Matrix Metering underexposing - sometimes?

I held back posting for a while to get some shooting under my belt before making any comments.

And I will say that in a "lot" of cases the meter is getting it correct - but in strange cases it is not.

Here are some examples - I shot some real estate photos, outdoors in bright sunlight with both my D700 and the D810 and the D700 nailed it every time - the D810 - not so much.

It seems that the D810 is 2/3 stop underexposed most every time with these kinds of photos? And this is evident because the following day I had to finish the shoot, and so that I was not wasting me time - I bracked with 5 shots at 1/3 stop ea and consistently - anything with sky and ground under exposed

If I shot the trees in the forest - it did fine.
I shot some auto races on the infield of a NASCAR track - and it did fine.


I'm totally confused as to whats going on and why it's acting the way it is? I'm sure it's something I am doing - I just can't figure it out?

In matrix metering it is seeing the sky and compensating by cutting the exposure to compensate for the brighter sky. In your house photos the sky looks great. You can change to center average and it will shoot more fore the houses or you can use the exposure compensation to bump it up. What I would do in these shots is just bring up the shadows in post by 2/3 stop and get the sky and house just where I wanted it.

csgaraglino said:

I held back posting for a while to get some shooting under my belt before making any comments.

And I will say that in a "lot" of cases the meter is getting it correct - but in strange cases it is not.

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Matrix metering does a good job most of the time but, as you're finding out, it's easily fooled. This is why it's a good idea to learn to read and interpret Histograms on your camera. I'm a big believer in what's known as ETTR, or "Expose to the Right" but to understand that you need to understand histograms. Once you do, exposure issues will be a thing of the past.

Understanding Histograms in Photography

Exposing to the Right Explained

Maybe, maybe the 810 has the same highlight protection feature like the D750? Isn't there an option to prevent having the highlights to be blown out. Just check in the menu to see if this feature could be activated as it would produce the result you are complaining about.

Marcel said:

Maybe, maybe the 810 has the same highlight protection feature like the D750?

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If the D810 has Highlight Protected metering, and it should, it's a wonderful, wonderful thing.

I don't have a D750to compare this to, but from the the D810 manual metering section this is the description of the highlight-weighted metering setting:
Highlight-weighted: Camera assigns greatest weight to highlights. Use to reduce loss of detail in highlights, for example when photographing spotlit performers on a stage.

cbg said:

I don't have a D750to compare this to, but from the the D810 manual metering section this is the description of the highlight-weighted metering setting:
Highlight-weighted: Camera assigns greatest weight to highlights. Use to reduce loss of detail in highlights, for example when photographing spotlit performers on a stage.

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That's the one.

second this - learn your histogram and expose to the right using manual

Apart from highlight protection the D810 has a much wider DR compared to D700. I have experienced the same phenomenon with my D3300. The metering takes into account the bright portions of the scenes so that highlights are rarely blown. The work around is to shoot RAW and then boost the shadows. That will brighten up the scene.

If you do not mind the highlights blowing, then use spot metering to get the relevant portion metered.

aroy said:

Apart from highlight protection the D810 has a much wider DR compared to D700. I have experienced the same phenomenon with my D3300. The metering takes into account the bright portions of the scenes so that highlights are rarely blown. The work around is to shoot RAW and then boost the shadows. That will brighten up the scene.

If you do not mind the highlights blowing, then use spot metering to get the relevant portion metered.

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Thanks, I'd much rather have the HL blown as there is exponentionally more formation to recover than what's available in the blacks!

egosbar said:

second this - learn your histogram and expose to the right using manual

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I have been shooting for 17 years, I know my HG well - I stopped chimping the first year I started shooting - there are times, especially when shooting sports or journalism that I have to know what my camera is doing and I need to be able to trust the shot - right now I don't!

If Ilearn that it's not me causing this, and when it gets it right and when it doesn't - I can adjust exposure on the fly and know I got the shot!

Hey guys, just to close this out.
I did some homework and found out how to test and calibrate the different metering modes and while Spot and Center Weighted were spot on, Matrix was underexposing by 1/3 of a stop. So using Metering Fine Tuning I have adjusted Matrix and I am now getting exposures that I expect.

csgaraglino said:

Hey guys, just to close this out.
I did some homework and found out how to test and calibrate the different metering modes and while Spot and Center Weighted were spot on, Matrix was underexposing by 1/3 of a stop. So using Metering Fine Tuning I have adjusted Matrix and I am now getting exposures that I expect.

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The problem with Matrix metering is that the metering depends on the over all scene brightness. As you have found in your kind of shots it is under exposing 1/3 stop. In other scenarios it may be over exposing 1/3 stop. As long as you are aware what over exposes and what under exposes it is easy to compensate for.

In my case I have stopped worrying and shoot RAW. There is enough lee way (DR of the sensor) in post to correct +-1 stop metering error to be bothered about much.

aroy said:

The problem with Matrix metering is that the metering depends on the over all scene brightness. As you have found in your kind of shots it is under exposing 1/3 stop. In other scenarios it may be over exposing 1/3 stop. As long as you are aware what over exposes and what under exposes it is easy to compensate for.

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Yeah, I have been shooting with Nikon's Matrix since 2000 when it came out on the N80 (film for those who don't know) and have only experienced that in more extreme scenarios - but as a rule it been fairly accurate over the years and across 1/2 a dozen digital bodies.

aroy said:

In my case I have stopped worrying and shoot RAW. There is enough lee way (DR of the sensor) in post to correct +-1 stop metering error to be bothered about much.

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As an event shooter and street journalist, it's important that my images are as close as possibly when shot. Touching every image is just a waste of time!

Just as most lenses need fine tuning, it just makes good sense to check/tune the WB and all Metering modes.

As mentioned - once adjusted, I am now getting the expected results even in High Dynamic Range scenarios.

I put on Lens Tuning workshops, and now I am adding WB and Meteing to my criculium! It's just too easy to test, not to.