I just bought an MR meter for my M2. Although I have a Minolta IVF I wanted a camera-mounted meter. I looked at the little Voigtlander but didn't like it since I couldn't figure out what it was aiming at, it had no lock, and it doesn't interface with the shutter dial. AND the MR was a lot cheaper!

Anyway, Now I have this MR (did the voltage conversion thing with a Bat81 diode/silver oxide battery) but I don't really understand how the meter works with the red and black scale. Anybody have any quick instructions?

-- MikeP (mike996@optonline.net), February 21, 2002

Answers

I have the MR manual scanned, just email me directly and I will send it to you.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), February 21, 2002.

Mike, I use the MR meter on my M3 and M4 respectively. I'm really happy with it... use it more than my M6ttl camera/meter combo.

From the Leica Meter MR instruction booklet (page 4 table of contents): "Measuring range seletor switch: for measuring in bright light, switch to the black dot; in poor light, use the red dot. When measuring outdoors in daylight, always switch to the black dot."

The MR meter has two measuring ranges, red for low light, and black for high intensities. Read the f/stop which corresponds to the color range you are using (red/red, black/black).

To summarize, for most daylight photography, the black scale is used. If the needle is indicating in the bottom two segments, switch over to red scale.

BTW, the area read by the meter is equivalent to the field of view of a 90 mm lens, so accurate readings may be obtained by using your 90mm frame to assess the viewing field. The angle of acceptance of the meter is 21 degrees horizontal, about 16 degrees vertical.

Good Luck!!

-- Alexander Kemos (tig@adelphia.net), February 21, 2002.

Sure Mike.

There is a switch in the upper left hand of the top of the meter (as you look down upon the top of the meter when mounted and camera hangs on your chest). When the arrow is placed on the "Black" position, depress the "T" switch to activate the meter for a reading.

Whichever of the f stops on the black scale of the dial is pointed to by the white needle, set that on your lens.

When switch is set in the "Red" position, red scale on the meter dial is used to determine the correct f stop.

A couple of cautions. Make certain that correct film speed is set. Also, meter reads the reflected portion of the scence that is approximatly the same area as a 90mm lens so you can estimate coverage by moving frame selector when a 90 is not mounted. If the meter is new to you, I'd run a comparison for accuracy with a meter known to be accurate. If it's off a little, you can always compensate by seeting a different film speed.

BTW-The piece of black plastic on the front of the meter is actually a battery check feature. Sliding it will activate the meter and show battery charge level.

I have one and its fine for negative film, but I use a hand held Gossen for chrome work. Also be aware that since its over 30 years old, it will not read lower light levels as accurately as new meters.

Best

Jerry

-- Jerome R. Pfile, Jr. (JerryPfile@msn.com), February 21, 2002.

Jerome. The MR meter is a CdS meter, not a selenium meter. I'm quite certain that it is sufficiently accurate for slide film, which is about the only thing I shoot. Moreover, its low light sensitivity will not change with age. Either its working or its not. If its working and the zero adjust is correct, it should work properly.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), February 21, 2002.

I've used an MR-4 meter for years with Kodachrome 25 and it's actually quite accurate. You just have to trust it. It's not as good as the spot meters in Leica R cameras but neither are the center weighted meters of Asian SLR's.

-- Bud (budcook@attglobal.net), February 21, 2002.

THANKS Everybody - I really appreciate the help! And special thanks to John for the scan of the manual!

-- MikeP (mike996@optonline.net), February 21, 2002.

You may want to put a little tape on the bottom of the meter. A friend of mine recently put a nice grove in his M3, while removing it.

feli

-- Feli (feli@d2.com), February 21, 2002.

Eliot: while CDS is more stable than selenium, they're less accurate than the newer silicon blue cells.

What I find is that my MR wants to cut exposure to the bone. 1/3 to 1/2 stop more exposure than mine indicates is generally necessary for the best exposure; and also to agree well with the M6, or with Minolta Autometer, Gossen, etc. I'm using the Wein cell with it lately.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), February 21, 2002.

Bob,

Thanks on the blue cell comment in the new meters. You beat me to it.

Jerry

-- Jerome R. Pfile, Jr. (JerryPfile@msn.com), February 21, 2002.

Bob. I don't have that problem at all, but I'm using a mercury cell (I still have a few left). The Wein cell may not produce exactly the correct voltage for which the meter was calibrated so it may require a correction. The mercury cell is the only one that produces precisely 1.35 V, the voltage on which the correct functioning of the meter is based. A battery that is close to this figure will work OK, but may require an offset correction.

Leica chose mercury because the battery cell maintains the correct voltage until it is nearly dead. Thus a voltage regulator was not required and was not built into the circuitry of the meter. If it had been, any battery that was close enough (eg., 1.5 V silver cell) would work, and the regulator would convert to the correct voltage.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), February 21, 2002.

Hello Mike,

I found my Leicameter MR to be not as tough as the LEICA itself. But the ability to come to an exposure reading without looking through the viewfinder is an advantage in quite a few shooting circumstances.

Thatīs why I also kept one in use. My recommendation: donīt knock it against anything for too often, the thing might suffer quicker than your camera. One more trhing: when (maybe accidentally) set on low light mode, avoid to measure a very light area (sun). The metercell will then be quite confused and readings are off for about two minutes. In this case you have to allow the Leicameter to >cool down< a bit ...

Good shooting

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), February 22, 2002.