Bessa R meter strangeness

[Robert Vote]

Today I used my new Bessa the first time with slower speeds on a tripod.
It gives me wrong meter readings with 1/2 sec and 1 sec speed.
I photographed @night. It showed the "+" at 1/8 and when I switched down to
1/2 a sec or 1 sec it shows always the "-".

Any ideas? Is this behaviour normal or is it because of low light?

Thanks for your attention!
Robert

 

[petebown]

If you shut the lens aperture down to compensate for the longer exposures, you may have gone beyond the camera's metering capability as very little light will reach the meter.

Whenever I do any night photography, I never trust a camera's meter. I sometimes use a hand-held spot meter. This may just cope with the highlight readings but won't cope with the shadows. My exposure times are usually around 30 seconds, therefore I am well into reciprocity failure. I use the 'finger in the wind' method of meter reading... Guess the settings (using previous experience) and bracket if I'm not confident.

 

[Robert Vote]

The Panda Industar was at f2.8 .
With the other speeds it worked out very well. Developed the film already, I can
say it worked.

Thanks.

Robert

 

[Robert Vote]

oh ok!
thanks!

Robert