own
methods, and results are what count. But I hope you do try that
exercise, practicing your judgement and then checking yourself with a
meter. You'll be delighted at how it begins to clarify your
understanding of exposure settings, not to mention your senstivity to
light.

- --Mike