Adrian,
I've only recently purchased an OM4, and put 5 rolls through it in the last
couple of days on a shoot. I guess if you're using mostly Velvia, you're
taking your time over scenics and things and have time to fiddle with the
exposure comp - so far I've found that dial fairly useless for rapid use,
because of its positioning - I'm still trying to work out a way I can use it
reliably with the camera to my eye.
I was using an incident reading for most of the time, and disregarding the
background, which was changing - making CW metering slow to use. Where spot
came into it's own was when the model and I decided it would look good to do
some shots in an empty public swimming pool near where we were, so we jumped
the fence (watching the barbed wire...) ran in (just with the OM4,
35-70/2.8, some film and the 24/2.8 in a pocket, no handheld meter,
reflectors etc.) and did some shots in the pool. The sun was out, and the
pool tiles were reflecting huge amounts of light, while the model was
wearing black - so I hit spot on his outfit, and then shadow - I could have
used auto and memo, but I was on manual. I haven't seen the chromes or b+w
shots, but the colour negs look spot-on, and the prints are great (I was
churning through film...)
The biggest advantage for the multi-spot feature I can see is that it
enables you to see precisely the reflective brightness range of a subject,
and make decisions about how that fits within (or without) the capabilities
of the emulsion you are using, and the type of reproduction intended - I'm
looking forward to experimenting with that when I get the chance - I think
it would be unbeatable in difficult, contrasty light.
Best,
Andy
wiese@xxxxxxxxxx
P.S. Thinking about it, I just thought of a way I might use the OM4(Ti)'s
exp. comp - by presetting it to a value for a skin tone (eg +1 for
white, -2/3 for black, etc) and putting the camera on auto, it would be easy
to spot meter a face and get a correct reading....
Original Message:
--------------------------------------------
I've owned an OM4Ti now for several years and must confess that I only
occasionally use the spot metering and very rarely use multispot averaging
and/or highlight/shadow control. I'd be interested to hear from those that
regularly use these functions what techniques they've adopted and how
successful they are. Am I alone in using the C-W metering and occasional
exposure compensation with this camera? Although this works for me most of
the time (using primarily Velvia film) I can't help feeling that maybe I'm
missing out on something!
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