Forum - Better Photography ~ View topic

Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 38

Hi,

I have the choice of using metering system on my Canon A570IS in 3 possible modes viz. Evaluative, Center-weighted average and Spot. And I believe that's pretty much the case with most of today's digicams.

After buying my camera, I started shooting in Auto mode without giving a thought to these finer controls. Slowly, I am now moving via Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Program and then Manual mode of shooting. I have tried my hands on all the 3 metering modes. In Evaluative mode (or even Centre-weighted average) pictures with bright and dark portions don't come out very well exposed. So, I tried a bit on Spot mode and now am thinking of going with it almost always.

I would seek your guidance/preference on Which metering mode do you use (always/in specific conditions) and why so?

Regards,
Jiimbaa

Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 8156

mr jimbaa..............there are generally three metering modes:
1. OVERALL(MULTI SEGMENT TYPE)
2. SPOT
3. CENTRE-WEIGHTED.

i generally use the first one when outside or in a room with an even lighting..................the pic comes perfect.
--in second spot metering...........it is like centre-weighted and used in specific conditions............such as u are in a big room and from
there u want to shoot something interesting outside..................in OVERALL MODE, it will catch the dark of inside and outside bright portion................so here i can employ centre/spot mode which directly goes outside on the subject, ignoring the inside area, which may be sharp or slight out depending upon the aperture used.

now u can experiment and what suits u, use it.

Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 3041

Dear Jimba
For day to day exposure situations the evaluative metering in canon is alomst always successful...........wy did i use almost always ?
For scenes with 2 elelemets or more with much differenet exposure setting .....Like shoooting a potrait with a bright background .....the spot metering is a better option as u can simply read the exposure from the face and forget about the b/g . But here also the b/g wil overexpose !!!
Use spot metering in selected cases and NOT always in a nutshell
Hope it helps
Jatin

Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 408

I would say Spot metering is always the best because its most accurate of the other three settings .. as it captures the area where the focus is locked .. but having said that .. its totally depends on person to person ... feel free to experiment with all the modes ..as one can be good for a certain condition while other can excel in a different condition.. good luck Smile

Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 714

Dear Friends,
In my Canon 400D i have three metering options
1. Evaluative/Matrix
2. Partial
3. Average or Centre Weighted

It does not have Spot Metering! Sad

What should I do to get the effective result close to spot metering, need your advice for compensating the camera predictions in the above modes.

Waiting.......

Regards
Rakesh

Joined: 21 Aug 2008 Posts: 183

Dear Rakesh,

Centre Weighted will be the most appropriate for you, specially when using your universal Macro Ring.

Regards

Anuraag Rastogi

Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 9

What is this Metering all about? I was not aware of this. Can anyone tell whether Nikon S200 has this in it?

Joined: 17 Jul 2010 Posts: 18

In photography, the metering mode refers to the way in which a camera determines the exposure.
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