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EXPOSURE MODES
The Leica M Monochrom provides two exposure
modes: Aperture priority mode and manual mode.
Depending on the subject, situation and your individual
preferences, you can thus choose between
– the familiar “semi automatic” operation, or
– setting a fixed shutter speed and aperture.
APERTURE PRIORITY
If the shutter speed setting dial (1.17) is in the
A
position, the camera's electronics generate the shutter
speed automatically and continuously in the range
1
/
4000
s to 32s, taking into account the sensitivity
setting, the metered brightness and the manually
selected aperture.
The generated shutter speed is displayed digitally in the
camera viewfinder; for better clarity it is displayed in
half steps.
For shutter speeds slower than 2s the remaining
exposure time is counted down and displayed in
seconds after the shutter release. The actually
generated and continuously controlled exposure time
can however vary from the half step value displayed:
For example, if the display shows 16 (the closest
value) before releasing the shutter, but the calculated
exposure time is longer, the countdown after releasing
the shutter may actually start from 19.
Under extreme lighting conditions, based on all the
parameters the exposure meter may generate a shutter
speed that is outside the working range, i.e. brightness
values that would require shorter exposures than
1
/
4000
s or longer than 32s. In such cases the specified
minimum or maximum shutter speed is nevertheless
used, and these values flash in the viewfinder, as a
warning.
METERING MEMORY LOCK
For compositional reasons, the most important part of
the subject is often not in the center of the picture, and
as a result such important parts of the subject may be
excessively light or dark. However, the center-weighted
metering on the Leica M Monochrom essentially only
detects an area in the center of the picture and is
calibrated to an average gray scale value.
Subjects and situations of this type can be overcome
very easily even in aperture priority mode, using
metering memory lock.
To do this:
1. The center of the viewfinder is first pointed at the
crucial part of the subject by moving the camera,
or alternatively at some other detail of average
brightness,
2. and the shutter release button (1.19) is then pressed
to its 2
nd
pressure point to meter and store the
relevant values. As long as the pressure point is
held, a small red dot appears in the viewfinder at
the top in the digits line for confirmation, and the
exposure time no longer changes even if the lighting
conditions are different.
3. Keeping the shutter release button pressed, move
the camera to capture the final picture,
4. and the shutter can then be released using the
exposure originally determined.
Changing the aperture setting after using metering
memory lock has no effect on the shutter speed, and
will lead to an incorrect exposure.
Storage is cancelled when you remove your finger from
the shutter release pressure point.
Note:
Metering memory lock is not available if the
Soft
shutter release function is selected (see p. 108).
