This is going to be a slightly different kind of journal. I’m going to explore all the reasons I would NOT use permanent exposure preview. Then, I’ll see if it really is necessary, or at least very useful, at the end.
Settings Available for the EV1
The EV1 and the current firmware offer three different settings that affect the preview in the EVF and on the back LCD screen. These settings are:
- Off
- Shutter button half-pressed
- Permanent
Here I am going to start by thinking of all the reasons I should use the first two settings and see where I end up.
Off - No Exposure Preview Whatsoever
Leica is about pure photography. Das Wensentliche is about the essence of photography, or keeping things simple and pared down to only the essentials needed to photograph.
This concept tells me to keep the image-making process as simple and pure as possible. Turning the exposure preview off lends a certain purity to what I am seeing. After all, looking through a rangefinder window on either a digital or a film Leica M is the purest form of image preview. Through glass and a frameline, one determines in the most raw sense what the image will be once the shutter is pressed. Certainly, the process is made simpler by setting the exposure first so that everything is ready to make the image.
Using the EV1, I could set the exposure preview off and still set my shutter speed and f/stop ahead of time for the given ISO and then look through the EVF. It should be a raw image of what is in front of my camera, shouldn’t it?
So, exposure preview, when turned off, is as close to mimicking the rangefinder experience as one can get with the EV1. Brilliant!
Half-Pressed Shutter - Exposure Preview When I Want it
Maybe I can have my cake and eat it too! Using the half-pressed shutter to turn on the exposure preview lets me start with the pure, raw form of what is in front of my camera. Effectively, it starts with the rangefinder experience, but then adds a little flair when I half-press the shutter.
In fact, a half-shutter press has been around since the metering systems of the Leica M6. Half-pressing the shutter on metered film Leica M bodies turns on the light meter and provides feedback on the exposure setting - f/stop, shutter speed and ISO combinations.
For digital rangefinder Leica M cameras it not only turns on the meter providing feedback, but keeping the shutter button half-pressed will store the exposure. Of course, this only works when using the Aperture priority mode or the Auto ISO mode where the camera determines an exposure. In fact, Leica is clear that using the multi-field metering system makes a half-pressed shutter irrelevant because it is already analyzing the full scene to set a recommended exposure.
So, with the Leica EV1, I could set the exposure manually and then half-press the shutter to get an idea of how my exposure might turn out. Alternatively, I can set the exposure to an automatic mode and point the camera at the subject locking the exposure in and getting a preview of how that exposure would turn out.
This seems like I can get the best of both worlds - the pure rangefinder experience and some feedback on my exposure setting. Note that when half pressing the shutter button, there is no focus zoom available and turning the focus on the lens does not show up easily on the viewfinder. Fine-tuning is not available when the shtuter button is half-pressed.
Does All This Make the Exposure Permanent Setting Useless?
It seems like some compelling arguments could be made about ignoring the Exposure Preview = Permanent setting. But if so, why is this the setting that I use all the time on my EV1?
First of all, moving between a setting of “Off” and “On” through a half-pressed shutter speed causes the camera to blink in the EVF and delay the view sometimes because the computer chip inside has to make adjustments on the view. This delay, however small, is an interruption in the image making process. Further, if that is the moment one wants to press the shutter, it may not process and take the image at the moment one wishes. This can cause a missed shot, never to be repeated! I found several times that my exposure was well in the negative (under-exposed) because it looked fine in the EVF, so I didn’t always think to check.
While I understand some long-time Leica M users believe the EV1 is a radical departure from the essence of the rangefinder experience, why not take advantage of the technology in the camera? Why would I want to purposefully make determining a correct exposure more difficult than it has to be?
The answer is, “I wouldn’t.” Using the Permanent Exposure Preview allows me to see the image in front of me as the camera sensor sees it. Even more important, I can see if my exposure is way off for the light on the subject. If everything is really dark, either my shutter speed is too high or my EV +/- is too far underexposed, leaving the f/stop constant. The same is true if my viewfinder is bright white.
Using the Permanent Exposure Preview provides real-time feedback and actually accelerates my ability to capture an image. While I have not experienced this, I have read that some users indicate the Half-Pressed Shutter exposure preview can sometimes show banding on the display in very poor lighting. I will spend some time experimenting with the preview in low lighting and higher f/stops to see how it affects the preview in the EVF. For now, the Permanent setting is really the best “Das Wensentliche” use of the EV1.
If you are not convinced, I recommend you try it for a week or two and see if it speeds up your process and helps provide better feedback on your exposures to the point you end up with more ”keepers.” After all, isn’t that the primary reason of pressing the shutter - to make an image you want to keep?
