Exposure question

I've been taking photos for four years now and I recently noticed that I rely almost exclusively on the matrix metering system of my 10D. Overall I've been satisfied with the results but I wondered whether I'm getting the best image possible.

My questions are how many of you use spot metering consistently and look for an 18% gray in the scene to set your exposure? If I went to that approach could I expect to get more accurate (and possibly vibrant) colors? Just wondering.

I don't want to get into any bad habits that cost me in terms of quality. Thanks for your thoughts!

Wayne,

I'm also interested in what others are doing. I've been using spot metering for wildlife when I'm more concerned with the animal and not as much on the surroundings. I do look for whites and neutral colors to adjust the white balance in the raw converter. You question is timely for me since I stopped by Bedford's this morning and purchased a Lastolite Ezy Balance grey card for some outdoor family portraits over the holidays.

Good question Wayne - one that I'm sure other Canon users will be able to answer better than I can. Back in the old film days, I always used spot metering for the best results, and still carry a spot meter for 4x5 work. But now that I've gone digital, I use spot metering to get close, and then fine tune my exposure from the histogram. I think Canon users can recover a little bit more blown highlights than us Nikon users can, so I run the histogram right up to the max. without going over. You could probably go just a tad beyond and still be OK.

Wayne - I shoot pretty much the same as Bill. I use the meter (spot or other) to get a starting point (which I choose to be about 1-stop above the middle mark) and use the histogram to fine tune. I always take a few that go over the max (sometimes by quite a bit if I'm trying to capture detail in the shadows for later blending), and I always take one that has nothing blinking in the display.

I definitely check the histogram on each shot and "expose to the right" (see I remember Tim). If a first attempt indicates an exposure weighted to far to one side or the other I'll use the exposure compensation to adjust for the next shot.

I guess I was concerned that I wasn't getting the full potential out of the camera because my landscapes tend to be on the dark side. My wife has always disliked that fact.

You know what it is, I think I need a new camera .... that will fix my problem!

Wayne,

That's the same excuse, I'm mean "reason", that I've been trying to use.

I use the matrix almost all the time but will move the camera to different areas to get an exposure a lot of the time. Green grass is a very good substitute for a grey card. I also have my camera set to focus with the star button and meter with the shutter button

Light meter, what is that? Something that used to be used with film I guess. Spot meter, matrix, average - just shoot and look at your histogram and adjust until it is correct, then bracket. What else is there? You don't need no stinking light meter. (But Wyane you DO need a new camera!) A grey card is good to put into a scene so that you can do a one-click white balance in the RAW converter - just need it in one shot and then you can color balance for all images taken under the same lighting conditions if needed (I only ever use one when working with flowers or people where color might be critical, otherwise the auto white balance in the camera does a great job most of the time). You can use an off-white anything too and it works just fine (like flowing water).

Correct exposure is a realitive term. The correct exposure is how you the artist want the image to look. There are times when I want my middle tone grass to look dark green so I underexpose based off that. I use A spot meter which gives the shooter the most control over the final image.

B.