Pop Quiz!

[AdrenoJunkie]

Ok class, this quiz is on metering. It is not timed so consider your answers carefully. Please fill in the blanks as completely as possible. Partial credit will be given for incomplete answers.

1. I use evaluative metering for______ because_____.

2. I use partial metering for_____ because_____.

3. I use center-weighted average for_____ because_____.

4. I use spot metering for_____ because_____.

[i speak in math]

I'm not sure what the relevance of this thread is to lighting. Perhaps the general chit chat area is more suitable.

[AdrenoJunkie]

If it needs to be moved by all means someone feel free to do so, I have no idea how to. But I put it here because metering is about measuring light, My questions aren't on how to use light but on how everyone prefers to measure the light that they are using. I understand what the different metering modes do, I just don't know what situation or lighting conditions each mode is best suited to. But IMO it's still all about light. I put it in quiz format because this is Digital Photography SCHOOL after all.

[Mr Guy]

In general, I shoot with manual exposure settings.

I use the Pentax green button to use matrix/evaluative metering to get a general feel for the exposure in a scene, and adjust from there.

I use spot metering for a highlight or shadow that I'm trying to capture, in order to measure that portion quickly and adjust my settings to either blow or save that highlight.

[zona5101]

No matter what metering mode you select you have to be smarter than your meter
And I am sure that sounds smart-alec, but I'm serious...for example when deciding to switch from Evaluative or center weighted to spot, you would have made the decision that the former modes wouldn't do the best job at capturing the exposure correctly. So you could have stuck with a center weighted metering and used you noggin to add or subtract exposure...or used spot metering and arrived at the same spot. Further, simply selecting spot metering isn't going to be a cure all, you still have to decide if the value you spot metered should be at adjusted.

[AdrenoJunkie]

Originally Posted by zona5101

No matter what metering mode you select you have to be smarter than your meter
And I am sure that sounds smart-alec, but I'm serious...for example when deciding to switch from Evaluative or center weighted to spot, you would have made the decision that the former modes wouldn't do the best job at capturing the exposure correctly. So you could have stuck with a center weighted metering and used you noggin to add or subtract exposure...or used spot metering and arrived at the same spot. Further, simply selecting spot metering isn't going to be a cure all, you still have to decide if the value you spot metered should be at adjusted.

This is the reason I asked the question/s in such a straightforward dumbed-down way. What you said wasn't smart-alec, it was confusing. I'm still a baby in photography and my noggin has a hard time wrapping around metering and how the different modes affect exposure. I know what they mean, and what criteria they use. I don't know which mode would do the best job capturing correct exposure. I figured/hoped there were some basic situations that certain modes did a better job at than others, i.e. spot-portrait/backlit, evaluative-indoor...etc. I know none of them are cure alls. Basically I wanna know what mode you prefer, for what situation, for what reason. So I can use that info as a starting point and figure out from there what works the best for me.

[zona5101]

first off i'd say don't make it more complicated than it needs to be. With the level of sophistication in today's cameras the multi sensor, matrix-type metering is going to do a fine job the majority of the time. No matter the mode, the meter thinks the world is 18% gray reflective - of course it isn't. There are two elements that are influencing the meter that you need to account for. First is your subject maybe more or less reflective than 18% gray or another way to put it, black is 0% reflective and white is 100% reflective. Not quite exactly but it helps to understand the idea that to render a dark shadowy area the same in the image, you can't just meter it or it will come out gray...you would have to underexpose it. The second element that influences your metering is the varying brightness within the overall scene. (Typically this is when you might choose spot metering so the following doesn't really apply to that mode) The camera, as smart as it is, doesn't know what your subject is and meters the entire scene using it's evaluative or center-weighted or matrix or whatever proprietary name given. It sees all the light coming in and makes a determination as to the one single value that will make that scene...18% gray. A center weighted meter does no more than that but some of the more sophisticated metering systems try and place 18% gray within the scene where it thinks it belongs in order to best capture the most range in brightness. An example: a person is standing in the center of the frame with a snow scene behind them (backlight). The person doesn't fill the frame so the center weight meter will underexpose the person because it sees all the brightness from the snow and wants to make it gray. An evaluative/matrix type meter may figure the subject is in the middle and add additional exposure because it "thinks" the subject is backlit. It may do a fine job at getting it right...it may not. That is why many people will switch to manual mode because they want to override what the meter is telling the camera to do. How much override? Every scene is different...and more influential, every photographers eye of how they want to record the scene is different.

[sk66]

1. I use evaluative metering for most situations because it works.
2. I use partial metering: never
3. I use center weighted metering: never
4. I use spot metering for those situations where I know the camera will be way off because it's quicker/easier to use than exposure compensation is.