Hello fellows! I'm a happy M6 owner for more than 10 years, but I have to say I'm not a very regular user: unfortunatelly, I live in Luxembourg, a country where the sun is as rare product as cold beer in Sahara, showing its rare face only for a couple of days around easter and somewhere in the deep days of August, when I get "asylum" in my country, Portugal. Accordingly, the poor camera sleeps for almost 300 days a year, which explains that I never really got very used to its metering. My S.O.S. (Save Our Sun?) arises because yesterday night I developed two HP5+ (ID 11 1:1, 12 min., 20°) in which 50% of the shots were overexposed!!! (By the way, is there any good contrast reducer around??) What I usually do is to "read" light in a medium zone, or, in more extreme cases, to compensate readings made in light or shadow zones. I think I'm probably compensanting too much and should maybe trust a little more in the accuracy of the camera metering. I know this is a silly question, but I'd like to know what you fellows, more experient M6 users, "DO WITH LIGHT", how do you use the built-in meter, in which cases you adjust exposure, etc., etc. In my old times of Canon F1 with broken cell user, I was a pretty good "lightmeter" myself, but with age I became lazier and I'm now a "double orange arrow" addict... Thanx for the contributions!

-- Nuno Fontes Nunes (Nuno.Fontes_Nunes@curia.eu.int), May 08, 2001

Answers

The area the M6 reads is fairly well-contained so the only problem is if the scene is lit with such complexity that you can't get a uniform tone inside the metering circle. I shoot a lot of chrome, so I go for a mid-tone highlight; if none is available I meter whatever uniform tone there is in highlight and compensate by experience. I tend to rate E6 film to underexpose 1/3-stop. When shooting at 1/1000 I try to bracket several shots because the M's shutter itself has more variability at that speed. With color neg film I meter likewise, except I meter the shadow rather than highlight, set the meter to overexpose 2/3 stop and almost never bother with bracketing. For me the same applies to B&W as the only film I've shot in many years is C-41 chromogenic (Ilford XP-2, T400CN).

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 08, 2001.

You should use your camera more!

I sort of "half meter" a lot. I look at a scene, guess the exposure I want, set it, then use the meter to see how far off I am. I shoot only negative emulsions. I look for a middle or shadow tone, check the reading, then tweak the setting for a little more exposure if I was only able to get a relatively high tone. I'll also just read off my hand occasionally, then open up one and a half or two stops.

Godfrey

-- Godfrey DiGiorgi (ramarren@bayarea.net), May 08, 2001.

Mechanical cameras require some use to remain accurate. If your camera was not used for 300 days, as you stated, the shutter could be erratic, possibly moving too slow across the film gate and thus resulting in over exposure. I have many mechanical cameras, and while in all honesty, I don't use some of them as often as I should, I always dry fire them through all shutter speeds several times a month. 10 shots at 1 second, 10 shots at 1/2 second... up to the fastest speed.

I would eliminate as many variables as possible to determine the culprit in your particular problem. Try a roll of slide film, which would be processed with stricter tolerances. Having done much home B&W work, I know the possibility of temperature variations, chemical strength variations, and the accumulation of many seemingly small deviations which add up. If your slide film is fine then the camera and metering should be alright... look at your processing procedures. If the slides are also overexposed, (which will be immediately apparent), then you will have isolated the problem to the shutter or metering technique. I would shoot one more roll with an incident meter of a known reliability in many levels of light. If the problem persists, it might be time for a camera tune up. Be aware, the shutter accuracy usually is not inaccurate across the full range. 1/30th to 1/125 can be fine, while the low and/or high speeds can be quite off the mark.

Good luck.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), May 08, 2001.

Sunless days may not be all that bad; HC-B definitely prefers them, and that's not a bad recommendation.

-- Bill Mitchell (bmitch@home.com), May 08, 2001.

Godfrey, I know I should use my camera more... but (see next "message") Bill, you don't know sunless days in Luxembourg...

-- Nuno Fontes Nunes (Nuno.Fontes_Nunes@curia.eu.int), May 08, 2001.

I agree that leaving a Leica unused for a year can find the shutter becoming erratic (and nothing short of a CLA will resuccitate it completely). A Nikon F can sit in the garage attic for 10 years and have better than 90% chance of being as accurate as when it was last used. But dry-firing 10 shots at each speed "several times a month" is subjecting the cameras to more wear than necessary (though hardly going to damage them!). I dry-fire my "retired" bodies 3 times at each speed once a month and they're in fine fettle according to my digital shutter tester.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 08, 2001.

I dry fire my cameras every month or two. Usually twice per shutter speed going up and back down. Pay particular attention around 50/60 second. I have had my M3's 28 years without problems. They have been CLA'd a couple of times. I meter for the area I want the detail in whether it be shadow or light. Did you check the batteries on your body? The meter covers about 60-70% of the framed area for a given lens, so using your hand or a substitute is very important, particularly with high contrast subjects.

Mark J.

-- Mark A. Johnson (logic@gci.net), May 08, 2001.

Nuno, I find my exposures to be just as accurate with my M6 classic as with my Center weighted or multipattern computerized Nikons. If I have the time, I'll take one reading that includes highlights, another that includes shadows, and either average them in my head, or bias the exposure toward one end or the other.

I don't think overcast, soft light is your problem. All this does is reduce contrast, which should make it easier to go with the midpoint exposure. You might be introducing errors when you attempt to compensate. Readings based on the shadow areas should be compensated by closing down. Readings based on highlights are corrected by opening up. The instinct to do the opposite leads to erroneous exposures. Better yet, why not try a roll based on the meter, without compensation. If the results are too far off the mark, then it's time to suspect the meter.

Regards,

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), May 08, 2001.

Leica recommends working all the controls at least once every three months. If your camera is in regular use you still need to remember to exercise the slow speeds and all the controls you seldom use. On M6 cameras it is important to move the shutter dial and the ISO dial through their full sweep to keep the electrical contacts working. Most of this type of maintanence depends on your climate. It is very dry where I am so corrosion is not a problem but gummy lubriction is. If it is very moist where you live , you might want to construct a dry cabinet to store your camera gear in.

Cheers

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), May 09, 2001.

How long have you been using that developing formula?, try the shortest agitation possible, one round every 30 sec. or 1 min. About your optics, the the same you have used for years or have you updated lenses?, that can make a diference too.Good luck.

-- R Watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), May 09, 2001.