dear All,

a few questions related to metering. What is the metering pattern and if the metering pattern remains more or less unchanged according to the framelines, does that means if a longer lens is attached, i get a narrower metering area according to the frameline? Does that mean that if i'm using a 50mm, i can meter a spot by bringing up the 135mm frameline myself?

What i meant was if i'm using an SLR using center-weighted metering with a 70-200/2.8 zoom, i zoom in to 200mm to meter, say, the darker side of the face, then go back to 100mm to recompose and take the waist-up portrait of a person by the window. This is some sort of a make-shift fat spot metering.

If the meter is according to the viewfinder area, then it will be the other wat round, that is a 35mm will have a narrower metering spot and a 135mm will have a coverage of, maybe, the entire frame???

Apoloise that my post is ill-organised. i hope you guys know what i'm asking. Thanks in advance.

-- y.shawee (shawee@pacific.net.sg), April 12, 2002

Answers

no, you jump too far, if I understnad your quesiotn to be the framelines per se. The metering area (as percent of the shutter/film frame) does not change with anything you do, unless you change the lens, which changes the total angle of acceptance across the frame. That is, If you add a 135 lens (not just move the selector), you will spot a smaller physical area "out there" (the smaller central circle of the 135 frame), equivalent to a spot meter reading, then you could go back to your 50, but the mtering area (in terms of "out there sampling" can't be changed without physically changing the lens (unless you have a tri-elmar)..

-- L Smith (lacsmith@bellsouth.net), April 12, 2002.

All Leica-M6/TTL/7 meters meter the same part of the final picture - and the same portion of the framelines for the actual lens in use (a circle roughly half as tall as a horizontal picture - think "Japanese flag!"

- but NOT the same part of the overall viewfinder tunnel or box.

Y. - You can use a 135 LENS to get a semi-spot measurement - but not by flipping the frameline selector by itself.

You must actually put a real 135mm or 90mm lens on the camera to 'blow up' the image cast on the shutter curtain and take the meter reading -

....and then change back to the 50mm lens, (and remember to set the same aperture on the 50 that you used for metering with the 135!).

The pattern is the same as the big white spot painted on the first shutter curtain (you have to have the shutter cocked to see it). It is a circle one-half as tall as the framelines for whichever lens you have mounted.

With a 50mm lens mounted, the meter sees an area equal to a circle that would just fit (top to bottom) in the 90mm frames.

With a 135mm lens mounted, the meter sees an area equal to a circle that just encloses the whole rangefinder patch.

etc.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), April 12, 2002.

Thanks to all. By referring to the white circle, am i understanding correctly that the meter is seeing a percentage of the film area and is independent to framelines selection on the viewfinder?

-- y.shawee (shawee@pacific.net.sg), April 12, 2002.

You got it!

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), April 12, 2002.

Thanks.

-- y.shawee (shawee@pacific.net.sg), April 13, 2002.

The light level is measured off of a reflective circle on the inside of the shutter curtain. Thus, the metering pattern will always be the same regardless of lens in use.

-- Gary Voth (garyvot@vothphoto.com), April 13, 2002.