Krysa
Newbie
Well, after about a year of thinking about it, have taken the plunge and now the proud owner of a R3M with Nokton 40mm (with full credit to Robert White for fielding a stream of email from me asking the impossible to answer questions). First impressions very positive. Not quite the substantial impression as my Nikon FM3a, yet still as expected. Think the rewind knob looks a bit flimsy but have yet to use that (give me time...). The utter simplicity is superb. Did not need the instruction booklet. Well, almost, but will come to that in a moment.
One worry that was not a worry was about the framelines and my wearing glasses. To be honest, had I not read the comments beforehand think I would not have noticed, as have to move my head around no more than with my Nikon. Just one of those things. More of a worry will be thinking not so SLR at times, like must remember to remove the lens cap!
So, that questions. The instruction book says that I can check the battery by lightly depressing the shutter release. In practice this only happens when I have wound on the film and the meter is activated in the normal way. Presumably this is normal?
As a sort of follow on, what do people do about the metering? With the Nikon, I have got into the habit of winding the film after exposure as the meter and shutter are not active unless I set the film advance lever. This means I can check exposure for my planned composure without committing myself to taking the photo. However, to do this with the F3M means the shutter is armed, which runs the risk of accidental exposure or running down the battery if one decides not to take the photo. Do people compose and then meter, or an I being too SLR minded and should instead set for an approximate EV (mostly I use transparency, although do have my occasional monochrome moments) and see where that leads when I wind on?
One worry that was not a worry was about the framelines and my wearing glasses. To be honest, had I not read the comments beforehand think I would not have noticed, as have to move my head around no more than with my Nikon. Just one of those things. More of a worry will be thinking not so SLR at times, like must remember to remove the lens cap!
So, that questions. The instruction book says that I can check the battery by lightly depressing the shutter release. In practice this only happens when I have wound on the film and the meter is activated in the normal way. Presumably this is normal?
As a sort of follow on, what do people do about the metering? With the Nikon, I have got into the habit of winding the film after exposure as the meter and shutter are not active unless I set the film advance lever. This means I can check exposure for my planned composure without committing myself to taking the photo. However, to do this with the F3M means the shutter is armed, which runs the risk of accidental exposure or running down the battery if one decides not to take the photo. Do people compose and then meter, or an I being too SLR minded and should instead set for an approximate EV (mostly I use transparency, although do have my occasional monochrome moments) and see where that leads when I wind on?
