how to use Leica M without meter?

[Beniliam]

I dont have the VC Meter II, but was my first option like lightmeter. I dont like big lightmeters, I dont like spotmeters like the pentax and the minolta, because are so big, and probably you miss the moment in the photo. Buy a little VC, its new, and very accurate. One friend have the Bessa T, and her metter always said the same that my M6.

Dont believe that the matricial meter is the best meter. Believe in you, with the time, probably in most of the situations you put the exposure intuitively.

 

[RubenBlaedel]

I would go with the "Get a meter" folks on this thread. I shoot mostly slide film so the sunny 16 is as bit risky (though I used it on 6x6 slidefilm in rolleiflex automatwith good results) Gossen and Sekonics are great meters and you can get them very cheap second hand if you do not go for the top models. But even an old beautifull weston II will take you far. I have an M6 with a meter but I usually just take a couple of readings before I shoot, and then I stop looking at the red markings in the finder and shoot away while compensating if the light changes. By the way congrats on your new Leica

 

[RML]

Sunny f16 or an handheld/external meter.

When I got my M2 I didn't use it much, mainly because of the lack of an internal meter. However, I found a Leica MC meter (which my father just happened to have lying around), stuck it on the M2 and now I'm only shooting with the M2 (I stuck my J12 on it and I'm enjoying it).

I'd recommend to shell out a bit for a Leica meter.

 

[Graybeard]

Jun Yan: I've never used an MR-4 but my guess is that it works fine handheld too. The biggest problem will probably be the batteries, unless it has been modified in someway it needs mercury batteries that are quite hard to find. There are a few threads about replacements for those batteries if you search the forum.

The non-availability of mercury batteries is much less of a problem than it might first appear. There are a number of practical alternatives:

1) Many lightmeters and cameras can be recalibrated to use silver oxide batteries. I believe that this is the case with the MR-4 but I suggest that you contact Quality Light Metric via eMail to see if they can recalibrate it for you. If the camera is in for a CLA, calibration for a siver oxide cell is usually done at no additional cost. The S625PX silver oxide battery is the same size as the mercury cells and can be used directly or use the very common SR44 cells with an O-ring. The SR44 cells go for $5/pack of three where I live.

Quality light metric can repair most lightmeters. The cost runs about US$65 to restore a dead Weston III, IV, or V or a Weston Ranger (my favorite). A calibration is part of the service so you wind up with a meter that is dead on.

2) The Wein-type Zinc-air cells can be used as direct substitutes for the mercury cells with no recalibration. These sell for about US$6 for a cell in a case the same size as the mercury cells. A cheaper alternative is to use Zinc-air hearing aid batteries with an O-ring or washer to make up for the difference in diameter between these cells and the mercury batteries. This is a cheaper alternative with the hearing aid batteries selling for about a dollar apiece in packs for ten.

The Zinc-air cells are a bit less convenient as they don't last as long as the mercury cells which can make the use of hearing aid batteries attractive.

3) As has been mentioned, Gossen has an adapter available which permits use of silver oxide cells in a Lunasix of LinaPro meter with no modifications. This is a bit expensive, selling for about US$30 but seems to work quite well. If you can get a good price on a Lunasix, this might be cost effective route to go.

4) There are also adapters which drop the 1.55 volts of a silver oxide cell down to the 1.35 volts of the mercury cells. In principle, one puts a silver oxide cell into this adapter and just drops it into the battery compartment; these sell for about US$30.

The CRIS adapter is of this type; the problem is that these do not always work properly in all cameras and meters, notably in the Leicaflex SL and the Nikon Photomic prisms. There is a fellow in Holland who also offers his own adapter which evidently will work where a CRIS adapter does not.

 

[dmchadderton]

After a simliar discussion on another forum, I picked up a Weston Master III off eBay - one of the best photographic buys I've ever made.

My strike rate has increased and I'm now wondereing if I should have gone for an MP instead of the wonderful M7 I've got ... Now, about that second body ?

 

[Flow]

dmchadderton,

I think it is better if you get a M6TTL instead of a MP for a backup body because the directin of the shutter speed dial. It may not be a big thing and you may not care. But once you get the hand of using the camera intuitively it will become frustrating if both cameras work a bit differently. That is my personal opinion.


Flowen

 

[neilsphoto]

I have found that to get really good at judging exposures using an incident and not a reflected light handheld meter is the way to go. Bright sun always and I mean always swings the needle to EV 18. so how many times do you need to use the meter. Inside drop ceiling corporate/business buildings are nearly always EV 12. You quickly find out that going from full sun to shade is a difference af 2.5-3 EV.

Once you do this for awhile you just remember and you don't need the meter at all. I have a 20+ year old Sekonic L-428. It does incident or reflected but it is mainly an incident meter. I've also got a Minolta Flash Meter lll (3) one of the first really good ones they made.

 

[tedwhite]

When I carry one of my old Zorki/Kiev/Fed cameras I usually do initial metering with an old Gossen Sixtomat.

However, one day I forgot the Gossen. I was wandering around in Tombstone, Arizona, a town totally dependent on tourism, and planned on street-shooting tourists. I remembered I had my Olympus XA in the car's trunk. So I just used it as a light meter. It's aperture preferred, so I'd set an aperture for the scene, then look at the shutter speed the camera selected. Every frame shot with the Kiev was perfectly exposed. Ya gotta hand it to that Oly. You can buy them on ebay much cheaper than you can buy a light meter (at least you could last winter - got mine for something like $25).

Ted

 

[Doug]

Dittos on the comments by neilsphoto! 🙂 But I use an old Gossen Super Pilot SBC initially, periodically, and for hard to estimate light.

 

[blackmelas]

Another vote for sunny 16 and Fred Parker ( http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm ). It takes up a little neurospace but you can't leave home without it. I have had excellent luck with forgiving black and white film such as HP5+ and FP4+, but have never tried color and would get a good spot meter for color positives.

 

[canonetc]

Any recommemdation on handheld meter?

Hi Jun,

The Sekonic 308 is a nice meter that reads ambient, reflective, flash and flash-cord synch. I've had mine for about six years now, so it's very durable and remains accurate. Plus it's small and a little more affordable than others of the same brand.

There has always been a debate over which type of meter reading is more accurate. Standard cameras with built-in meters use "reflective", reading the light bouncing oFF the subject and into your lens (using average, center-weighted or spot). My own experience using the Sekonic has been that reflective is more accurate, but only depending on how close you meter to the subject. I get better detail in the shadows with reflective instead of ambient.

I think there is a more commonly used term for "reflective" metering; I'm not sure what it is, but it works for me regardless.

Anyway, the Sekonic is a nice one, and worth the investment. And what was said above about Sunny-16 is the best way to develop a meter in your head. You can teach yourself to visually meter a scene using your eyeballs, and based on film and shutter speed, get a good exposure. Here's lookin' at ya!

cheers,

chris
canonetc

 

[xcapekey]

the fred parker site is great and so is pinkheadedbug's method...it's pretty logical if you think about it...i've trained myself to think in terms of 400 speed BW film and can get along pretty well without a meter about 95% of the time...

if you're in bright sun, you're obviously not going to be shooting between f2-f5.6 with a leica...so you're only usable apertures are f16, f11, f8...and you know you're not going to be using speeds from 1sec- 1/60th...so you're only usable speeds are 125-1000...

likewise, if you're indoors and it's lit by typical flourescent or tungsten lighting, chances are you're not going to be shooting with f5.6-f16, nor will you be using speeds 125-1000....

if it's bright outside, i automatically set my camera to f16/250 (or 500 if it's really really bright)....if i take a step into the shade, i know i should change my settings to f8/250...if i move into deeper shade i change my settings to f5.6/250....

try to keep one variable constant (in my case in daylight i keep the shutter at 250) so you're only fudging with one dial...

it definitely is more than possible to get along without a meter....it isn't voodoo, just practice