which metering mode do you use?

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scaryrob

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Name
Robert
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Hi all
Just wondered which metering you use most?
I'm torn between spot and evaluative.
Thanks
 
Mostly spot, occasionally CW or matrix (but matrix metering on the D80 has "issues").
 
Mostly evaluative, take a general reading of the scene and adjust as required. Cameras can get exposure wrong, you still need to use your brain when shooting.
 
evaluative virtually 100% of the time, but with exposure compensation used in certain situations such as a birds in flight
 
Depends on the camera that I'm using, for my Pentax Spotmatic F and Pentax Auto 110 its centre weighted (then again theres not choice about it!), with my Minolta SR-T 303 its Contrast Light Compensation metering (predecessor to modern matrix/evaluative metering by having two light meter cells, one top and one bottom and adjusting the reading automatically depending on how much light either of the two are receiving, unfortunately it does mean it can be confused by shooting vertically)

Finally for my Minolta Dynax 505si Super and Dynax 5 its multi metering (sometimes with exposure compensation) usually or spot (with exposure compensation) if its in a situation where I know it will be confused or theres a particular part of the image that I want to retain detail in.

No matter what the camera, it does also depend on if I'm shooting transparency or negative film as negative film works better with over exposure rather than underexposure as it has a very wide latitude and transparency is similar to digital in that it works badly with overexposure due to the limited latitude.
 
Mainly evaluative, with compensation if necessary, but I do use spot too. My film cameras both use centre weighted metering, and I've played with this on my 30D, but I'm not finding any real advantage to it.
 
i always used to use matrix and aperture priority but in the last few months i've started just using spot and manual. I think once you can the hang of it it's actually easier.
 
Whichever mode one uses, you need to understand just how that mode works. That allows you to recognise the situations where your chosen mode isn't going to work. Then you'll know in advance when you're likely to need to use exposure compensation and/or switch to another mode.

The evaluative mode in the latest cameras seem to be able to handle just about anything.
 
Matrix with the D700. The dial it easily jogged by accident so I tape over it. It once got jogged onto "spot" and I was wondering why loads of my shots were too bright or too dark!
 
Evaluative pretty much all of the time. I shot a time lapse from inside my car once, when the camera hanging upside down from a suction mount on the rear window, I used spot metering for that because I wanted it to expose the view out of the front correctly and not overexpose that to get the inside of the car right. I picked up a GoPro HD recently and handily that also has an option to switch between centre weighted and spot metering - for exactly that purpose (shooting out of a vehicle).
 
Spot, incident or evaluative.. depends what I'm doing. There is no do everything mode that I'd be happy to set the camera in and forget about it.
 
centre weighted for most things- spot for Macro :thumbs:


Les :D
 
Evaluative with exposure compensation dialed in if necessary for the majority of my shots and spot when required :)
 
spot, although I will occasionally use average when I've spent an age twiddling the tripod to get the framing then realised I haven't metered the shot!
 
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