lightrules
Senior Member
Hi ZoomP, yes, I shoot with a non-AE RF, my Leica MP. I've recently been messing around with an M9, but even for that i find it easier to switch to full manual. I actually find AE very difficult because
1. I never really know what the meter is metering off, so i am always second guessing the camera's meter
2. In camera meters have this crazy tendency to jump around in exposure value just because there's suddenly a bright source of light in the frame.
To make things easier for myself, I just set the camera to manual exposure if shooting on the M9 or MP, then before the event, I measure the variations in light at the venue with a handheld meter. From there I can more or less guess if the subject is passing in areas of light or dark to speed up or slow down my shutter speed to compensate. I find this way much easier than trying to leave it to the AE exposure. If i'm not sure and don't have time to pull out my handheld meter, I just meter off my hand and then overexpose by 1 stop because my skin is generally lighter toned. This technique takes care of exposure so all i need to think about is focusing and composition. Hope this helps.
The thing i like about ckuang is his open sharing

Thanks for contributing