Re: [Leica] M6 metering question

[Simon Lamb <s_lamb@compuserve.com>]

Guy

I agree that there is some latitude left to alter the stop or shutter speed.
My point (albeit badly made) was that if I don't know if the baseline
measurement is accurate, I cannot know what changes to make to get a preferred
exposure for the wall.

I have decided however to stop pointing my new M6 at white walls until I
understand him a bit better.

Simon

Guy Bennett wrote:

> >Hi
> >
> >I have been using my M6 for a few days now and I have a question.  I
> >pointed the camera at a whitewashed textured wall, with ISO 400 Tri-X
> >loaded, a 50mm f/2 attached and with the film speed dial set to 400, and
> >the red dot appeared when the camera was set to a shutter speed of
> >1000/sec at f/13 or f/14 (whatever the half stop between f/11 and f/16
> >is on the lens).  I pointed my Nikon F5 at the same spot on the same
> >wall using an ISO 400 speed and an 85mm f/1.8 lens and, using spot
> >metering (therefore switching off any colour metering capability), it
> >registered settings of 400/sec at f/10.
> >
> >There is a significant difference here and I wondered if anyone could
> >explain to me the reasons for the difference in metering and subsequent
> >camera set-up.  I have always trsuted the F5 meter and it has never been
> >anything other than spot on.  I am sure the M6 meter is equally
> >accurate.  However, given that I would probably want to dial in some
> >overexposure on the white wall to get the whiteness and texture on the
> >film, I do not have any f/stops or shutter speed left to enable me to
> >overexpose by 1 or 1.5 stops.
> >
> >Simon
>
> simon,
>
> i'm not sure why the readings are different, and i can see by previous
> responses that no one seems to know for sure. but, like henning pointed
> out, to overexpose, you simply open up the aperture or use a slower shutter
> speed, and you've got plenty of both of those options left on the m in the
> situation you described.
>
> changing the iso, as some one pointed out, does *not* change your exposure;
> it merely gives another reading of the scene. you still have to manually
> change the aperture or shutter speed for the compensation you want, and if
> you still need to do that, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to
> change the iso in the first place.
>
> what ho!
>
> guy