metering with M6TTL

[plgplg]

I have recently re-discovered the joy of shooting with my M6TTL + 35mm 'lux (compared with my DSLR + heavy zoom lens). I have also recently been using two really impressive films, Ektar 100 and Portra 400. What I'm finding with both films, is that when exposed correctly they are absolutely stunning (great colour, very little grain, they scan well, etc). However a number of times recently I have been disappointed with select frames here and there and what I can only assume is that I am still not skilled at determining proper exposure with my M6TTL.

My tendency is to under-expose, particularly outdoors, in contrasty light. With Ektar 100, what happens it that contrast goes down, and I get this purple-reddish-blueish sort of colour cast that's almost impossible to remove in post processing. With Portra 400, what happens is that I get horrible grain, and shadows in particular are very ugly when scanning the negs... lots of speckly noise and very bad loss of detail (same thing happens incidentally when I end up underexposing Ilford XP2, another favourite film).

At the end of the day while I find I carry my M6 around with me more than I do my DSLR, and thus I tend to be prepared to capture "the moment" more often, and with less imposition on my subject, than with my DSLR, the risk of a certain non-trivial proportion of shots not turning out, because of underexposure, is getting annoying.

Which brings me to my main question for the forum: what are your strategies for determining exposure with your leica film rangefinder, in particular with Ektar 100 and/or Portra 400, (or XP2) and in particular, in bright, contrasty light?

What I have tried:

1. zooming in "with my feet" so that my subject occupies the viewfinder (and presumably the metering patch), essentially like a poor-man's spot meter

2. Metering off the palm of my hand and adding 1.5 stops to the exposure

3. metering off green grass, or the pavement, and adding or subtracting my best guess

4. using an incident meter, I have a sekonic L-398M (not easy for capturing the moment, and I find in bright sunlight it results in underexposure)

5. bracketing exposure (not easy when capturing fleeting moments, and a bit time-consuming with a manual-advance film camera)

At the end of the day an obvious answer to my question is to take more pictures and do more experiments and build up a knowledge base ... but in the meantime,

Does anyone else have any reliable tricks of the trade to share?

Thanks!

 

[cambolt]

Are you using a reliable processing service?
It sounds like you are doing a lot of "take reading and add __ stops" which to me sounds like a complicated process waiting to go wrong. I find that when using film (although I do shoot B&W negs) it is quicker to "learn the light" and just know your exposure intuitively, with a bit of practice. I haven't tried this with colour negs though. Do you know for sure how accurate your M6 meter is? When I check my guessed exposures with a meter, (iphone) I often take a reading off a concrete pavement, and this has always worked, although as I said I normally use wide latitude films.

Hope this helps...
and welcome to RFF 😛

 

[Neare]

Shoot first, meter later?

 

[jordanstarr]

As far as black and white go, I just meter off a 18% grey scene, or as close to it as I can come/guess and then shoot everything else. If it's really bright, I might stop down 0.5-1.0 stops, but I usually control my highlights in developing enough to compensate.

 

[bobbyrab]

Try and get into the habit of leaving your camera set to the right exposure for the light conditions your in and not leaving it to when you want to take a photo. One way to teach yourself correct exposure, set the exposure to what you think would be right before you bring the camera to your eye, very quickly you'll get close to the correct exposure just from experience.

 

[skibeerr]

Taking a metering from the palm of my hand (cupped) always works for me. Hand should catch the same light as the subject off course.

 

[thegman]

I think with Portra 400, you can't go wrong with over exposure, don't be afraid to treat it like a 200 or even 100 speed film. On Ektar 100, that's supposed to be less keen on over exposure, but personally I'd still go over a little bit, rather than under expose.

You might also want to compare your M6 meter with your DSLR, make sure it's OK.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

One question: do you use the camera meter?

I have two M6TTL bodies, and I have trusted the Leica metering with those two because it tends to work as a center-weighed meter (as opposed to an evaluative, matrix-type). Only when I'm facing situations with high contrast or lots of shadows do I intervene and adjust (over or under exposing).

So far, the meter in my cameras has not let me down. Are you using it? It's not quite clear from your post.

 

[rover]

The meters in the 2 M6TTLs that I have owned are the most accurate meters in any cameras I have ever used. I tend to rate my film to slightly overexpose it, just because, and will meter a contrasty scene pointing the camera at an area of average light rather than where I think bright areas will throw off the meter. Other than that I trust it and have never been let down.

I think you just have to get used to it. Remember, you are smarter than your camera so just get comfortable how you want to tell it what to do and it will be an obedient loyal friend.