metering issues

[ZAKD]

Just a question about metering options.

On my Nikon 8700model I have a posibilities for:

matrix

spot

center-weighted

spot AFarea

I did not managed to understand all of them good enough. Can you tell me for what kind of purpose(what kind of shooting)each should be used.



Thanks and regards

[Nagasaki]

Matrix is probable the best for most situations. In this mode the meter measures the light across the whole scene and sets the exposure either by averaging or by some additional calculation which takes into account the scene type.

Spot metering look just at a small area in the centre of the picture. This can be useful in awkward lighting. For example if your subject is backlit then if they are in the centre a spot meter would measure the light from your subject and ignore the backlighting.

Centre weighted looks at the whole scene like matrix metering but biases the exposure towards the lighting in the centre of the scene. The centre area is generally a slightly larger area than with spot metering. Again useful in awkward lighting where matrix metering either over or under exposes your main subject.

Spot AFarea I'm guessing with but I would expect that the camera has multiple auto focus points and either you or the camera determine which one is covering your main subject. I would expect spot AFare to use this area rather than a centre spot to determine the exposure. This would be useful in the same lighting as Spot but better because it allows for off centre subjects.



Ken

[ZAKD]

Hi Ken,

thank you for your explanation realy. We do not stop learning every day and what to someone is easy and normal to someone could be very dificult.

Thanks and

Regards

Zak