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using spot meter on digital camera
I would like some advice on how to use the spot meter on my Nikon D200, which is my first DSLR. This camera has a histogram that tell me when the highlights are burned out, but I would like to know how to use the spot meter so as to avoid this problem, as much as possible.
When I shoot with film, I use a spot meter to measure the shadows that I want to have detail. And since all light meters are gray meters, I know that the exposure the meter reports will make those shadows middle gray (called Zone V by Ansel Adams), and so to put the shadows down into Zone 3, I need to reduce the exposure by about 2 stops.
I have read that shooting with a digital camera is like shooting slides, from which I deduce that one should expose for the highlights and then increase the exposure by two stops. Does anyone have experience in doing this? Are there any tips and pointers?
Some have told me not worry: (1) shoot in RAW and then adjust; (2) bracket and then combine. But this will not work for a large number of my photos.
(1) Unless I am missing something big, one cannot solve this type of problem by shooting in RAW, even though that strategy does help one cover up some sins. Once a file is blown out, there is nothing to recover in the blow out portions of the file. Am I right about this?
(2) There are photos for which this will work, but not all. My grandchildren move quickly, and even when they are still, their expressions change like lightening. Bracketing is out of the question.
And the light in landscapes also changes much more rapidly than one would think, especially toward the end of the day. I could use the automatic bracketing that is built into the camera, which would solve most of the problem of change in light, but I have been told that one runs the risk of having the aperture or focus change, and that this creates technical problems. Does anyone have advice about this?
Any advice will be gladly received.
When I shoot with film, I use a spot meter to measure the shadows that I want to have detail. And since all light meters are gray meters, I know that the exposure the meter reports will make those shadows middle gray (called Zone V by Ansel Adams), and so to put the shadows down into Zone 3, I need to reduce the exposure by about 2 stops.
I have read that shooting with a digital camera is like shooting slides, from which I deduce that one should expose for the highlights and then increase the exposure by two stops. Does anyone have experience in doing this? Are there any tips and pointers?
Some have told me not worry: (1) shoot in RAW and then adjust; (2) bracket and then combine. But this will not work for a large number of my photos.
(1) Unless I am missing something big, one cannot solve this type of problem by shooting in RAW, even though that strategy does help one cover up some sins. Once a file is blown out, there is nothing to recover in the blow out portions of the file. Am I right about this?
(2) There are photos for which this will work, but not all. My grandchildren move quickly, and even when they are still, their expressions change like lightening. Bracketing is out of the question.
And the light in landscapes also changes much more rapidly than one would think, especially toward the end of the day. I could use the automatic bracketing that is built into the camera, which would solve most of the problem of change in light, but I have been told that one runs the risk of having the aperture or focus change, and that this creates technical problems. Does anyone have advice about this?
Any advice will be gladly received.
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Comments
Shooting in RAW will give you a couple of stops of exposure latititude, but as you say, best not to blow the highlights in the first place.
I don't know why your camera would change focus while auto bracketing. To avoid aperture changes, shoot either in aperture priority or in manual.
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