I have recently bought the 120/4 Makro Planar for my Contax 645. In the past I had only limited experience with macro photography and I was mainly using Canon's 100/2.8 macro lens. Now with the excellent MP, I am excited to test out its macro capabilities and performance.
While I rely on handheld incidence lightmeter heavily most of the time, I did the same naturally this past weekend when I visited the annual Flower Show in Hong Kong. I brought along two cameras for different purposes. The RX II with VS 80-200/4 zoom with extension tubes as well as the Contax 645 and MP 120 for close up were my main setup.
Once again I used my Sekonic lightmeter to measure the light levels and inputed the desired exposure readings manually on both cameras. I shot slides (provia on RXII and velvia on 645), and it turned out that the slides on the RXII had right on exposures but all the closely zoomed in C645 shots were heavily underexposed, at least 2-3 stops. Interestingly enough, when the MP was used to take normal shots nand ot as macro, the incidence meter readings were also spot on.
After seeing the developed slides I tested the TTL metering with the MP mounted on my 645. I further discovered that at minimum focusing distance the MP would require almost an additional two stops of light as compared to when the lens was focused at infinity!
Has anybody noticed this before? And how would I be able to use a handheld incidence lightmeter effectively with this lens? By the way, when I shoot macro on slides, I would try to avoid using the in camera meter because I could afford little room for exposure errors with slides.
While I rely on handheld incidence lightmeter heavily most of the time, I did the same naturally this past weekend when I visited the annual Flower Show in Hong Kong. I brought along two cameras for different purposes. The RX II with VS 80-200/4 zoom with extension tubes as well as the Contax 645 and MP 120 for close up were my main setup.
Once again I used my Sekonic lightmeter to measure the light levels and inputed the desired exposure readings manually on both cameras. I shot slides (provia on RXII and velvia on 645), and it turned out that the slides on the RXII had right on exposures but all the closely zoomed in C645 shots were heavily underexposed, at least 2-3 stops. Interestingly enough, when the MP was used to take normal shots nand ot as macro, the incidence meter readings were also spot on.
After seeing the developed slides I tested the TTL metering with the MP mounted on my 645. I further discovered that at minimum focusing distance the MP would require almost an additional two stops of light as compared to when the lens was focused at infinity!
Has anybody noticed this before? And how would I be able to use a handheld incidence lightmeter effectively with this lens? By the way, when I shoot macro on slides, I would try to avoid using the in camera meter because I could afford little room for exposure errors with slides.