M6 metering strategies - coming from CW Nikon user

<p>Hello, </p>

<p>Shortly, I'll be receiving my Leica M6 from CLA service (and replaced faulty meter). This will be my first M camera, and most importantly, my first rangefinder. I'm very excited!</p>

<p>I'm currently using a Nikon FM2n, which is a Center Weighed meter (60% I believe?). In general, I've been pointing my camera in diffuse light and setting exposure, or using sunny 16 rules (which, by the way, never match my meter reading). Either way, my negatives are turning out with good highlight and shadow detail. </p>

<p>Knowing that the M6 has a much smaller center spot for metering, what should I be doing different? Are you metering from a gray card? Sunny 16? Skin tones? </p>

<p>I typicall walk around, take "street" shots, travel, etc. I usually don't have a gray card with me (my camera is in my pocket 90% of the time, so no bag). </p>

<p>J</p>

<p> </p>

Green grass and foliage are roughly equivalent to 18% grey. The palm of your hand is about a stop above that, so you can take a spot reading of your palm and open up one stop.

<p>Mike Dixon is spot on about the human palm. I used this technique with my Canon FTb while shooting slide film in the 1970s and 1980s. You speak of negatives, where latitude is considerable. I'd advise you to use your M6 much like your FM2, except for those times when you actually need the narrower metering angle.</p>

<p>Just a question about foliage, gray cards and hand tones;</p>

<p>If I'm metering on a sunny day, then it all makes sense. But if I'm metering, say on a shady day (where My sunny 16 rules open up 2+- stops), or in a dark environment, do you correct the reading of the surface?</p>

<p>For example; I'm in a dark area. I take a reading of a gray card. If I just leave it as is, it will make the scene brighter than it really is, since it's trying to make the darker gray up to 18%. Should I stop down a stop or two, similar to S16 rules?</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>If you meter off a grey card and use those settings, or if you meter off the palm of a hand and open up one stop, you are in effect using an incident light meter. So long as your metering target -- card or palm -- is in the same light as your subject, you should be fine.</p>

<p>Try not to confuse yourself between incident light (think sunny 16) and reflected light (surface of hand, grass, asphalt, etc). If you're comfortable using sunny 16 rule (and its machinations in low light such as with the Ultimate exposure calculator) and getting good results...you can do the same with the M6 just fine. If you rely on the exposure meter, just remember that you may need to adjust your exposure to take into account the reflectivity of the surface you are reading from.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the help, </p>

<p>But I'm still a bit confused about something, and this comes from someone I know telling me that 18% gray is always 18% gray, no matter what light you're in. This goes against the wiring of my brain. <br>

If I meter off a gray card in a dark room, it's going to want to make the room lighter than it really is, since the gray card is telling it that's 18% gray. Or am I completely wrong here? I've heard so many different answers that they're all getting mixed up. I just want to know the basic gray card method, and how to deal with it in very strong and very dark situations. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>The 18 per cent refers to reflectance. In any light -- direct sunlight or moonlight or candle light -- an 18 per cent card will reflect 18 per cent of the light that falls on it. Its value is that the reflectance of an average scene is also assumed to be 18 per cent. That is how the meter in your M6 is set up. Your best bet is to use the M6 as what it is, a camera which meters reflected light.</p>

<p>Still dont' get it.</p>

<p>I did some tests. I metered a gray card in a dark room. The images were all over exposed.</p>

<p>The problem, in my head, is exactly as you said "assumes that an average scene reflects approx. 18% light" - but in a dark room, it's darker than an average room, and therefore needs to be stopped down. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Try searching on Google for "exposure meter".</p>

<p>Mukul Dube,</p>

<p>I understand how a meter works. It sets an exposure to approximate 18% reflectance, since and average scene is taken to be 18% reflectance. But in non average scenes, such as a dark room, I don't understand how this holds since my camera will set the exposure thinking that what the meter is reading is 18% reflectance of an average scene.</p>

<p>For example;</p>

<p>A camera meter is set to render "mid gray", which is usually around 18% reflectance. Now, in a normal scene, say outdoors, if I take a reading of my gray card, and then photograph the gray card, the meter will tell me what settings will render this gray card "mid gray". All good. </p>

<p>Now I take the same metering off a gray card in a dark room. This gray card is no longer "mid gray" since the room is darker. If I meter off this gray card, my meter will tell me the settings to render it "mid gray". This is the problem, in my mind. The card is much darker than "mid gray" in a dark room, and I don't want it rendered "mid gray" as this will make everything too bright. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Julien - its all relative. In a dark room, middle gray is still middle gray relative to the room's ambient light - and thus theoretically a meter reading from this gray card will calibrate to other "middle tones" in the scene falling in the middle of the exposure range, while anything darker than this middle gray will likewise register as darker on the film, and anything lighter than this gray will register as lighter on the film.</p>

<p>Thus, its very typical that the actual exposure value will register correctly when a gray card is used - preferably read with the card facing the camera, or facing about midway between the lens axis and a light source (actually favoring the camera lens axis slightly) if this source happens to be strong and direct.</p>

<p>The tricky part comes with the range of important exposure information within a given scene, as compared to a given film's capacity to record a range which is appropriate to your intentions as reflected by the final photographic result. This range can always be adjusted with proper exposure and development technique.</p>

<p>Another tricky part comes in the "dark room" which you have mentioned. To the extent that you may wish to make use of exposure times longer than one second in such a room, then you will need to learn about the film's "reciprocity failure" (no longer linear exposure response), for which you can then apply some corrections in both exposure and development times if need be. </p>

All you're doing by metering is that whatever you meter- if you set the camera at that exposure- is to make that

object or surface the same tone as a grey card, in the photograph. That's why if you meter a grey card in dark shadow and just shoot at that reading, you come up with

something overexposed. If you want to make the grey card in dark shadow the tone it actually appears in that light, you have to

compensate for that. In other words, underexpose from what the reading tells you- number of tones

darker that the card appears in the light it's in.

 

A meter gives you a reading to make something grey card grey- which is a grey card lit in normal even

daylight.

<p>Julien - from having done a lot of time exposures, the variance in light between the grey card and other objects still exists but our vision is very limited in low light, so we can't differentiate as well as we can in brighter light. Likewise most meters begin to lose their effectiveness in very low light...their sensitivity is geared more to what we see in brighter light. As John mentions above, film also loses sensitivity in low light or in light of a differing color temperature, so one needs to apply other factors into exposure, due to the effects of reciprocity. It has been a long time since I read a film spec sheet, but by way of example, often manufacturers rate the iso of film as a lower value for use in tungsten light (differing color temperature) than when it is used in daylight.</p>

<p>Ray, </p>

<p>That's what I thought. Metering any surface simply gives you the settings to make that appear mid gray in the photograph, which is why I always compensate with snow and dark scenes. Same applies with a gray card. </p>

<p>This all started when a friend of mine told me that I didn't need to compensate when using a gray card, and all the images came out over exposed, making the gray card middle gray. This was a very dark room - think single lamp in living room. </p>

<p>J</p>

<p>Julien, relax you will get it. If you go inside with your M6 meter a black wall and then shoot at the exposure indicated with the meter in your M6, the result will be a medium gray wall on your film. Likewise if you go inside and shoot a white wall with your M6 at the reading given by your meter the resulting film will be an 18% grey wall. Now in the first situation if you put an 18% grey card on the black wall and move close, set the lens on infinity ( avoid bellows factor-Julien don worry about this) shoot at the reading off the grey card, the resulting film will show a black wall with a grey card on it. Likewise if you put a grey card on the white wall and meter off the grade card, the resulting film will look like a white wall with a grey card on it. In other words, any reflective meter will turn whatever it is metering into 18% grey.</p>

<p>John, </p>

<p>Actually, I DID get it. I always thought exactly what you said. A few people told me otherwise, and it threw me off a bit. Just wanted to confirm. </p>

<p>So thanks for the sanity check!</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>With that covered...</p>

<p>The M6; I'm use to outdoor shooting with my Nikon FM2n, generally pointing at the scene and getting good exposure results. Usually check against Sunny 16, and I have been getting good density negatives. I know that the M6 has a tighter metering center, so the area that's being used to meter needs to be considered a bit more. </p>

<p>Are people metering for the general light conditions at the time and leaving it there? Off hands, grass, gray cards? I typically adjust my exposure as I'm moving along. </p>

<p>Or are people just metering the M6 like you would meter with an FM2n or similar Nikon meter?</p>

<p>J</p>

<p>With a rangefinder camera you will shooting "on the fly" which means very, very quickly..."street photography" shooting. You will have a + & - or either side of the viewfinder. I find that when shooting quickly I err on the + side and the photographs come out better. Now the exception to this is with portraits set the f-stop on 4 or 5.6 and again err on +. With darker complexioned invidividuals or situations err on the + side. Looks like I am saying err on the + side. Modern film has a + or - range of 2 stops. Err on the plus side. Now, for walking around on the street...consider the relative motion movement of individuals. For portraits 1/60 is good. For movement 1/125 is good...err on the + side. Set the shutter to 1/125 and adjust the focus & f/stop. Eventually it will become second nature.</p>

<p>Steve, </p>

<p>You just described my process with my FM2n. Seems like it will be very similar. </p>

<p>J</p>

1/125 is certainly doable but sometimes not fast enough for street shooting. Not sure about erring on the

plus side, depends on the film and the look you're going for.

<blockquote>

<p>"I know that the M6 has a tighter metering center"</p>

</blockquote>

<p> The M6 metering zone is defined by the white spot at the center of the shutter, and <a href="http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/discus_e/messages/2/69854.html">some refers to it as a "fat spot meter"</a></p>

<p>It's a really simple meter to use. It's a bit tighter area than your 60-40. It gives you a little more control in picking out a grey, but you don't have to over think it. I never had any problem with metering on the M6. Just shoot a couple of rolls.</p>

What Barry said. I love incident meters and use one with my M2 and after 30 years it's a difficult habit to shake. I am

still learning how to use the M5 meter, my newest camera. I've had an M6 for 15 years and I still muck around with the

M6, metering off my hand as a double check, but it is nearly always unnecessary. It has taken me years to learn that if

I just point my M6 in the direction of the subject and balance the two LEDs I will get a perfect exposure almost every

time. It shouldn't be that easy but it is.

<p>besides all the foregoing thoughts, the M6 meter seems to "like" highlight. If you've got sky or a white surface, or a strong light in the image it'll go for that. I've come home from trips with well exposed sky. So try to isolate the area of interest in your image and meter that or a similar tone. Or, be quite deliberate in pointing it down to avoid the sky reading. This gets worse with wide lenses...</p>