Any tips for light metering with Electros ?

R

ruben

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If any of the hundreds of folks here that have used or still use the GS (etc) have any tip about metering light with this camera, I would like to hear.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
I've only shot five rolls with mine so far, so I've a ways to go to being an expert. Doesn't stop me from chiming in, though....

Pretty much your only tool with these cameras is the ASA dial. A strong point source of light, such as a sunset, will have the meter using a higher shutter speed than you want, so crank the ASA toward lower numbers to compensate. Of course, a strong point source is going to give you flare, so I have yet to attempt any sunset shots. Remember to reset the ASA dial back to "normal" when you're done!

Oh, and beware of wearing brimmed hats -- if you can see your brim in the viewfinder, then you might be obscuring the metering cell.
 
My GSN does very well for most scenes. For low light, one might use as slower film speed setting, as I find underexposure. Naturally, if the scene is very uneven (bright spot, dark background, or opposite), you must compensate as advised by sbart. :cool:
 
And watch for the LEDs in the viewfinder. Even though I had my 2 YE35's CLA'ed they still flash only very briefly as you push the shutter. I couple of times I pressed too quickly and missed the red - I know because I wanted a backup shot and needed to dial back for the next shot when I took my time.
 
Ruben, the only manual control you have over these Electros is to take out the battery to get 1/500 sec, or set it to flash mode to get 1/30 sec. Otherwise you're going to have to let the camera do the metering for you. You can adjust the asa setting for exposure compensation.

Do yourself a favour and get a Fed2 or Kiev RF that you can control manually.
 
FrankS said:
Ruben, ...Do yourself a favour and get a Fed2 or Kiev RF that you can control manually.
Click to expand...


:)


Thanks Frank, but I am in a mood of having it hard in auto mode...

But a bit more seriously, theoretically, you can have some idea of what are you doing in case you are looking to shoot either around 500~250 or 60~30, without worrying about the exact speed between each of both alternatives, a choice that suits me for some situations.

Now, could you make me a big favour in addressing my latest thread about the Lynx 14 ?

Thanks anyway,
Ruben
 
FrankS said:
Ruben, the only manual control you have over these Electros is to take out the battery to get 1/500 sec, or set it to flash mode to get 1/30 sec. Otherwise you're going to have to let the camera do the metering for you. You can adjust the asa setting for exposure compensation.

Do yourself a favour and get a Fed2 or Kiev RF that you can control manually.
Click to expand...


DEAR FRANK,
I think I owe you a better answer than my previous one. No doubt manual handheld metering is the best, and I do manual light metering even when I carry an auto/manual camera. So from this point of view you are right. You are also right in that with the Electros, the measure of manual intervention is rather minimal. Yet people are reporting and showing good results. It is an issue of what you want the camera to be used for. But again full manual intervention is from my basics, as yours.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
Absolutely:)
If you really really want to overrule the meter's reading, like, you want to deliberately over-underexpose or you are absolutely SURE the meter will be fooled, you have to set the film speed dial to the according value, or take the batt out and use the shutter at 1/500, there's no other way around...
But i rarely was let down by that meter, if ever. And i'm talking about slide film as well... 37 frames one after the other perfectly and consistently exposed in various light conditions, indoors outdoors midday midnight.
 
Thank you Pherdinand. This means for me a mighty machine for street photography.

Would you like to comment about the lens qaulity in my other thread at Yashica forum ?

Cheers,
Ruben
 
This folder was shot with the GSN. The less grainy ones are on slide. The more grainy ones on expired fuji NPH400. Totally auto.
This shot was especially weird. In a very dark club with camera at the dogs' height. Orange warning light was on, of course.
This shot was outside with sodium street lights. The misfocus is mine :) the rest was auto.

Here's one where the foreground is underexposed, so the meter can be fooled, if you consider it in the strict sense. But it was not unexpected...

Fast action shot in bright daylight, probably 1/250 to 1/500 s. Pretty well exposed, i'd say.

There are also BW shots I did with the GSN (neopan1600 at iso1000). This example had VERY strong backlights but luckily the main subject was big enough in the viewing angle of the meter. Sorry for the sloppy scan.
 
These have great meters, good enough for shooting slide film. It will be rare that you have a bad exposure if your camera has been properly serviced.
It will acurately do very long exposures too.
 
ruben said:
If any of the hundreds of folks here that have used or still use the GS (etc) have any tip about metering light with this camera, I would like to hear.

Cheers,
Ruben
Click to expand...

Hi again Ruben,

I always, no matter which type of camera, have always tried to point it slightly away from point light sources. (i.e. a sunset or street light) aiming instead somewhere between bright light and deep shadows. It captures more of the dynamic range.

Hope to see some of your photos when you get the black GT.

Cheers
Richard
 
Rob said:
These have great meters, good enough for shooting slide film. It will be rare that you have a bad exposure if your camera has been properly serviced.It will acurately do very long exposures too.
Click to expand...

Do you hear Dave ?

:)
 
Pherdinand said:
This folder was shot with the GSN. The less grainy ones are on slide. The more grainy ones on expired fuji NPH400. Totally auto.
This shot was especially weird. In a very dark club with camera at the dogs' height. Orange warning light was on, of course.
This shot was outside with sodium street lights. The misfocus is mine :) the rest was auto.

Here's one where the foreground is underexposed, so the meter can be fooled, if you consider it in the strict sense. But it was not unexpected...

Fast action shot in bright daylight, probably 1/250 to 1/500 s. Pretty well exposed, i'd say.

There are also BW shots I did with the GSN (neopan1600 at iso1000). This example had VERY strong backlights but luckily the main subject was big enough in the viewing angle of the meter. Sorry for the sloppy scan.
Click to expand...


The Electro's combination of simplycity and excellence is amazing !
I think in the past I have been more messing than anything else with my meters.

:)

Thank you very much Pherdinand for undertaking the job of sending those very encouraging samples
 
One of the amazing features of thr Electro 35 series is their abilty to react to instant light changes.
If metering manually, one can take n readings and calculate (or guess) an equivalent exposure for the whole metered area. If metering with any of the old mechanical shutter priority cameras, the metering you get at the time your shutter button started to go down is what you get, the same for most of the electronic cameras of today.
The Electro 35 instead, and prior to shoot, tells you if speed will be higher or lower than 1/30, and asks you to rotate diaphragm in the appropriate directions.
Once the shutter was fired, the electronics inside react to every minute change in lighting and completes the requested action without telling you anything.
Its perhaps (and AFAIK) the only electronic RF doing so.
The only way (I think) to fool it´s meter is to aim it directly into the sun. Otherwise, exposure will be almost perfect.

I allways thought that it was kind of a big design mistake what made this meter and shutter control that good.
 
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