mamiya 7

lovetodraw

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Dec 10, 2010
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Hi all,

I never took snow images with my mamiya 7. I was wondering how should i meter a general snow scene because of mamiya's 7 spot meter. Shall I meter for the snow and then open up two stops or shall I meter for a darker object in a scene, for example a building or a tree and still open up one stop. I always use the ae mode and then use the exposure compensation if necessary. I will be shooting with the new portra 400 film. Any suggestions will be appreciated. In the mean time I will start bracketing my shots but the snow is melting at a rapid pace so I do not have the time to wait for development if I want correct exposures right away.
 

climbabout

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If your spot meter in the camera is just reading snow only, then just set the exposure compensation dial on the top of the camera to +2. Simple as that.
Tim
 

burchyk

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I would say that metering for a single value is less precise (yet faster) than to scan the scene for darkest and lightest areas that you want to have textures in them. Using a simple +2 compensation for snow may not always yield desired results. If you go that route you just leave out other values without attention. Also +2 compensation (Zone VII) should correspond to lightest grey values rather than bright whites (but that can vary). I think color negative films should be able to handle slightly higher placement like VIII or even IX (+3 to +4).
 

Early Riser

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You can't use a general rule like "open up 2 stops" because every scene is different. But as you understand the way a camera meter works, ultimately translating whatever it's pointed at into middle gray, then you can simply use that understanding to measure the various values with in a scene and then calculate the high and low values and expose accordingly. It sounds slower and more complicated than it is. And if a scene is particularly special, then bracket just to be safe.
 

burchyk

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The spot meter is a more powerful tool in the skilled hands than an averaging meter, I have a camera with both metering patterns and rarely use averaging mode, spot metering is not much slower but eliminates compensation dial guesswork. I highly recommend reading the Zone System basics regarding exposure (and the rest of it too!)
 
OP
OP

lovetodraw

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Thank you all for your fast replies. I think I am going to use the zone system as well brackting methods and just see what happens. In the past I got crazy colours in a scene by not using over compensation when pointing at a light part of the scene. I have adjusted where to place the meter and adjusted accordingly for compensation. I will be heading out tomorrow and bring a few rolls to experiment and hopefully we get another snow storm to experiment with. Thank you so much.
 

Allen Friday

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Wait a minute. The Mamiya 7 has a spot meter? Mine doesn't.

Anyway, I have shot a lot of snow scenes with my Mamiya gear. I either use the sunny f/16 rule or meter the open north sky. Both ways work well.
 
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