Posted by Patti McKinnon on November 11, 2009 at 8:16 PM
How do I decide which metering mode to use, and when to change it?
Thank you!
Posted by Jay Martin on November 11, 2009 at 10:48 PM
I'd say 90% of the time you'll want to use the matrix metering on your camera - you can adjust exposure with +/- button if need be. Use the spot metering if you want to meter off of a specific part of the scene - comes in handy for silhouettes. The best thing to do is play around with your camera and get used to the different modes. Happy shooting
Posted by Youssef Ismail on November 11, 2009 at 11:22 PM
Patti,
The matrix or evaluative metering mode breaks up the scene in the viewfinder into several sposts or zones and meters each spot. The old Nikon F5 had a matirx meter that metered 1005 individual spots on the frame for example. Then with all those spots giving a light level it uses a computer algorthim and a database of other scenes (up to 30,000) to determine the best overall exposure setting. But you have no real idea with it what in the scene it considers the most important. However it works pretty well and along with your camrera's histogram yu can fine tune the exposure to exactly how you like it.
I "grew up" in a time when all we had was a center weighted meter or a spot meter on the camera. With these meters you had to make a tonal assesment of the objects in the scene and used yuor meter to check the light levels of those objects and then you manually adjusted your aperture and shutter to set the tones as you chose. Using the spot meter is the most accurate as you have complete control and knowledge of what tone your metered object will be. You again can fine tune using the histogram. I still have my cameras set to spot meter and I do my own assesment of tones rather than letting the camera take over and then adjusting several times to get it right how I want it.
Discussion
2 repliesThank you!
The matrix or evaluative metering mode breaks up the scene in the viewfinder into several sposts or zones and meters each spot. The old Nikon F5 had a matirx meter that metered 1005 individual spots on the frame for example. Then with all those spots giving a light level it uses a computer algorthim and a database of other scenes (up to 30,000) to determine the best overall exposure setting. But you have no real idea with it what in the scene it considers the most important. However it works pretty well and along with your camrera's histogram yu can fine tune the exposure to exactly how you like it.
I "grew up" in a time when all we had was a center weighted meter or a spot meter on the camera. With these meters you had to make a tonal assesment of the objects in the scene and used yuor meter to check the light levels of those objects and then you manually adjusted your aperture and shutter to set the tones as you chose. Using the spot meter is the most accurate as you have complete control and knowledge of what tone your metered object will be. You again can fine tune using the histogram. I still have my cameras set to spot meter and I do my own assesment of tones rather than letting the camera take over and then adjusting several times to get it right how I want it.
Hope that helps.