Metering advice

garethf

garethf

Suspended / Banned
Messages
109
Name
gareth fox
Edit My Images
No
Hi all,
Just woundering if anyone could give me some help,
Could someone help me with the metering on my nikon D3000 the three different modes are spot,matrix and centered.
I have a genreal idea to what the differences are but im unsure on what would be the ideal situations to use each one


Thanks for the advice
Gareth
 
If you are just starting out then matrix will cover probably 95% of your needs.
Just look at your image or histogram and +/- exposure compensation as you wish.

Easy Peasy

With spot metering you really need to understand where the tonal range lies ie snow you set at +2 EV, alternatively meter off something that is mid tone grey and set at 0EV. However, slight changes in tone can have a dramatic effect on your image.

Hope this helps,

Keep it simple.
 
As Alan has said if you're fairly new to photography then Matrix will look after you very well indeed. It also depends on the "shooting mode" you've got selected too.

In Aperture priority (A), and Shutter priority (S) mode then the meter alone predicts and governs how the exposure should balance out.

If you shoot in Auto or Program (P) mode then as well as the metering system the camera will reference the image in your viewfinder with a "library" of images in it's own memory. It gets the closest match it can find and looks that the settings taken for the library image. Your camera will make a "metering" decision based on those two different systems.

As a rule, metering is based up the average amount of light in the metered "area" of the viewfinder balancing out at 18% grey.

Matrix metering uses samples from he whole viewfinder area, centre weighted looks within the centre 1/3rd of the viewfinder usually displayed as a circle on Nikon gear (although you can sometimes adjust this area size in your menu) but cant say for Canon gear or others. Spot metering uses just a tiny area usually the size of a focus point.

If the metered area contains mainly white or very bright data then the camera will darken the image (lower the exposure) until an average of 18% grey is achieved in the metered area. If the area contains lots of dark tones then the camera will brighten the image (lift the exposure) until the same 18% grey is achieved.

Usually the camera is pretty good at this but sometimes it does need your help. For example snowy landscapes contain lots of white. the camera will try to achieve a balance of 18% grey so will darken the image leaving you with grey snow. You can compensate for this by dialing in exposure compensation to lift the image again.

Hope that helps!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top