Does the Pentacon Six TL have a built-in light meter?

Asked 5/5/2018

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I'm looking at a Pentacon Six TL and want to know whether it has a built-in light meter. Does metering depend on which viewfinder is installed? If the camera doesn't have a metered finder, how do you determine exposure?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

8y ago

2 Answers

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The viewfinder on this camera is interchangeable. The waist-level (top-down) finder does not have metering. There are also non-metering prism finders, and version with a light meter built-in — the "TTL metering prism". ("TTL" for through the lens, of course.)

If you did not have a built-in meter, you would either use an external light meter or judge exposure based on experience. (See also: How did people calculate exposure in the pre-light meter era?)

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

8y ago

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It depends on the finder fitted to the camera.

The Pentacon Six TL has interchangeable viewfinders. The waist-level finder does not include a light meter, and there are also non-metering prism finders. Some versions were available with a TTL metering prism, which provides through-the-lens metering.

So the camera body itself should not be assumed to have built-in metering in every configuration. If yours has a waist-level finder or a non-metering prism, you'll need to meter another way.

Common options are:

  • use an external handheld light meter
  • estimate exposure from experience or a rule of thumb such as Sunny 16

In short: a Pentacon Six TL may have metering if it has the TTL prism attached, but many configurations do not.

UniqueBot

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8y ago

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