{"id":79,"date":"2007-09-13T08:54:34","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T08:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetneil.com\/tangents\/exposure-metering\/metering-modes\/"},"modified":"2024-09-01T00:18:47","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T04:18:47","slug":"metering-modes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/exposure-metering\/metering-modes\/","title":{"rendered":"Exposure metering modes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exposure Metering Technique<\/a><\/strong>
\nCamera metering modes<\/span>\u00a0 | \u00a0Exposure compensation<\/a>
\nmore articles on exposure metering<\/a>
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Camera exposure metering modes<\/h1>\n

The three metering modes offered on modern cameras are,
\n– center-weighted,
\n– evaluative \/ matrix metering,
\n– spot-metering.<\/p>\n

In a broad sense, the choice of metering mode<\/strong> is often linked to which exposure mode<\/strong> you’re using. Essentially, the sophistication of matrix metering is ideal for when you’re relying on an automatic metering mode, whereas spot-metering is a metering mode which is used with more thought and specific intent – which most often implies manual exposure metering. (That said, I use manual metering mode nearly exclusively, and switch between any of the three metering choices dependent on the situation.)<\/p>\n

With matrix metering, the picture area is divided into different sections, which are then metered with individual cells, and the exposure values evaluated and averaged out according to algorithms which are based on information gleaned from thousands of typical photo scenarios.<\/p>\n

A simplistic example: if the top sections of the picture area (when viewed horizontally) are all much lighter than the bottom sections, then the matrix algorithm will ‘assume’ that the scene being photographed might be a landscape with lots of over-bright sky – and then would reduce the importance of the over-bright areas in the final exposure calculated. In other words, the matrix metering algorithm would then bias the exposure toward the bottom sections.<\/p>\n

Yet, as sophisticated as matrix metering may be, it is still only a ‘guess’, and there are certain situations where the photographer will be able to make a better exposure than the camera’s automatic metering would.<\/p>\n

As an example, let’s look at the photograph of the two men standing in the strip of sunlight again. With matrix metering, even though various sections of the scene would have been evaluated, the entire scene would have been taken into account in assessing the exposure – and the dark areas would still have affected the eventual exposure, and hence thrown the exposure settings off from what would have been ideal. A much more specific and consistent way to measure for a scene like that, would’ve been to take a selective meter reading – either with spot-metering off an appropriate area – or as was the case here, metering off another area which was similarly lit as the section I wanted to meter for.<\/p>\n

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