Hi, does anybody know jow to lock exposure on R4 in AE selective mode? I tried depressing the shutter release falfway like other Rs but the meter reading keeps changing as I shift composition, doesn't look like the metered reading is locked at all. Please explain in detail (I'm quite dim) so I can make use of this feature, if it is present in the R4 at all. On the side, I would like to know if I am the only one who don't like the colours of Velvia? I find them hyper (my own television set has the colour setting reduced to more tolerable levels), and am getting quite sick looking at them. Seems colour magazines liked them so much that only those shot on Velvia get published. Or am I mistaken here? I much prefer the colours from Kodachrome (if I can find them) and Ektachrome. Maybe I am getting old? Thanks.

-- Steven Fong (steven@ima.org.sg), August 26, 2001

Answers

Steven, in (a) Average/Selective(spot) mode, the R4 locks exposure with a half-pressure on the shutter button, just as you're doing; however the finder display does *not* lock. Another award-winning achievment from the Leica R design department. By the R5/RE (perhaps even the R4S-P/MOD2, I can't recall offhand) the finder display locks when you activate the AEL feature. Oddly, the earlier R3 (needle- type finder display)does indicate when the AEL feature is activated.

As to Velvia, there is an easy fix to the oversaturation: simply set your ISO to 40 or 32--experiment to see which pleases you. There is no difference in processing, this is *not* a "pull". Slight overexposure tames the saturation and broadens the contrast range.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

Steve

No you are right about Velvia - it is a hypercolored film, and to my eyes at least K64 is a much more accurate. I have to say though that there are times when it seems to me that Velvia is suitable - in particular in the US Western states, where the great saturation and pumped up colors seem to work so very well and coincide perhaps better with ones own visual experiences than the more muted tones of a film like K64. For the same reason it is very good for shots that are more abstract. I like Sensia/Astia 100 myself as a straight, much more "accurate" E6 film. I've also quite like Provia F, but have not really used enough of it to form a real opinion.

Nothing beats K64 for the appearance of sharpness and it is very contrasty which you can use to your advantage - but it does make some images difficult to get right or to get to work at all. For this reason I am always on the look out to phase out K64, but I just have not found anything that can really replace it yet.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), August 27, 2001.

Steven

I am using the R4 for years. When you press half way the shutter the exposure is locked. The R4 is telling you this when the light of thr round LED for A Selectiv disapears. The R4 shows you at this point the actual values but would shot the picture with the locked values. See also the manual.

-- Salvatore Reitano (salvi&chantal@bluewin.ch), August 28, 2001.