Metering modes in conjunction with focus points

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KernowChris

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First question for the board...

On my Nikon D3300, if I select a metering mode like 'centre-weighted' or 'spot' but also change the focus point to, say, one on the extreme side, does the metering follow the focal point?

If its a daft question, apologies but I'm very new.

Thanks

Chris
 
Centre weighted will take a reading from a percentage zone around the centre focus point.

Spot metering is what you want to use, if you want maximum control of where you take the reading from.

Matrix will evaluate the scene against its only reference points and try to give you a balanced exposure - not normally suited when you've got strong contrasts of light / colour.
 
KernowChris said:
First question for the board...

On my Nikon D3300, if I select a metering mode like 'centre-weighted' or 'spot' but also change the focus point to, say, one on the extreme side, does the metering follow the focal point?

If its a daft question, apologies but I'm very new.

Thanks

Chris
Click to expand...

I don't know how your camera works, does the manual cover this? Anyway, it should be easy enough to test if the metering is tied to the focus point by pointing your camera at a bright light, noting the settings and then moving the focus point and seeing if the settings change, particularly in spot metering mode.
 
Not sure about Nikon but only a few pro Canon bodies link the metering to the focus point in spot mode.

However, in evaluative mode, what lies behind the focus point does alter the metering, but there's lots of complex computing goes into that analysis and I'm not sure I'd trust it for this simple deduction.

In short, like lots of newbie questions the true answer could get hideously complex.
 
My Panny cameras shift the metering with the focus point, I'm not sure if you can disable this or not in the menu.

I think it's a useful feature, all cameras should allow it :D
 
On my old D70, spot metering is centred on the selected focussing point, centre weighted is centred on the centre of the frame and matrix is from the whole scene. At least, that's what the manual tells me. ;)
 
Not a daft question, but it's answered on page 114 of your camera's reference manual.
 
Why not a simple test for yourself. From inside your house point the camera at a section of a room. That has a well lit window and a shady wall in the frame. About half and half of the frame. Place the focus point on the window take a shot. Then place it on the shady wall take a shot. do this for all your metering modes. You should then be able to understand what the camera dose.
 
I think in the canon world you have to go all the way up to the 1d line to get spot metering linked to AF point.

Pretty much sure it's not an option on my 5d4
 
TheDrift- said:
I think in the canon world you have to go all the way up to the 1d line to get spot metering linked to AF point.

Pretty much sure it's not an option on my 5d4
Click to expand...
I think you're right.

Makes me wonder what Nikon think they know that Canon don't, and vice versa. Linking the spot metering to the AF point must be pretty straightforward these days from a technical point of view, so presumably there must be a reason why Canon don't offer it as an option except on the 1D series.... It can't be to encourage users to trade up to the 1D series, that would make no sense.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I did kind of 'try it' on some photos when I was out at Wheal Coates which prompted this thread. The photos didn't come out as I was expecting so I wasn't sure whether I was misunderstanding how it is supposed to work or just plain doing it wrong. Now I know how it's 'supposed' to work, we can put my results down to user-error, so no surprise there!

So here is one of the photos that has turned out under-exposed followed by a PP version. What should I have done to have gotten a better exposure? Increased the EV but would that not cause the sky to be blown out? Higher ISO ?

NIkon D3300, 18/55mm kit lens at 55mm f/8, 1/1600s, AP, 0EV, Center-Weighted, ISO 200 (not auto)

DSC_0180 by Chris Stephens, on Flickr

Chris.


DSC_0180_PP by Chris Stephens, on Flickr
 
KernowChris said:
So here is one of the photos that has turned out under-exposed followed by a PP version. What should I have done to have gotten a better exposure?
Click to expand...
What did you do in PP?
That's what you should have done in camera.
 
In PP, I increased the overall exposure +1.25 and then pulled out the shadows which still left the building 'too dark'. But even this small adjustment resulted in a sky that was too exposed in my view and needed a graduated filter to pull it back down. I also used a brush to make local changes to the mine building plus a few other minor tweaks.

It seemed that purely increasing the overall exposure in PP just blows out the sky and so I assume this would be the same if I had increased my EV at the time.

I'm not experienced at any of this and am very much trying to learn by my mistakes!
 
Curious why you used centre weighted metering on that scene?

You would have been better using matrix or spot metering, and taking a reading from the stone structure, if that's what you were interested in...

Matrix probably would have given a balanced exposure though.
 
Turbo-G said:
Curious why you used centre weighted metering on that scene?

You would have been better using matrix or spot metering, and taking a reading from the stone structure, if that's what you were interested in...

Matrix probably would have given a balanced exposure though.
Click to expand...

Because I didn't know better, hence the purpose of this thread.

I spot-focused on the building using the rightmost focal point and ignorantly thought that 'centre weighted metering' was centered around your chosen focal point. I now know better thanks to the other replies.

I had intended to re-visit the site today to try again in the same lighting conditions to see if I could do a better job, but by lunchtime it had become dull and overcast so it wouldn't have been the same. It's all a learning experience and tomorrow looks bright and sunny so I will try again.

Chris
 
I would try a bit earlier in the day - that looks like it was about midday or early afternoon. The sun is more on the inland side of the engine house in the morning (and the side of the chimney nearest the shooting position.) I know that would lose a bit of the contrasting lighting but it'll make the scene much more evenly lit.
 
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