Metering Mode

Michael J.

Michael J.

Senior Member
I am learning again about my camera. No wI am testing the difference between the metering modes' Photos just for testing and sooc just rezised. WOW, what a difference


[SIZE=+1]Matrix

metering-1.jpg


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[SIZE=+1][SIZE=+1]Spot
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metering-2.jpg


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[SIZE=+1]Center-Weighted
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metering-3.jpg




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Scott Murray

Scott Murray

Senior Member
All depends on where you meter from aswell as if you meter a spot on a bright subject it will under expose, but if you meter spot on a dark area it will over expose :)
 
L

Lawrence

Senior Member
Were there any blown out highlights on any of these?

I have been practising to avoid blown out highlights by trying to understand how the camera will read the information. Its cool to learn these things
 
G

grandpaw

Senior Member
Michael, if you find that a mode such as Matrix is always off and needs to have the EV adjusted every time you can go into your menu and adjust it to your liking so that it will give you better results every time without having use your EV compensation each time. I have found on my cameras that the matrix is always too lite so I have adjusted it accordingly so I now get the results I like. You can adjust each mode separately in the camera menu and then tweak it if needed with the EV compensation.
 
RockyNH_RIP

RockyNH_RIP

Senior Member
grandpaw said:
Michael, if you find that a mode such as Matrix is always off and needs to have the EV adjusted every time you can go into your menu and adjust it to your liking so that it will give you better results every time without having use your EV compensation each time. I have found on my cameras that the matrix is always too lite so I have adjusted it accordingly so I now get the results I like. You can adjust each mode separately in the camera menu and then tweak it if needed with the EV compensation.
Click to expand...

Jeff, thanks!! I did not know this, love learning new stuff!! I want to give this a try...

Pat in GA
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Spot metering is the most dangerous mode. If you meter on the wrong spot then the entire shot is off. The only way I use it is if I am metering on a Grey Card. For normal everyday shooting I tend to use center weighted. For landscape i bounce between Matrix and Center Weighted. Recently my local mentor has been teaching me to expose for the sky and just make sure I have just a sliver of space in the histogram on the left. This may look dark in the shot but as long as you have that space you know you have shadow detail that can be brought up in post. Blown out highlight can never be fixed. Since I moved to this style I have cut my post processing in half. All the ones in Zion have very little post processing. Most were done in Lightroom only and surprisingly not many of them needed any help from Nik tools.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
Spot metering is the most dangerous mode.
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Spot metering is not dangerous. What's dangerous is ignorance in action.

Translation: If you use Spot metering without understanding how it works only to find you're not happy with the results, guess where the fault lies, Horatio...

'Cause it ain't in the stars.
.....
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
Horoscope Fish said:
Spot metering is not dangerous. What's dangerous is ignorance in action.

Translation: If you use Spot metering without understanding how it works only to find you're not happy with the results, guess where the fault lies, Horatio...

'Cause it ain't in the stars.
.....
Click to expand...

dangerous for those people who do not fully understand that metering mode and how and when to use it
 
B

Blacktop

Senior Member
I don't belive anyone has gotten
seriously hurt or even killed using spot metering. Selfie sticks are the real danger to photography.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
P

pforsell

Senior Member
Does anyone use just "my hunch" metering?

Just two days ago I shot all day without metering at all. I just set my desired aperture (for dof) and shutter speed (motion blur) and fired away over 400 shots. The weather changed from rain to sunshine but "my hunch metering" was pretty accurate. None of the shots went to trash bin because of inaccurate metering/exposure (for other reasons though yes).

In the film days using negative film the hunch metering was almost foolproof. With digital the tolerance is lower and errors happen. And I would not have shot slides without metering, definitely not.

But this is a hobby for me not a job, so the enjoyment is in the path, not at the destination. :)
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
pforsell said:
Does anyone use just "my hunch" metering?

Just two days ago I shot all day without metering at all. I just set my desired aperture (for dof) and shutter speed (motion blur) and fired away over 400 shots. The weather changed from rain to sunshine but "my hunch metering" was pretty accurate. None of the shots went to trash bin because of inaccurate metering/exposure (for other reasons though yes).

In the film days using negative film the hunch metering was almost foolproof. With digital the tolerance is lower and errors happen. And I would not have shot slides without metering, definitely not.

But this is a hobby for me not a job, so the enjoyment is in the path, not at the destination. :)
Click to expand...

The more accurate you meter the less post processing you will have to do to get that perfect shot.
 
N

nickt

Senior Member
For anybody interested, I find it very convenient to set my pv button for spot metering and fn button for center weighted. Then its easy to use them when needed with no worry of forgetting to put it back to matrix. I could live without the center weighted set with a button, but I find the spot metering very useful at the push of a button.
 
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