Metering with 20D?

KevinKal

For those who have experience with the 20D, could you please educate me about the different metering modes? I've searched various forums and am still rather puzzled as to which setting is the closest to "spot-metering" as was available on the Sony 717.

*EDIT*
I found these threads here on Dgrin, but I'm still as lost as ever...
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=17476&highlight=metering

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=15098&highlight=metering

Thanks for your help,
Kevin K.

Shay Stephens

The 20D has no spot meter, the closest thing it has is the partial meter which I believe is around 9% of the frame.

mercphoto

Shay Stephens wrote:

The 20D has no spot meter, the closest thing it has is the partial meter which I believe is around 9% of the frame.

Correct. But what I've found most odd is that if I use the various metering modes on the same subject I seldom get a different choice of shutter speed and aperture. Is the difference in metering mode as subtle as my limited experience shows?

Shay Stephens

For what it is worth, I never take the metering off of evaluative with the 20D. I mainly use a light meter and the histogram to determine settings with the 20D.

mercphoto wrote:

Correct. But what I've found most odd is that if I use the various metering modes on the same subject I seldom get a different choice of shutter speed and aperture. Is the difference in metering mode as subtle as my limited experience shows?

gtc

ye olde worlde spotte meteringues
As an ex- Sony shooter who was used to being able to spot meter I am with you on this-its the one feature that could have been incorporated.I have stuffed up a few shots due to inability to spot meter and not having an alternative technique.

I have since,as Shay suggests,used the partial metering and if it is a static subject I walk up to the subject and meter and then walk back and recompose.This is as good as spot metering but a little awkward.

This is a technique I picked up from using my Pentax Spotmatic which has a very primitive meter which meters the whole frame,it also requires you to stop down to meter.Useful skills however ,for I now use manual focus lenses on my 20d.

I am now looking for an old Pentax spot meter (the one they invented for the Spotmatic but never incorporated due to cost reasons,but why change such a good name)

Either that, or once finances permit, a Gossen DigiSix,which is small enough to mount on the hotshoe.

Greg

KevinKal wrote:

For those who have experience with the 20D, could you please educate me about the different metering modes? I've searched various forums and am still rather puzzled as to which setting is the closest to "spot-metering" as was available on the Sony 717.

*EDIT*
I found these threads here on Dgrin, but I'm still as lost as ever...
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=17476&highlight=metering

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=15098&highlight=metering

Thanks for your help,
Kevin K.

Mike Lane

I'm mainly a partial metering kind of guy. I find it useful to find something that I know should meter a certian way and set my exposure for that by filling my metering circle with it. The sky works really well. It doesn't matter what time of day it is (as long as there is at least a wee smidge of light in the sky) if you meter the sky an get it to 0 EV you are set. If you meter green vegetation (grass or trees or something) at -2/3rds of a stop you'll be good to go. There are caveats to these in certain situations of course, but mostly they work out really well.

KevinKal

Excellent info...
Thanks everyone for the input...I will try some of the techniques listed in this thread as I learn the new camera. For now I think I'll keep it on the partial meter and see what the results are in different real-world shooting conditions.

Cheers,
Kevin K.