Confused about metering
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No, there isn't a correct answer as it depends on what you're taking a picture of. If you meter for midtones on average you'll probably get more correctly exposed pictures that look right across the whole image than if you do it for highlights - but if you meter for highlights you'll get a lot less over-exposed images and probably PP could brighten up the darker parts.
You have to do it on a case by case basis to get it right every time.
You have to do it on a case by case basis to get it right every time.
All depends what your shooting I guess, if what you are shooting is evenly balanced i.e foreground and sky midtones should be ok, if the sky is alot brighter you may want to use the highlights, but remember that will underexpose the darker areas of the shot. I have been using manual mode more and more lately, your selelcting the exposure that suits your own requirements, takes a while but well worth it.
In my opinion whichever method you use it doesnt matter... just use the tools available at your disposal ie Your LCD screen to see if there are any over exposures indicated by the blinking highlights or check your Histogram to see what the shot is like in terms of tones. If its not to taste just adjust your exposure settings accordingly to shift the tones or to reduce the blinking highlights.
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If you are metering off a small part of the shot (spot metering) then it doesn't matter where you meter at all. The relevant part is what you do with the reading you get.
If you are photographing a zebra and meter off of only the black and use that setting, the black will be grey.
If you meter off the white, the white will be grey.
The important part is knowing this and being able to "read" what your meter tells you.
If you are photographing a zebra and meter off of only the black and use that setting, the black will be grey.
If you meter off the white, the white will be grey.
The important part is knowing this and being able to "read" what your meter tells you.
OP
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Well explained. Thanks.
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bbbbbbbbut it says all that in the DVD 
OP
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and Guy Gowen says meter for the shadows
everyone has their own way. Guy prefers to ensure he has recorded the detail and then use photoshop to bring it back
stew
Chaz Photos
Jack Elam
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I think what he is saying is to meter so you keep the highlight as far to the right as poss, if you meter for mid tones you might not get your highlight as far to the right as possible or even blow them.
So meter and get your highlight right is what I think he is saying.
The saying is shoot to the right, if you keep your histogram as far right as possible you will have less noise as well as getting the max info.
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The 'optimum' exposure depends a lot of things and a most books etc relating to film are way out of date. Digital is very different to film.
With digital, the best exposure depends on whether you're shooting JPEGs or post processing from Raw. In both cases, chimping the LCD and histogram, with blinkies enabled, is far more accurate than any metering method. With Raw, you can push the histogram quite a lot further to the right as Chaz says, but that will usually give you an over exposed JPEG so you need to pull it back down again in post, where you will then see more shadow detail.
Basically what I do is meter using evaluative/matrix which will always get you close even if not perfect. Then chimp and tweak to taste, paying close attention to the flashing blinkies when pushing to the right of the histogram.
With digital, the best exposure depends on whether you're shooting JPEGs or post processing from Raw. In both cases, chimping the LCD and histogram, with blinkies enabled, is far more accurate than any metering method. With Raw, you can push the histogram quite a lot further to the right as Chaz says, but that will usually give you an over exposed JPEG so you need to pull it back down again in post, where you will then see more shadow detail.
Basically what I do is meter using evaluative/matrix which will always get you close even if not perfect. Then chimp and tweak to taste, paying close attention to the flashing blinkies when pushing to the right of the histogram.