Metering with the M7II

[aterlecki]

Having just taken delivery of my new M7II I've gone through the manual but I can't find any information about exactly which area within the viewfinder is used for the metering sensor. Is it a spot, a rectangle? How large is it? How is it weighted?

 

[tomw]

You have to figure this out by experiment, I'm afraid. Use a light bulb or other small bright area and in AE mode (not AEL) check to see when the meter responds as you bring the bright area closer to the center of the viewfinder from the edges. Do this with all your lenses so you know if there are any differences. Mamiya claims that the metering area is adjusted depending on the lens installed.

 

[aterlecki]

Mamiya claims that the metering area is adjusted depending on the lens installed.

That sounds very strange since it is not TTL metering. I assume with viewfinder metering Mamiya just have a simple area within the viewfinder that is metered and that this area wouldn't change regardless of which lens is installed. Anything else would seem completely over-engineered. Do Mamiya simply mean that the area metered with respect to the field of view would change with each lens (even though it remains fixed within the viewfinder)?

 

[tomw]

I did some tentative experiments with my own lenses and it does seem that the metering patch is about the same regardless of the particular lens installed (using 43 65 80 & 150)--which is what makes most sense, like you said.

The meter is heavily center-weighted, more like a spot meter to me, so I mostly use it that way and not like I use other in camera averaging meters I have used (eg Leica M6 and Nikon N90s). It takes a bit of experimentation to get used to, but it works pretty well.

The statement from Mamiya can be found here: http://www.mamiya-op.co.jp/home/camera/eng/products/mamiya7/spec.html under Metering Type. I presume they just meant that with respect to the bright line frame the metering area varies (because the bright line frames vary in size, not the metering area). Might just be a translation issue.