Hi,

My dad recently gave me his Leicaflex SL - an old horse indeed, but still takes great photos.

Would just like to know (if anyone does) how to use the light meter. Currently the battery for the light meter is weak and its pretty hard to find a replacement for that particular battery model.

In the view finder (right hand side) there are 2 needles - one is for aperture and the other for the light meter - how do I utilize these two needles correctly?

Hope anyone can provide me an answer - thanks!

-- Hazman Badrudin (xman@time.net.my), October 30, 2001

Answers

Hallo Hazman,

JUST FRAME THE NEEDLE IN ...

You need a PX 625 battery and the lightmeter should function. It is a problem indeed with the discontinued batteries. I bought a few as a small stock, but this will only last for a certain time. There are (more expensive) alternatives available made by WEINCELL. You can read about these in this forum.

When watching the needle in the finder the position depends on the setting of time and aperture. So you can decide beforehand if you wish aperture or timepriority when shooting. With either function you can alter the position of the outside frame. Just catch the needle in the middle and you are safe.

But consider, that the meter works as a spot meter. The meauring spot is the same as the inner circle in your finder.

So take care when pointing at your motif. Choose the right spot to measure, than frame and forget about the needle. It will alter the position but the setting you had chosen should make your picture.

Best wishes and enjoy the camera. Itīs a fine piece indeed.

K. G. Wolf

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), October 30, 2001.

Once you get the correct battery, aim the camera so the central circle in the viewfinder is pointed toward a neutral-toned area - an area that you want to be a middle tone in your picture - then adjust either the shutter speed or aperture until the needle and lollipop in the viewfinder line up. There's more info at:

http://www.wildlightphoto.com/leica/SL.HTM

The SL is my favorite SLR and if it's given regular maintenance it should last for a very long time.

-- Douglas Herr (telyt@earthlink.net), October 31, 2001.

You may to get a correct battery from this site while they still have them. Get two and put one in cool storage for that matter.

http://www.photobattery.com/PX625.html

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 31, 2001.

Metering works exactly just like my Nikon F Photonomic FTN! You can't go wrong with this spot metering at all :)

alfie

-- Albert Wang (albert.wang@ibx.com), November 02, 2001.

I suggest youy go to your local libary and check out an older Morgan Leica Manual for your SL...

-- Tom hipple (elizabethmmg@msn.com), November 05, 2001.