Beginner metering mode confusion

diviy

diviy

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gerry
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I have a Canon 350d and it has three metering modes
evaluative metering
partial metering
centre-weighted average metering
so can anyone explain in easy terms when to use the different metering mode only getting back into photography and there is so many things to get my head around .

Gerry
 
diviy said:
I have a Canon 350d and it has three metering modes
evaluative metering
partial metering
centre-weighted average metering
so can anyone explain in easy terms when to use the different metering mode only getting back into photography and there is so many things to get my head around .

Gerry
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evaluative metering - takes readings from a number of different areas of the scene and tries to work out what it's looking at, based on a database of known images. This makes it either uncannily good or an awfully unpredictable system depending on your viewpoint.

partial metering - takes a reading from a fat spot which covers about 15% (IIRC) of the centre of the frame, just remember that like all meters it's expecting to be measuring a subject that's mid grey.

centre-weighted average metering - takes a reading from a fat spot which covers about 85% (IIRC) of the frame, just remember that like all meters it's expecting to be measuring a subject that's mid grey.

For all of them the easy option is to meter from a known average area in the light that's important to you.
 
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I always have my camera set on evaluative and that is perfect for most shots.

If I have a very bright or dark area in the scene that I'm worried will be blown out (overexposed) or too dark to record any detail (underexposed) then I'll dial in exposure compensation.

Occasionally - when I have a dark subject with a bright background that might turn into a silhouette then I'll 'spot meter' by pressing the * button on my camera while pointing the middle of the subject.

If I have a landscape with a bright sky and dull foreground and haven't got any graduated filters handy I'll bracket (take a series of 3 or 5 shots at different shutter speeds to under and over expose the scene) and combine them later in HDR software. A tripod is better for this, but sometimes I hand-hold with the camera on continuous shooting in AEB mode.

If flash is the main light then ETTL normally looks after me fine (sometimes with a little flash exposure compensation - for example a portrait with a mix of daylight and a dab of fill-flash I might dial the flash exposure down a bit -1 or -2 stops)

If studio flash is the main light then I put the camera on manual (ignoring its own metering) and instead use a hand-held flash meter.
 
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I use spot metering when i`m taking shots of birds in flight but i`m unsure for most other situations
 
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