RF metering - Specifically Yashica

[Stoned]

Im currently considering getting either the GSN, GTN or MG-1 to go back to basics for the next couple of months. Need some help as i couldnt find the info i needed on yashica-guy.com

How does the metering work on all 3? is it evaluative? or is spot available?

Specifically for the MG-1, I was looking at pics of it and it doesn't have a shutter speed dial, does this mean it's permanently stuck in AE mode?

For the GSN, GTN, is the lens colour corrected? Funky colours may be an issue.

Thanks in advance

 

[Stoned]

no one?

 

[nightwolf75]

hey, stoned!

check out www.yashica-guy.com? the site has pretty good coverage on yashica RFs.

i played with a GTN recently. it has only AV mode. the meter setup is pretty basic. as long as the 2 lights (red and yellow) dun light up, ur exposure is correct. so, dat would make it center-weight evaluative metering?

 

[Stoned]

hmm i did check out yashica-guy but they weren't too specific on whether the exposure could be manually controlled or whether it was just Av. Thanks for the info. though

 

[weg]

I have the MG-1 and GSN... both are aperture priority. eh regarding metering, there's just a metering cell located on the lens at the front, dont think u can call it centre weighted per se,.. dont know a better name for it

shutter click is very silent.. but viewfinder quite dim for mine..

 

[nightwolf75]

hmm i did check out yashica-guy but they weren't too specific on whether the exposure could be manually controlled or whether it was just Av. Thanks for the info. though

weg - haha... i also dunno how to classify it. :bsmilie:

stoned - at least for the GTN dat i was playing with, u can't manually control the exposure like in ur canon. the only thing u can control is the aperature and the cam guess-timate the shutter speed (based on the ISO). i did some test prints b4. by and large pretty accurate for daylight conditions. i din test for nite. big problem i had was in focusing! not use to manual lah... :sweat:

 

[ricohflex]

I have MG1
does Mg stand for machine gun?
maybe Mee Goreng.

the red light means you got too much light
make the aperture smaller

the yellow light means too little light
make aperture bigger

no speed control

not too fussy can use, lah.
if I recall it comes with 45mm f2.8 lens somewhere in my dry cabinet.

 

[Stoned]

Thanks guys. Well the main concern i had would be if say you were to shoot a strongly backlit subject; how then would the camera respond to that? Would you get a silhouette of the subject or a well exposed subject? Or worse, something in between?

 

[patch17]

one trick you can do with the GSN / GTN is to shoot in "flash" mode. that sets the shutter speed to 1/60 no matter what aperture you select. knowing that shutter speed, you can then work out an exposure to get the effect youy want.

or you can remove the batteries and the camera reverts to it's default speed of 1/500, you can still adjust the aperture manually.

as weg mentioned, both cameras work in aperture priority mode. you set the aperture, the camera selects the appropriate shutter speed. the GSN/GTN will go as slow as 4 or 6 seconds (i think). Once i shot in normal mode with a flash, the flash fired to light up the scene and the shutter remained open a bit longer to create "ghosting" of the moving subjects, was pleasantly surprised with the results. :bsmilie:

 

[weg]

Thanks guys. Well the main concern i had would be if say you were to shoot a strongly backlit subject; how then would the camera respond to that? Would you get a silhouette of the subject or a well exposed subject? Or worse, something in between?

so far my MG1 has consistently underexposed for strong backlit subjects.. seems to me to be abt close to 2 stops under... i guess in such cases u can manually change the iso of the film to compensate

 

[ricohflex]

Thanks guys. Well the main concern i had would be if say you were to shoot a strongly backlit subject; how then would the camera respond to that? Would you get a silhouette of the subject or a well exposed subject? Or worse, something in between?

the backlit scene fools the centre weighted meter into thinking that
there is enough light to properly expose the camera.
turn the aperture until you hit red light.
then turn some more in that direction for 2 aperture stops
that means you deliberately "over expose" the backlit scene.

in so doing, you properly expose the photo and fool the meter.
not sure if the auto-only camera will allow you to fire off shutter when red light is lit. did not try that on my MG1.

 

[Stoned]

Thanks guys the info. is certainly helpful. I guess what remains now is to get my hands on one and try it out

 

[breakaway]

Honestly, I would recommend a GSN instead of a MG1 simply because the lens is faster on the GSN.

 

[breakaway]

Or alternatively, you really would like to get back to basics, I would recomment a FSU RF or a Canon QL17 GIII.

Head over to www.rangefinderforum.com for anyhelp!