I find it easiest to use my Leica M by .....

[Gadge]

Here is a thread for tips for ease of use when our and and about using your Leica.

I will kick it off .....


Swaying my body back and forwards before taking a shot at the closest distance to make final focus adjustment in the RF.


Whats yours?


Film loading, focussing for instant pics, exposure calculation, shooting Tri-X at bext ISO, etc, etc. Lets get all listed here....

Gadge

 

[Tuolumne]

...setting the lens to hyperfocal distance and forget about focusing.

/T

 

[Al Kaplan]

Worry less.

 

[abenner]

you don't need the meter. trust me.

 

[pagpow]

My best captures invariably involve two things:

1) taking the lens cap off, and
2) pressing the shutter button.

With apologies -- I could not resist; prior respondents made me do it.

A bit more seriously --

i find readiness with hyperfocal at f8 and periodic checks of the meter w/changes in light helpful. So I can shoot immediately and then think about adjustments.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Not changing lenses too often. Exactly which lens I use is often less important.

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[ulrikft]

Hmm, the "put it at f/8 and hyperfocal" style would not fit my "i want selective focus"-style of shooting very well i suspect.

 

[Roger Hicks]

you don't need the meter. trust me.

True, but it does make life easier.

For decades, I used unmetered Leicas and could judge exposures very well. Today, with the MP, I typically set the exposure and use the meter to verify it. If we don't agree, I'm usually right, but sometimes I over- or under-estimate and will modify my guess in the light of the meter reading.

Then there are really difficult exposures, where I find the meter very useful indeed.

Trust you? Trust me? No. Never do either. See what works best for you: NEVER trust anyone who thinks he has all the answers: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps ignore gurus.html

Tashi delek,

R.

 

[pagpow]

Hmm, the "put it at f/8 and hyperfocal" style would not fit my "i want selective focus"-style of shooting very well i suspect.

True enough -- but that's another condition, very reasonable, but not in the OP's question. So we have the beginning of another decision tree --
any shot, or selective focus particularly at close focus limit -- different techniques.

 

[amoz]

When shooting colour, I usually go with Velvia 100 and I would just not be able to keep the diaphragm at 8 most of the time. i need more light! That being said, I often set my shutter speed at 1/30 when walking around, take a general reading and set the f-stop, and then adjust (the f-stop) when needed while framing & measuring an image.

I am a bit skeptical about hyperfocal focusing although of course I can't disagree on the physics that are behind it. I just like to focus carefully --in case of upfront people shots: on the eyes, that is.

 

[abenner]

True, but it does make life easier.

For decades, I used unmetered Leicas and could judge exposures very well. Today, with the MP, I typically set the exposure and use the meter to verify it. If we don't agree, I'm usually right, but sometimes I over- or under-estimate and will modify my guess in the light of the meter reading.

Then there are really difficult exposures, where I find the meter very useful indeed.

Trust you? Trust me? No. Never do either. See what works best for you: NEVER trust anyone who thinks he has all the answers: http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps ignore gurus.html

Tashi delek,

R.

Of course a meter is helpful. I shouldn't have been so brief. I carry and little Sekonic in my pocket and check it as needed.

Perhaps I should have said that you don't need to meter every shot, nor should you blindly turn the dial until the meter tells you it's ok to shoot. You'll miss moments while trying to adjust. Anticipate. Pre-set. Be ready. f8 and be there, right?

 

[DerekF]

Perhaps I should have said that you don't need to meter every shot, nor should you blindly turn the dial until the meter tells you it's ok to shoot. You'll miss moments while trying to adjust. Anticipate. Pre-set. Be ready. f8 and be there, right?

If, while composing a shot that needs to be taken "now", my camera tells me the metering is wrong, I'll generally focus and still take the shot at whatever the camera is currently set at. Then, if I have time to take another shot, I'll readjust to what the camera wants and take another shot if it was way off the first time. Unless I didn't adjust my camera after previously shooting in completely different lighting conditions, I find that my first shot typically works out OK in most cases. If not, I end up with an artsy shot followed by the shot I more or less originally intended to take. :angel:

After all, film is still (relatively) cheap and I find you can recover a lot in post-processing if necessary.

 

[hans voralberg]

Just shoot and not worry about wasting film, I get more keepers that way. Oh I do the body sway too.

 

[Al Kaplan]

When I'm shooting a lot of similar pictures, such as pairs or groups of people at an event, I find that when I do check the rangefinder I'm standing exactly as far away from this group as the last one. If not, the sway back and forth will zero things in if I'm shooting at a large aperture.

I try to err on the side of overexposure with both B&W and color negative film.

When I first get to a location I wander around taking incident readings. Then I pick a shutter speed so I can just move the aperture dial to get the right exposures.

 

[mojobebop]

the 3 methodology (method) (3)

the 3 methodology (method) (3)

i employ 3 methods

1. hyperfocal
2. focus by distance scale
3. actually focusing

(sometimes, like today i did not check the hyperfocal.
shot someone 7 ft. away. only afterwards did i notice
the focus had shifted to 3 ft. on f8.

 

[Gadge]

Interesting ideas in this thread so far. Keep 'em coming.

SNAP SHOT MODE

Thinking about it, I actually use my M6 in two entirely different ways.

A considered slow way with large apertures, careful focusing and exposure, often for available light portraits when indoors.

I also enjoy the freedom of snap shooting outdoors using hyperfocal and F8 or smaller. Set Hyperfocal distance for the aperture desired ...see link below

http://www.dofmaster.com/hyperfocal.html

Next take an exposure reading at that aperture to get the shutter speed correctly set then just snap away, within the range allowed as indicated on the lens.

I will often set the camera lens for HYPERFOCAL at one stop larger than being used e.g. set lens for Hyperfocal at F8 when actually using F16 to be more sure that all will be in focus.

This is where an M7's AV mode would come in handy for light changes, if I owned one!

HAND METERING

I actually use my hand a lot with the M6 to resolve any metering challenges, normally adding one stop to move the reading of my palm to a mid grey tone.

I try to keep in mind Sunny F16 when reading a scene overall and if the camera meter reading differs greatly from that then the hand comes into play. Examples where this is often the case include backlighting, or mixed/non mid grey tones like a beach.

http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16

If a hand reading doesn't agree with metering the overall scene then I generally go with the hand.

I find the hand method very reliable, providing I make sure the hand is in the same light as my subject. Not much good metering your hand, whilst sitting indoors taking a picture of your garden through the window! Also remember to point the camera slightly downwards to avoid too much sky influencing exposure readings.

Naturally, always just take a snap if time dictates that it is that or lose the moment.

B+W OVEREXPOSE SLIGHTLY

Like Al Kaplan suggested when using 400 B+W C41 film, I tend to set M camera at 200 plus two clicks (asa250?) to slightly overexpose. For colour film, I normally set exactly as recommended by the film makers.

I like to use an orange or yellow filter for B+W to improve clouds/sky.

PS I know that for many of you gurus this is all very basic stuff but hey...
someone may find something useful or new in the above.