fourlocks wrote:
On my Nikon, I routinely adjust aperture, speed and ISO but I have my metering set to Center-weighted, ignoring Matrix and Spot modes. I shoot mostly outdoors often on a single subject so this seems the most appropriate...or is it? Do the metering methods deserve a lot of attention at the "enthusiast" level? How do you Hoggers set up your cameras' metering and why? Yes, I did a search but only found one similar post relating to Canon, which seems to have different names and four meter modes so it didn't help me.
On my Nikon, I routinely adjust aperture, speed an... (
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I shoot Canon gear and use all the metering patterns at times, but mostly use Evaluative.... which is essentially the same as Nikon's Matrix metering. With this pattern or method, the entire image area is measured, but there is extra emphasis placed on the area right around active AF point(s), which sort of assumes those AF point(s) are on the primary subject. Works well in most situations.
Canon also has Center Weighted (same as Nikon's by the same name, AFAIK). This is a simpler, "old school" metering pattern that measures the entire image area, but concentrates some extra emphasis on the center of the image. The exact shape and size of that varies brand to brand, model to model and to some extent depends upon what lens is being used on the camera... I recall Konica cameras that used a "center weighted" area that was shaped sort of like a "dog bone" and occupied between 1/4 and 2/3 the image area, depending upon lens focal length. Similar to but simpler than Evaluative/Matrix, this pattern assumes that the primary subject is in the middle of the image area. I don't often use C.W. because in my opinion Evaluative/Matrix does a better job, especially when the subject is off-center.
I also sometimes use my cameras' Spot Metering (same as Nikon's by the same name)... This measures only a tiny portion of the image area. How much varies model to model, so you should look it up for your camera. It usually seems to range from about 1.5% to around 5% of the image area. Some cameras have a circle in the center of the viewing screen that indicates the Spot metered area. Not something I'd use all the time, but Spot Metering is handy for situations with strong back lighting. Because Spot Metering only measures a small part of the scene, it's typically more critical to accurately use Exposure Compensation or tweak manual exposures with it. With the larger patterns of measurement, in most scenes there's more averaging of tonalities going on. With Spot Metering, you eliminate a lot of the tonal averaging, so have to take responsibility to adjust it yourself.
Some of the most advanced Canon have Active AF Point Linked Spot Metering. (I don't know if any Nikon do.) It's sort of like Evaluative on steroids. It's Spot Metering that's NOT locked down in the center of the image area, the way it is with most cameras. Instead, the Spot that's being metered will change and is tied to AF point(s) in use. I used this at times on my EOS-3 film cameras (even tho it reduced the camera to something like 11 AF points, instead of using all 45 points it has). But none of my Canon DSLRs have had the feature (Evaluative works similarly enough that I use it instead).
Many Canon also have Partial Metering (which I don't think Nikon do). This is really just a larger form of spot. The portion of the image being measured is more like 15% in most cameras that have it. Like Spot, it's anchored at the center of the image area (I think on all Canon... not AF Point Linked the way Spot is on a few models). I'll use this at times too, such as when working in closer to a strongly back lit subject, where they occupy much more of the image area.
So basically the only metering pattern I don't use very much with my modern DSLRs is the one you're using... Center Weighted.
I use Evaluative (i.e. Matrix) the majority of the time... and Spot or Partial for some more specialized purposes.
But, as someone else mentioned, I also carry a handheld incident/flash meter (currently a Sekonic L358). I often use this instead of the camera's meter, to set up shooting in Manual exposure mode or to confirm what I'm getting when using any of the camera's Auto Exposure modes. An incident meter measures the light falling onto a subject, rather than what's being reflected off of it (i.e., reflective metering, which is what all through-the-lens camera meter systems must do). When done correctly, incident metering can be considerably more accurate. It's not "fooled" by variations in subject/scene tonalities, the way reflective metering is. Basically, using incident metering there's no need for user intervention with Exposure Compensation to "correct for errors" that are inherent to and unavoidable with reflective metering.
Hand held metering is slower, though. So it's not always practical or possible to use it.