For those of you familiar with metering and focusing...

ccpickre

Can anyone explain what the difference would be between all the metering settings and focusing settings? I've been wanting to branch out from the middle focal point method, and would rather know about them before I start shooting with them. You know what they, a little knowledge can get you into a lot of trouble (ok so I made that one up cause I can't remember the actual quote, but you get the idea )

OK, so my camera has these settings...

Evaluative
Partial
Spot
Center-weighted

And also, if I start using those other modes (right now I guess I've been using evaluative a lot) and start using all focal points, or the setting where non are selected, how will they react differently?

Sorry for the complex question.

LiquidAir

Evaluative is the "smart" metering mode. It is the mode where the camera tries to figure it all out for you.

Spot takes the center 2.5% (?) of the frame and meters it to middle grey.

Partial takes the center 13% (?) of the frame and meteres it to middle grey.

CWA takes the entire frame and meters is to middle grey with the center taking precedence over the edges.

If you don't want to think about metering, Evaluative is the way to go. Here is how I use the others:

Spot: spot is what I use with a white or grey card. If the card is white, I'll push the exposure about 2 stops. I also use spot where there is a detail in my scene that I want to be white.

Partial: The best use I have found for partial is faces. For your typical caucasian face, partial meter on the face and push the exposure around 1/2-1 stop.

CWA: This is the mode I use when bracketing so I get one exposure for the scene average, one for the shadows, and one for the highlights. I particularly find it useful for landscape photography where I plan to blend exposures.

pathfinder

Chris, I know you shoot inn Manual most of the time, so you can easily see the result of metering with the match needle meter in your viewfinder.

I suggest using Evaluative routinely, unless you know precisely why you are going to use something else.

Spot metering can be very useful as LiquidAir said, but one must understand that a reflected spot meter is looking for an 18% gray target, and one will have to compensate up or down on exposure depending on the reflectance of the surface being metered in spot mode.

Grass, and blue sky 90 degrees from the sun, usually read as a neutral gray target with center weighted or Evalautive. I would not use Spot metering on these targets. Sidewalks are close to a neutral gray target also.

Some folks meter off the back of their hands and add about + 2/3 to 1 stop or so.

When the weather warms up, lets spend an afternoon comparing the various metering modes with an Incident Light meter like my Sekonic 358.

ccpickre

Ok. Sounds good. I used Spot metering at a concert I did recently. I figure with a smaller metering area, and small points of light, the smaller metered area would be better, than evaluative trying to bump up the areas of black. But who knows.

pathfinder

Spot metering may work better in that arena of course, IF you can properly meter off some ones face for example.

You may have to add or subtract a little exposure compensation for that reading to capture good skin tones, but I would then set those exposure settings - aperture and shutter speed - and shoot in manual mode. It will be very difficult to use the spotmeter reading while actively shooting in Av mode in a concert I would bet.

ccpickre

pathfinder wrote:

Spot metering may work better in that arena of course, IF you can properly meter off some ones face for example.

You may have to add or subtract a little exposure compensation for that reading to capture good skin tones, but I would then set those exposure settings - aperture and shutter speed - and shoot in manual mode. It will be very difficult to use the spotmeter reading while actively shooting in Av mode in a concert I would bet.

But I told you, I ONLY shoot manual