Metering modes. eh?
Discussion
Marc's answered it really. You just have to look at the subjet and decide which you think is best.
I usually use c/w but with a fairly small area, the idea being that the thing I focus on is most likely to be the bit I want right. Note that the spot may move according to which focus point you use.
I usually use c/w but with a fairly small area, the idea being that the thing I focus on is most likely to be the bit I want right. Note that the spot may move according to which focus point you use.
Along with the different modes, also bear in mind the limitations of how the camera works out the exposure. It tries to set the exposure to be 'mid tone', so if you shoot a sheet of black card it will over expose it to be mid tone grey, and if you shoot a sheet of white card it will be under exposed to be mid tone grey... Extreme examples but explains why you need to use exposure compensation when shooting a snowy scene for example.
MartinP said:
Along with the different modes, also bear in mind the limitations of how the camera works out the exposure. It tries to set the exposure to be 'mid tone', so if you shoot a sheet of black card it will over expose it to be mid tone grey, and if you shoot a sheet of white card it will be under exposed to be mid tone grey... Extreme examples but explains why you need to use exposure compensation when shooting a snowy scene for example.
In these extreme examples what would be the best way to correct this? Drop the exposure down a step for snow? and vice-versa?The opposite; increase the exposure for snow by a stop or two. All that whiteness is what fools the camera. It doesn't know that it's looking at a scene full of snow, and sets the exposure to what it assumes is a brightly lit normal scene i.e. a fastish shutter speed or small aperture. This results in a scene that is predominanly white from being underexposed. The reverse is true when shooting a black scene.
You can test this with a simple home experiment. Get 2 pieces of paper, one white and one black. Place each of them in front of your camera in turn so that they fill the viewfinder. Without changing the lighting level, check the meter reading for each to see how they differ, despite the light on each of them being the same.
You can test this with a simple home experiment. Get 2 pieces of paper, one white and one black. Place each of them in front of your camera in turn so that they fill the viewfinder. Without changing the lighting level, check the meter reading for each to see how they differ, despite the light on each of them being the same.
An accompanying lesson to "How the camera knows what to set for exposure" and ""What you tell the camera's exposure meter to look at" is the quite interesting "What that graphy thing tells me about what I've just done" AKA the Histogram.
My tip is to simply sit around and play with setting different exposures and see what that histogram does. What you (probably) don't want is for the sensor to get lots of sensor/light readings bunched up too far to the right (because you'll simply "burn out" those parts of the image to white).
For instance, try an evenly lit wall in a room, then a light source like a light bulb, on your spot metering setting. See what happens to that graph?
Ypu'll soon get a feel for what happens, without even getting too deep in the technical stuff. Then, whenever you think the light situation looks complicated, you can check what the camera has done (and tweak the settings and retake if necessary!)
My tip is to simply sit around and play with setting different exposures and see what that histogram does. What you (probably) don't want is for the sensor to get lots of sensor/light readings bunched up too far to the right (because you'll simply "burn out" those parts of the image to white).
For instance, try an evenly lit wall in a room, then a light source like a light bulb, on your spot metering setting. See what happens to that graph?
Ypu'll soon get a feel for what happens, without even getting too deep in the technical stuff. Then, whenever you think the light situation looks complicated, you can check what the camera has done (and tweak the settings and retake if necessary!)
Mr Kitten said:
I didn't realise that the camera would adjust the metering point with the focus point - I'd not really put a lot of thought into it, but it makes a lot of sense.
It may not. Check the camera's spec. Usually only applies to Spot metering (as far as I know) and may require a Custom Function to enable it if the camera supports it. (Canon 1D3)On the other hand my G11 clearly exhibits exposure changes on the viewing screen when using the facility to move the focus position around the screen if spot metering is selected.
No idea about the 60D I'm afraid. Don;t think I have a downloaded copy of the User Guide to check but sure someone will have the information to hand.
K12beano said:
"What that graphy thing tells me about what I've just done" AKA the Histogram.
Ah yes! I've been keeping an eye on the graphy thing for quite some time now.... and I've also been fiddling in light room in order to balance out under/overexposed images.Thanks for the advice all - much appreciated.
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