Hi all, Does the M6 meter read correctly when using B&W filers (black and white filters - NOT B+W brand), or is there a sensitivity or lack of when using yellow, orange or red. I tend to argue with my M6 meter occasionly and sometimes I even win....With my hand held meter I've been using a factor of 1 stop for yellow, 2 for orange and 3 for red far into the last century. The M6 meter will sometimes read the same for the yellow as well as the orange and obviously there is more density to the orange. Any other experiences or opinions or should I just use either my M3, M4, or M4-P with my hand held meter like in the good ol' days?? merci en advance.... FWB

P.S. - Sorry but any answer also on accuracy of Nikon F5 Matrix metering with B&W filters would also be appreciated. Occasionally we all have to shoot long or zoom lenses with these new bulky, heavy AF contraptions...... My Nikon bag with F5 and 17-35, 28-70 and 80-200 weighs almost as much as my Linhof bag with 4 lenses..who woulda thunk it??

-- F. William Baker (atelfwb@aol.com), May 29, 2002

Answers

From my experience yellow and orange filters are fine on the M6 but red can give a problem. It'll be linear though, so once you determine how far off the meter is reading, just reset the ISO dial when you've got the red filter on (but remember to set it back!).

From my experience with the F5, take it out of matrix because the RGB metering is programmed to apply additional compensation based on color in a scene, and it can't differentiate a light yellow filter from a light yellow subject. In spot or CW, you should be ok with yellow and orange but check exposure with red against what you know it should be without the filter, plus the factor.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 29, 2002.

With ttl light metering the camera reads the light through the filter, so the major part of the filter correction (useally 1.5) is automatically corrected. However as you let in only part of the light, there is usally still an offset required. The golden rule for me is for yellow and orange that is +0.5. I did a serie of test shots with increasing the correction from 0 to +1.5 with my R4s and came to the conclusion +0.5 does it best for me.

Reinier

-- Reinier (rvlaam@xs4all.nl), May 30, 2002.