Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/02

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Subject: [Leica] RE: Neil's Spotmeter Question
From: "Leonard J. Kapner" <ljkapner@cox.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2002 20:14:36 -0700

Tina wrote:

I have that same grey card in my camera backpack!  Usually the backpack
is 
in my hammock which is hanging over the family bed that you have to
crawl 
over the pigs and dogs to get to.  I still carry the grey card around
(it's 
a great idea), but I don't think I've ever actually used it in the 
field.  The camera, on the other hand, is always hanging off of my 
shoulder, even in the latrine.

Len responds:

Now, Tina - I don't use the grey ALL the time in the field, just when I
encounter a lighting situation about which I am unsure. I know and trust
that reflective metering off an 18% grey surface is the "gold standard"
of exposure measurement and will almost never steer me wrong, unless I
get arrogant or cocky and start thinking that I'm a Zone System maven.

On the other hand, I have been undone and scuttled many times by too
much photographic automation onboard non-Leica systems. After some 45
years of making photographs with Leica rangefinder equipment (M3 to M4
to CL to M6 and now to M7) I tend to not use the onboard meter very
much, except to get a sense of what the light is like as it changes. To
be honest, when I can I often just dead reckon off the "sunny 16" rule
and let the highlights fall where they may. That having been said, my
trusty LunaPro S is never very far away, in case I get insecure about
what I think I'm seeing...

In looking at your published work, which is often exposed in tricky, low
level available light conditions, I can understand why reliance on
accurate metering is so important to the recorded result. 

For what it's worth, in the last two months I've exposed about ten rolls
of chromagenic black and white film through my M7 using aperture
priority setting, and I have yet to find a lighting situation that fools
the automation. You could call me an almost believer, especially in the
ease of use. As a skeptical technophile, I'll be a confirmed believer
once I find the edge of this technology's capability. Until then, the M6
TTL and my grey card stays in the day bag!

/Len/ 
Leonard J. Kapner 
Tel: (310) 377-5060 
E-mail: ljkapner@cox.net



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