[Leica] metering with a 15 [was: Not Leica quality]

[Guy Bennett <gbennett@lainet.com>]

>I too got rid of my heliar, but not for quality reasons - I just couldn't
>shoot with it! Photog problem not lens. The overexposure you mention could
>be that the 15 will give a lot more foreground or sky (depends which way you
>tilt it!) into the meter and I doubt if you can use the internal meter with
>it without compensation. Quality wise, mine was great! Did you try swapping
>adaptors as i think I read that some 'decentred' more than others?
>
>Julian


Though it's a bit less convenient than simply using the internal meter, I
like to take an incident reading when shooting with wide angle lenses. When
I've determined where I'm going to be shooting, I take a few initial
incident readings, set exposure, and shoot as much as I like w/out worrying
about any further metering, so long as the light stays the same.

When using the internal meter, I just tilt the lens down somewhat when
taking a reading. I try to get about 2/3 ground and 1/3 sky in the VF, and
that usually provides acceptable exposures.

If the lighting is tricky, I'll go with the incident reading. If I don't
have my meter with me (rare, though it does happen), I'll opt for the
second approach.

Guy