With a M3 (or any M without Lightmeter), how do you practice street photography and keep your exposure right? What kind of lightmeter is best suited for this? Is it safe to measure once and for all the light outdoor and keep that exposure for the following 30-60 minutes and then measure it again ...

-- Angelique (abischop@earthlink.net), August 30, 2001

Answers

I have an MC meter for my M3. Paid $65 at Camera West here in Monterey. It's extremely accurate, reads exactly the same as my Gossen Lunastar F. Bear in mind, however, that you need to check such a meter out THROUGHLY before buying! They are old and many are either inoperative or way off.

http://www.ravenvision.com/peterhughes.htm

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), August 30, 2001.

the clip on leica meters are very handy as they couple with the shutter speed and give a direct readout of f stop. They work well for me. The older selenium cell meters have a wider area they measure, and are not as good in low light. They also do not hold a reading. I like the newer meter MR that is batteried powered. It reads about where the 90mm lens sees. Of course the drawback with either is your shoe is taken up so on camera flash or wide angle finders have no place to go.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 30, 2001.

I use an M2 and M3 for 90% of my Street Photography and occasionally an M6. I find the TTL meter on the M6 slows me down and is mostly not necessary. I like to use a Sekonic 308 which is a small hand incident meter. I also tend to shoot on the 'shady side' of the street if it is mid-day and their is a bright sun which will cause harsh shadows. It would be nice to think that you could take a reading every 30-60 minutes but it does not work that way for me. But I keep the meter in my pocket and it only takes a few seconds to check your light reading. Take a look at my websight, they are all M2 and M3 with a hand meter. http://www.streetphoto.net/frames.html Using meterless Ms is not that hard and you will get more 'decisive' moments when you do not have to add the time it takes to adjust the aperture with the TTL meter.

-- Steve leHuray (icommag@toad.net), August 30, 2001.

Angelique-

Voigtlander makes a new clip on meter for M cameras.

Check this out

-- jeff voorhees (debontekou@yahoo.com), August 30, 2001.

Bear in mind that the newer (MR) meter is priced in the $150+ range. It takes an outlawed (in the US) mercury battery which is not easily avalable--and the zinc/air replacements for said battery basically suck. The selenium meter on the MC meter will read in light low enough for you to take a hand-held exposure with medium speed film. In lower light than that, you will be better off with a separate meter anyway.

-- Peter Hughes (ravenart@pacbell.net), August 30, 2001.

More to the direct point, you're not obligated to take a new meter reading every time you take a picture. As long as the general situation and general lighting stays the same, you don't have to change anything. So what you do is take one meter reading, and then stay aware of how/if the light is changing, and only deal with it if it has changed (or you've moved into different lighting.) If you think about it, you'll soon find being aware of what's happening with the light is easy.

-- Michael Darnton (mdarnton@hotmail.com), August 30, 2001.

Angelique

I use M4-2/P non-metered bodies..I basically work just as Steve leHuray does. I use a Sekonic 318B meter with is very compact and easy to pocket (about the size of a deck of cards) It comes with both incident and reflected light pickups, and I'm currently using reflected readings to 'simulate" the M6 meter. I basically meter the same way I "save" when using the computer - I do it automatically whenever there is a break in the creative action, as a safeguard, and also when there is something specific to be 'recorded' (like a visible change in light), but not for every frame.

With slide film I also bracket! 8^)

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), August 30, 2001.

I paid about $100 for my Meter MR. The 625 Batteries are now available in a silver cell, and I this disn't throow the meter readings out of whack.(1.5V instead of 1.35V). I still have an old MC meter that works and use it as a hand held meter for my Rolleicord. The main problem with the MC meter is most of them I have looked at don't work anymore.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), August 30, 2001.

Using a film with good exposure latitude, like Tri-X, will reduce the need to fuss over minor variations in subject luminance.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), August 30, 2001.

I use both an old Leicameter MR & a modern Cosina Voigtlander VC in the manner that the other respondents have mentioned, i.e., pre-metering the scene & only re-metering when light conditions around my subject(s) change. I find that the VC is is more accurate (particularly in low-light conditions) & smaller, but it doesn't hold a reading. Any handheld meter would work just as well, but many times it's much more convenient to have a meter on your camera.

-- Chris Chen (furcafe@cris.com), August 30, 2001.

Andy,

How can you 'simulate" the M6 meter with reflected reading (reading is at 40-50degree, compared to 5-10 with spot metering?

-- Angelique (abischop@earthlink.net), August 30, 2001.

Angelique - I am using the non-spot-metering reflected attachment that comes with the meter (basically a cap with a hole in it), which DOES read about 50 degrees, per Sekonic. I thought the M6 centerweighted metering (with a 35mm lens attached) read about the same as a 50mm frame - or roughly 40-50 degrees.

I should also add that one reason I like the Sekonic is that, in addition to the BIG digital readout (easy on aging eyes) it also has an analog scale across the bottom (in Leica 1/2 stops, no less) which I find to be more intuitive. E.G. something like:

2-2.8-4-5.6-8-11-16-22-32-64

-----------

indicates f/6.3

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), August 30, 2001.

It is relatively easy to become confident at estimating exposures, especially for B&W film with good exposure latitude (e.g., Tri-X). For a nice "sunny 16" table of the usual light values (and camera settings) for many routine situations and times of day, see the technical section of the website of John Brownlow (aka Johnny Deadman) at www.pinkheadedbug.com. He's a super street shooter and seems to work meterless much of the time. The meter helps for situations when light is changing fast at beginning and end of daylight, but other situations are pretty predictable and stable. I usually carry a Gossen Luna Pro Digital meter to check lighting situations that I'm unsure about, but after a while, you find it just confirms your own estimate, at least for street photography.

-- Tim Nelson (timothy.nelson@yale.edu), August 31, 2001.

I do a lot of in-close candid photography using colour film and never meter through the camera

www.4020.net/everyday

Rather I always take a range of readings using a hand-held incident meter and then work with these settings. After a while, especially indoors, you can pretty much estimate by eye what the exposure is.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), August 31, 2001.

Angelique -- Some useful stuff here re "meterless" shooting. I worried about this too, and wondered if a camera with a built-in meter wouldn't have been better than an M3. Persevere! Practise the f/16 (often f/11-16) rule. You do improve. B+W and colour print of course have the most latitude, but even with slide film you can get good results in most daylight situations. However, using a handheld meter will confirm or fine tune your choice. Any good model should do, but an incident meter is probably best. Don't expect perfect results after your first film. For me, I reckon an attached meter would make the M too bulky. Good luck! Cheers, David.

-- David Killick (Dalex@inet.nz), September 03, 2001.