Only eleven bodies... well, you're just getting started. Don't feel too
bad... <g>
I think metering has come some long way since the last of the OM bodies.
Cameras now have much more microprocessor power built into them, and
'1000-point matrix metering' is one of the causes (and results) of this
microprocessor power evolution. But I don't think the camera companies have
yet engineered out the necessity for intelligent evaluation of the scene
before pushing the button...
I'm guilty far too often of just 'point, focus, shoot' with my OM-4's, but
when I slow down and *look* I have a tool that helps figure out what the
image will come out like based on what I am seeing and how I set the camera.
The computer doesn't understand the image content, it sees only areas of
various brightness, and tries to relate those to stored algorithms of 'if
brighter here and here than there and there, set exposure 1-1/2 stops lower'
and such. These may not generate the vision that the photographer desires,
so intelligence is still needed.
The question then becomes - Does the camera provide the tools to apply
intelligence efficiently and effectively? Or does it 'get in the way' with
myriad menus, functions, settings, and overrides such that using it in a
creative way is an exercise in frustration? For my 'artistic' impulses, the
OM-4 offers the tools in an elegant and easy to apply form, without getting
in the way.
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-1's, -2's, -4's, (no -3's yet) and no OM-oney...
on 9/17/02 2:29 AM, Carlos J. Santisteban Salinas at cjss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:
> Besides my bunch of eleven OM bodies, I own a Contax Aria. This "plastic
> toy" has matrix metering ("evaluative metering", as they call it) with a
> bar graph in the viewfinder showing the difference between evaluative
> metering and centre-weighted metering.
>
> If I'm doing point & shoot, just press the trigger. When I'm aware of a
> "difficult" metering scene, I look at the graph and compare the indication
> with what my experience tells; if they match, press trigger; otherwise, I
> turn the exposure compensation dial... or switch to spot metering ;-)
>
> ...
>
> Carlos Santisteban
>
> <cjss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> <cjsantis@xxxxxxxx>
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