I use it a lot. In fact most of the time. A year or so ago someone posted
how they used the 4Ts multiple spot metering to approximate the "zone"
system. Well, I adopted the approach because it is so straight forward. If
you have the 4T manual it has an example where two parts of a scene are
spotted so that you get a particular average, where the "middle" zone is
placed. (Being a nerdy engineer I think in powers of 2 just as easily as in
powers of 10).
The other bit of advice the post had was that the individual put a 200mm
lens on a spare 4T and used that as a poor man's 1 degree spot meter. In
fact, I believe that the degree of the spot metering with a 200 lens is
narrower that 1 degree. Does anyone know how to calculate this? The 4T
manual makes a reference that the spot meter is some percent of the angle
of view. Just what is that precisely, I don't know.
I just took some pics of the 1/1/1999 full moon with a 4T + 600 f6.5 +2X.
The most critical thing is the tripod. The next critical 2 things is the
brightness of the viewfinder and the exposure metering. With the 4Ts spot
metering I just spotted on the moon. The moon is big enough with 1200mm
that you can spot on different parts of it, but not by much. However, the
best pics were those spotted. Average metering shots were toast. Spot meter
with HiLite were toast too. In hindsight, kinda dumb to try but I did out
of curiousity. The moon is a nice white spot!.
Why would anyone want pics of the moon, and in B&W???? Well, it is sort of
like trying to make your own wine or beer. You just might make a Rodney
Strong Cab with enough perservance. Maybe in one of my past incarnations I
was an astronomer or professional star/moon gazer. Anyway, the pics are
okay. I'm getting some 8 by 10'd just to see what they look like under more
magnification. ( I start with 4 by 6 machine prints and then turn the
survivors over to a custom lab. Oh, what I would give for my own
darkroom...a real one, with smells, wetness and darkness.) The problem
limiting me of what is in my control of technique, is focusing. I was using
a Beattie screen with no split prism. In broad daylight you can see when
you go past infinity in focus with a 600 just like with a 300. But 1/1/99
it was a cold f****** night and I couldn't discern any unfocusing when I
cranked the focus all the way to the right. So I tried several shots around
"infinity". The cold may have shifted infinity significantly so it may
actually been all the way at the right.
Anyway, this prompted me to buy a Beattie screen with a split prism. Now I
am waiting for the blue moon 1/30/99. Just hope the weather permits me.
What gets me about the pics of the moon with Olympus equipment is the three
dimensional quality of the photos. I can "feel" the craters with my eyes in
the 4 by 6 photos. I use to have a B&W screen saver on a Sun workstation
that was an astronomer's take of the moon. Even that image did not carry
this quality, nor did the moon posters in college.
Maybe I'll really get serious and borrow a friend's telescope and take moon
shots with my OM1 attached to it. But then I will not be trying to make
Rodney Strong in my garage! To fill a 35 mm frame, I estimate you need a
2400mm focal length lens. Well, does any one have a 2X I may borrow to
satisfy my quest? Yes, why not put to 2Xs together. Gee, I wonder what the
image quality will be like:))!!!
Back to the subject: spot metering. Spot metering made exposure of the moon
a piece of cake. Maybe I should try doing it with a OM2 or 1 but how,
without burning a lot of film through trial and error or cheat and use an
external spot meter. There may be some tables one can look this up in.
Guideline tables of exposure settings for night photography, or lightening
or other unusual situation. The point is that the spot metering really
simplifies life without taking the control away from you like a lot of the
gizmos found in today's wonder bricks. And the Oly spot metering is really
elegant and natural(for me at least) to use.
Andre
San Carlos, CA
>At 04:33 PM e/22/99 -0700, you onog
>>Do any 4Ti owners really use the mli spot/hilite/shadow function?
>
>
>Yes, but (regretfully) not as often as I *should* have!
>
>Garth
>
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