Matrix metering issue

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Expertneo

New member
Dear All,

I did not find such a thread, thus I opened it. I revealed a problem with my Nikon D610. One I was shooting in low light I noticed that using matrix metering gives inconsistent result. I observed that even if the metering is set to matrix, the middle of the frame play weighted role in the metering. I shoot with one center focus point and once the focus point was moved, the exposure changed while the frame was consistent.

I made a test at home. I put the camera on a tripod. I was in aperture priority mode with manual ISO. I used AF-c with single focus point. I set the camera to matrix metering and I moved the focus point around the frame. The exposure changed quite a lot. Moving the af point to a dark are the shutter speed jumped from 1/160 to 1/60. The frame became overexposed just because I moved the af point.

It seems the matrix metering is not really consistent and moving the AF point changes the exposure. Could you advice something to solve this problem? It is a pain in my "back" since I like night photography where the contrast is big ===> the matrix metering is not reliable in many cases

Thank you!

Bence
 
F

FastGlass

Senior Member
It makes sense to me as to why the exposure would change. Moving the focus point around also moves the matrix area around. So I guess why wouldn't you're exposure change.
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Here's a great article on metering modes. Most relevant quote, "One of the key factors (in addition to color, distance, subjects, highlights, etc) that affects matrix metering, is where the camera focus point is set to. After reading information from all individual zones, the metering system looks at where you focused within the frame and marks it more important than all other zones."

Understanding Metering and Metering Modes
 
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Expertneo

New member
BackdoorHippie said:
Here's a great article on metering modes. Most relevant quote, "One of the key factors (in addition to color, distance, subjects, highlights, etc) that affects matrix metering, is where the camera focus point is set to. After reading information from all individual zones, the metering system looks at where you focused within the frame and marks it more important than all other zones."

Understanding Metering and Metering Modes
Click to expand...

So matrix metering is not a real matrix metering... It is really odd, since the reason for using matrix is to decouple the exposure metering from AF the point... For giving weight to AF point you have plenty of options, but no option of complete matrix metering which is not focus point dependent... :/
 
BackdoorArts

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Expertneo said:
So matrix metering is not a real matrix metering... It is really odd, since the reason for using matrix is to decouple the exposure metering from AF the point... For giving weight to AF point you have plenty of options, but no option of complete matrix metering which is not focus point dependent... :/
Click to expand...

What I know is what I've read, and experience seems to back this up. It makes sense that in certain situations where lighting is not at all uniform that matrix metering might defer to the subject to make decisions on which direction to err since it's impossible to meter for the entire frame. I suspect that on a hazy day outside with fairly uniform light you'd see much less variance as you move the focus point than on a bright, sunny day with areas of deep shadow. Put it this way, if you're shooting someone in a house and they have their back to an open window, would you rather have the window overexposed or the person underexposed if you only had one shot? Sometimes the average leaves you no good compromise, so in those cases I can see why it will lean toward a focal point to assure that at least this part of the shot is metered reasonably.
 
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