Transition (Back to) Center-Weightef Metering + M9 Discontinued

[Jim Mohundro]

Although it's by no mean a deal-breaker on my quest to move my full frame efforts from the Nikon D700 to the Leica M digital family, I noted while looking at M9 specs that metering is center-weighted. In the 70s through the 90s when my principal camera body was the Nikon F, the Nikon metering was center-weighted and, then coming from a Leica M2 and Nikon S3 rangefinder cameras with no built-in metering was a pretty pleasant break-in experience. However, when I moved to the Nikon DSLRs and eventually added my backup, lightweight M4/3, I was able to use matrix and spot metering in addition in addition to center-weighting, depending on the subject (matrix generally for scenery, spot and centerweighted for portraits, etc.

What metering experiences, if any, has anyone on this forum had in making a transition from the options in a three-metering system directly to, or back to, a solely center-weighted Leica M digital system?

As I think about acquiring a good used M I've become a bit drawn to the M9 because of the 18Mp versus the M8 and M8.2 10 Mp, but I'm not tempted by the much pricier 24Mp Ms. Looking at the B&H and Adorama web sites itbappears that the M9 has been discontinued. Is the M9 an optimum choice for the money in the used M environment.

 

[bosjohn]

Jim Mohundro wrote:

Although it's by no mean a deal-breaker on my quest to move my full frame efforts from the Nikon D700 to the Leica M digital family, I noted while looking at M9 specs that metering is center-weighted. In the 70s through the 90s when my principal camera body was the Nikon F, the Nikon metering was center-weighted and, then coming from a Leica M2 and Nikon S3 rangefinder cameras with no built-in metering was a pretty pleasant break-in experience. However, when I moved to the Nikon DSLRs and eventually added my backup, lightweight M4/3, I was able to use matrix and spot metering in addition in addition to center-weighting, depending on the subject (matrix generally for scenery, spot and centerweighted for portraits, etc.

What metering experiences, if any, has anyone on this forum had in making a transition from the options in a three-metering system directly to, or back to, a solely center-weighted Leica M digital system?

As I think about acquiring a good used M I've become a bit drawn to the M9 because of the 18Mp versus the M8 and M8.2 10 Mp, but I'm not tempted by the much pricier 24Mp Ms. Looking at the B&H and Adorama web sites itbappears that the M9 has been discontinued. Is the M9 an optimum choice for the money in the used M environment.

 

[BSweeney]

I had too many casesd of Matrix Metering picking something to measure on in the frame that I did not want, stuck with spot and center-weighted on my later Nikons. I could view the scene and know why those modes indicated what they did, and then could compensate. SO: center-weighted of the Leica was more natural to me than Matrix.

The price of a clean/used M9 is around $4,000 and the M8 is about $1,500 or so. I started with an M8, used, 400 clicks, 3 months old, for $2500. That was over 4 years ago. So at $1,500, you can always get most of your money back when selling it. The M9 will probably slide a bit more over the next year as M240 production catches up with demand.

 

[Paul20]

Hi there,

I have an M9 and have had an M8. I like you came from a Nikon F background so centre weighted metering is natural to me. I must admit though that I do sometimes miss matrix.

Note that the M 240 does have matrix metering if that's within your budget.

Paul

 

[tinternaut]

My newer cameras have made me terribly lazy when it comes to metering. Combine these improvements, with improvements to raw latitude, and I rarely see the need to use spot or centre weighting, anymore.

 

[flyalf]

Hi,

I have used M9 for a while after switching from D700, and now tried the new M. I would say that centre-weight metering is no problem. I think of centre-weight metering in much the same way as MF. It forces the photographer to think more on the end result, and how to get there versus letting the camera decide. But then again the exposure is trivial compared to the rest of the work of making a good photo.

I would say that M9 (M-E) is a good option if you dont want LV.

 

[Godfrey]

The M9 metering system isn't quite center-weighted like the Nikons were. The meter reads a strip of the shutter blades across the center of the FoV, focused on the center. It's more like a softly defined selective area meter than CW-averaging.

I find the metering to be very accurate and intuitive. If I select my metering target well, the result are 1:1 against my incident light meter.

In general, I've stuck with CW-averaging meter patterns despite many of my cameras having evaluative and spot metering. It's simpler and easier for me to know what the camera is doing. I do take advantage of the other patterns, when available and appropriate, but CW-averaging has been my primary tool for as long as I've been using a camera with a meter (first one: Nikon F Photomic FTn).

 

[TClair]

I think you can adjust to any metering system just as long as you understand how it works. I shoot a M8.2 a lot and think it works well but some times I meter off the ground and sometimes I meter off the sky depending on the subject at hand.

 

[JohnXTanner]

You do have to take more care in my experience with the M9 than with my Nikon D200, particularly with back-lit subjects. So, just like in the old days, I do sometimes meter with the M9 pointing somewhere other than where the picture actually is and then point the camera back at the subject.

John

 

[Jim Mohundro]

I had that experience during my long use of the old Nikon film Ftn, especially in landscape images where a fair amount of sky was liable to influence the center-weighted metering toward underexposure. In many of those situations I routinely metered at about a 30 to 45 angle to the ground to set the aperture.

 

[Artichoke]

JohnXTanner wrote:

snip

I do sometimes meter with the M9 pointing somewhere other than where the picture actually is and then point the camera back at the subject.

is that the metering system used by the M9/M8 is very consistent

I use this technique often both for manual and Auto metering

becomes second nature quite quickly with practice & I much prefer it to matrix metering