On Mon, 18 Oct 1999 21:36:59 -0500, Joel Wilcox wrote:
>OM-4(T) owners, when do you use spot metering in auto and when in manual
>and why?
In manual mode, I used to try to apply the classic Zone System 'place
and fall' approach, i.e. spot off the most critical tonal value,
adjust aperture and shutter speed to place it on the chosen zone, then
spot other important areas to check where they fall on the zone
scale. Finally I'd re-adjust the exposure if compromise were required.
That's the theory anyway. In practice I'd usually get curious/paranoid
and want to check my setting against the centre-weighted reading,
which required me to use the clear switch and lose all my spot
readings.
So now I tend to do the initial placement on the centre-weighted
reading and only then take spot readings to check the fall of the
important tones, adjusting as necessary.
Note that in neither case to I ever pay much attention to the
multispot average reading, as I feel that reducing a set of spot
readings to a single value defeats the greatest virtue of multispot.
For the same reason I seldom use multispot in auto mode. If there's an
obvious mid-tone region in view then I'll take a single spot reading
off that, otherwise I go with OTF/OTC.
I don't tend to use the compensation dial, either, finding it easier
to switch into manual for non-trivial lighting conditions.
Of course, the above is really only how I like to *think* I work, the
reality is rather more chaotic.
-Brian
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|