Metering question about the book 'Understanding exposure'

Nicola.P

Nicola.P

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Nicola
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Probably only a question those that have read the book can answer but any input about metering would be helpful to me :)

I have been reading this book and found the metering section quite helpful.
The writer describes matrix metering as very good and advises to use it 100%of the time which I will do for now until I am more confident, he however uses centre weighted as it's what he grew up with.

However there is a section where he is explaining where to meter from in an exposure (brother blue sky, brother dusky sky, Mr green jeans etc)
I can't work out whether that section is just for spot/centre weighted or whether he also uses these 'rules' for matrix metering?

What does everyone think?
 
I would use those for spot (which I use all the time) or partial if thats all your camera has.

You meter from a point of one of these colours that he mentions.. (blue sky etc) and add or subtract a part of an f/stop to get the camera rightly exposed.

Bright white but with some detail is about plus 2. I believe grass is about -2/3 if I remember correctly.

someone will no doubt contradict me but I dont see how you could do this type of metering with matrix as it meters from lots of different shades/brightnesses at once etc.
 
Thanks.

I was just confused as I thought with matrix it measures all the light and works it out from that so I wasn't sure if i should still be aiming at the sky even with matrix?
 
Janice said:
someone will no doubt contradict me but I dont see how you could do this type of metering with matrix as it meters from lots of different shades/brightnesses at once etc.
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I don't think anybody will contradict you. That's spot on.
 
Nicola.P said:
Thanks.

I was just confused as I thought with matrix it measures all the light and works it out from that so I wasn't sure if i should still be aiming at the sky even with matrix?
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I think you probably understand it correctly. Matrix metering typically analyses the whole scene and tries to decide what's important as far as exposure is concerned. As Bryan Peterson says, there days it tends to work pretty well. But if you want to decide yourself how to set the exposure, you probably ought to use spot-metering or partial metering or something like that. (Though having said that, I expect that leaving it set to matrix metering and pointing the camera at the sky will be OK - just so long as there's nothing else in the view which might confuse the camera.)
 
Can I ask a question with regards to metering? If you point it at the sky, how do you then "store" the metered info? You cant half press the shutter, otherwise your focus will trigger....

So how does one:

A: Choose the object which to meter from

B: Lock that meter in place

C: Choose the focus point, and trigger the shot, with the PREVIOUSLY chosen metering?

I use D3 and D200 - instructions for either / both are appreciated! :D

Cheers!

Gary.
 
EdinburghGary said:
Can I ask a question with regards to metering? If you point it at the sky, how do you then "store" the metered info? You cant half press the shutter, otherwise your focus will trigger....

So how does one:

A: Choose the object which to meter from

B: Lock that meter in place

C: Choose the focus point, and trigger the shot, with the PREVIOUSLY chosen metering?

I use D3 and D200 - instructions for either / both are appreciated! :D

Cheers!

Gary.
Click to expand...
Gary, most SLRs have a variety of options here. For example Canons have a button under your right thumb which you can configure using the Custom Functions menu to operate the focus lock and/or the exposure lock separately from the shutter button. I don't know about the D3 and D200, but they're bound to have something similar.

I suspect that it may be time for you to RTFM. (You'll learn more that way than if someone just spoonfeeds you the answer! Teach a man to fish, etc.)
 
Point your camera at what you want to take the meter reading from, set your shutter speed and aperture, then re-compose your shot - the meter will go doo-lally when you re-compose, but just ignore it and take your shot... this is presuming you're using your camera in manual mode. If you're using an auto mode you need to use your exposure lock button before re-composing.

This is my understanding of it.
 
StewartR said:
Gary, most SLRs have a variety of options here. For example Canons have a button under your right thumb which you can configure using the Custom Functions menu to operate the focus lock and/or the exposure lock separately from the shutter button. I don't know about the D3 and D200, but they're bound to have something similar.

I suspect that it may be time for you to RTFM. (You'll learn more that way than if someone just spoonfeeds you the answer! Teach a man to fish, etc.)
Click to expand...


I will have another read :) I have seen the AE button and used it for panoramics and it worked, but I had to keep my finger on it I think, which was a pain in the ass.

Gary.
 
LOL. Yep - RTFM. ;)

You could also switch to manual mode, spot read from your chosen point and balance your exposure display in the viewfinder, then recompose your view. The viewfinder metering display will now probably be wildly unbalanced , but it matters not as you've metered for a particular tone.
 
EdinburghGary said:
I will have another read :) I have seen the AE button and used it for panoramics and it worked, but I had to keep my finger on it I think, which was a pain in the ass.

Gary.
Click to expand...

On my D200 there is a way to set the buttons up so that it's a separate press for on / off, instead of holding it pressed for on / let go for off, IYSWIM. No doubt the even more capable D3 has the same setting somwhere... :thumbs:
 
Yes, you can set AE-Lock with a little padlock, if I recall correctly. Push to set on, push to set off.
Don't forget you also have the AF-ON button, so you can do whatever you want with the shutter without the autofocus kicking in.
 
grim8634 said:
Nicola, do you rate the book?
Click to expand...

Yes I do. It's very good for beginners like me. It has helped me enormously with my understanding of all sorts of subjects like aperture, shutter speeds, metering, light, composure etc. It is a really good book.

I read it once (finished about 3 days ago) read some other sections twice like the metering one and am now starting the book again from the beginning to pick up bits I missed first time round.


So the concensus is that only aim at the sky in spot/centre weighted metering, unless there is a particular reason why I would want to set the exposure based on the sky.
 
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