On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 10:04 AM, Brian Swale <bj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I don't know what it is, but with the OM4Ti and print film, and letting it
> decide
> the exposure most of the time, most of the time the shots come out well
> exposed. I use it and the spot function taking usually one spot, (the OM4T is
> much cheaper than most stand-alone exposure meters) for the 6x17
> camera, and the exposures in the 6x17 come out pretty well. Although, after
> just 20 photos (5 rolls) I have decided I should refine my perception of what
> is an average place to take the reading so as to not expose quite so much.
> I'll get there. White balance doesn't seem to be a problem.
>
> With OM digital, my first gripe is that the rear display screen nearly always
> shows a good exposure, no matter how far off good it is. Basically, these
> things are programmed to tell lies regarding excellence of exposure.
> Secondly, and since a lot of my photography is landscape, frequently with a
> fair amount of white cloud in the view, I have not been able to figure out why
> in some shots the (E-1, E-3) gets it right, and in some shots clearly takes
> the
> reading off the cloud (ugh!). Photos with no sky or cloud nearly always are
> well exposed.
Hi Brian,
I find it best for my purposes to stay close to the "highlight" screen
in chimp/playback mode. Since E cameras lack multi-spot capability --
which I think might work best for my purposes, though we will have to
see when such a feature becomes available -- I have a workaround.
With the camera in ESP mode, I point the lens in mixed lighting to
some scene that provides a preponderance of light that I sense from
experience is about in the middle and I push the AEL button to hold
that exposure. I shoot and then check to see if highlights are
blinking. In very contrasty conditions tiny areas of blinking
highlights are OK to me. I don't trust the histogram in the camera as
it doesn't really provide enough information about the highlights.
The highlight screen is much better for this.
If the exposure needs to be adjusted, I note the shutter speed that is
held by AEL. I push the AEL button to release the reading and then
point the lens at the same area as before and simply attempt to lock
onto a faster or slower shutter speed to suite my need on that
occasion and lock it with AEL again. This is a fairly easy procedure
which becomes very fast with practice and works repeatedly for me. It
is important to program the AEL button for "memo" (which is not the
default setting in the camera).
Ironically, the method reminds me of nothing so much as how I learned
to shoot slide film with the OM-1!
On your comment about your OM-4T and print film, I find that print
film in particular has so much latitude that it doesn't compare well
with digital. Slide film tallies more nearly with digital,
particularly in terms of the necessity to shoot to hold highlights.
Digital seems to capture more usable information if the exposure in
each case is optimized to capture highlights equally well, while
polarizers and split neutral density filters seem to work better with
slide film than with digital, so it would be a wash perhaps if in so
many other respects shooting digital were not just so handy!
Joel W.
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