>> Isn't it >> mostly about understanding the equipment and how it works to be able >> to use it wisely? >> > > I think that's always the case.
I think it also helps if the device is accurate and consistent, which some in-camera meters really aren't. I used to have an SPF, for instance, that would meter fairly accurately down to a certain lowish light level and then STOP metering accurately while continuing to give what LOOKED like active readouts! Very frustrating. You needed a meter to know when the light levels had gotten to the point that the meter wouldn't work! Also, many meters are non-linear. The might be accurate at EV10 but high at EV 15 and low at EV5 (or whatever). Lots of meters aren't very well color-corrected, either. That is, the same luminance of red or green will result in different readings when the readings ought to be identical. Don't forget that system flare affects meter accuracy, too. And finally, a lot of in-camera metering systems just contain a lot of slop and don't work repeatably. Some old meters needed to be "charged" by being exposed to brighter light before they would work with lower light. Some in-camera meters don't give the same reading for the same control subject time after time. Saying that the LX has "a great meter" really means that it avoids a whole rat's-nest of problems that variably afflict other in-camera meters--often enough, without the operator being very aware of them. The Leica M6 has "a great meter" too. Lots of cameras really don't. What's happened with meters over the decades has been interesting. Forty years ago photographers resisted any sort of in-camera meter. Then they wanted spot meters so they would know exactly what they were measuring. Then they wanted full-field meters (now called "center-weighted") so they wouldn't have to spot meter. Now, since most photographers don't understand metering any more, we're to the point that we prefer the cameras to actually adjust for the scene FOR us, since we're apparently too thick to do it for ourselves. I've always thought it odd that most "Matrix"-type meters actually change a camera's exposure settings ON THEIR OWN--without telling the camera operator what adjustment has been made! One nice feature of the Contax Aria is that it has a scale in the viewfinder that shows the degree of adjustment between multi-segment metering and CW metering. An obvious feature. I should have thought that it would be a feature all photographers would have demanded as a matter of course after the advent of the Nikon FA (the first camera with multi-segment evaluative metering), but evidently, no. --Mike J. "The 37th Frame," an independent newsletter for photographers www.37thframe.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
