M5 Metering Advice

The meter area is defined by those little tick marks in the finder. Find something with about the same reflective qualities of 18% grey, meter off it in the scene, and enjoy the results.

I have a couple M5s, you'll love it after a while. Beautifully built, super camera. It's really a nice body for heavier lenses like the Noct as well.

Have fun!

Kent
 
You might want to read up on the Zone System as far as "placement" is concerned. What I do is read whatever part of the image is most important to me and then "place" the zone I want there. Say I am taking a photo of a Caucasian person and want to make sure the skin tones are just right. I take a meter reading off the forehead and then place the exposure on zone 6. So what that means is I overexpose the scene by 1 stop. This is becuase the meter wants to make everything zone 5 or 18% gray. To place something on zone 6 you need to over expose by one stop.

If the shadows were the most important thing then you would want to place them on zone 3 which means you would underexpose by 2 stops from what the meter says.

Since you are shooting roll film you can't do the N- or N+ stuff a sheet film user can do unless you develop the entire roll at some N value other than normal.

I bought the M5 specifically because it has a spot meter. If you want total control over your negatives and print tonality you must use a spot meter.

The other reason I love the M5 is because I can change the shutter speed dial without having to take the camera away from my eye and also not having to remove my right hand from it's normal shooting position.

Good luck.
 
I meter like Kent- pick something grey and use that setting. Alternatively I'll pick something white and add two stops- easy at this time of year when most everything I see is covered in snow.
 
The M5 meter is generally very accurate but check it against a reference meter you've used in the past to verify accuracy. I recommend this for slide work because the M5 meter accuracy can drift with age given it's twin cells are about 35 years old. Also chances are the battery is a 1.5 v substitute for the original 1.3 v mercury type which may affect accuracy. Lastly, tilting the camera up, down or vertically may influence the meter reading by about 1/2 stop as it's most accurate when held horizontally and level.
 
Metering off a face may lead to over or underexposure depending on skin pigment. For example, a fair skinned individual will underexpose by about a stop. It's always best to substitute meter something close to 18% reflectivity in the same light as the subject of interest since the meter is calibrated for 18% reflectivity.
 
Welcome to the best Leica M club!

If the meter circuit has not been adjusted for modern 1.5v batteries, the Wein cell zinc-air batteries work fine. I have mercury cells in Bigfoot and Bubba. I use the Wein zinc-air cells in my Gossen Luna-Pro. All 3 meters match perfectly and match my battery free Weston Master V.

The meter spot coverage changes with lenses. For a 28mm lens, the 90mm frame is the metering area. For a 35mm lens, the meter coverage is the 135mm frame. For the 90mm and 135mm frames the meter area is the rangefinder patch. Probably less than the patch for the 135mm lens.

Personally, I sometimes remember to pick a place to meter and adjust acoordingly. Mostly, I just aim the camera and let the meter do it's thing. It really is the best meter I've used. Period.

Enjoy!
 
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