# How many switch metering modes?



## SuzukiGS750EZ (Oct 10, 2016)

How many of you switch off of evaluative metering and if you do, can you give an example/scenerio? I don't think i've ever switched out of evaluative and i've owned my Rebel XTi for 10 years now. I just got an 80D and i'm going to try and get into the habit of checking my settings each time i go out and shoot. A big deal for me is metering because well, that's how your camera reacts to light if i'm not mistaken. So how do i remember which mode for what scenerio?


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## astroNikon (Oct 10, 2016)

It all depends on what I'm photographing.
Many times I'm in a Spot metering mode for sports because I want to make sure the subject is properly exposed, and in post processing I can handle the rest if needed.
If doing landscape photography I'll probably be in the full matrix metering/ evaluative mode.

It's just all about having a "checklist" in your mind of each type of shot you taking in checking/setting up your Aperture, shutter, ISO, metering and focus modes.


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## robbins.photo (Oct 10, 2016)

SuzukiGS750EZ said:


> How many of you switch off of evaluative metering and if you do, can you give an example/scenerio? I don't think i've ever switched out of evaluative and i've owned my Rebel XTi for 10 years now. I just got an 80D and i'm going to try and get into the habit of checking my settings each time i go out and shoot. A big deal for me is metering because well, that's how your camera reacts to light if i'm not mistaken. So how do i remember which mode for what scenerio?


Depends on what I'm shooting.  Outdoors at the zoo I'll usually use matrix to evaluate the entire scene and that way I can avoid blown highlights in the sky at least to a certain extent.  Indoors I'll normally use cwa because the lighting is normally pretty awful and for the most part I'm not as concerned with metering the background as I am about the subject.

I'll use spot occasionally in high contrast situations usually if my target is white or a very bright color as I want to avoid losing details from the subject when possible

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## SuzukiGS750EZ (Oct 10, 2016)

Any recommendations on videos or websites where it will explain metering modes in more detail? I've read a few but they don't do a good job at getting the point across.


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## spiralout462 (Oct 10, 2016)

95% spot meter.  5% center weighted.


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## spiralout462 (Oct 10, 2016)

SuzukiGS750EZ said:


> Any recommendations on videos or websites where it will explain metering modes in more detail? I've read a few but they don't do a good job at getting the point across.



I'm pretty sure the manual is the best bet.


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## SuzukiGS750EZ (Oct 10, 2016)

Well yes, i read the descriptions, but real world scenerios are easier to follow. Or images of what the metering looks at.


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## zombiesniper (Oct 10, 2016)




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## table1349 (Oct 10, 2016)

Understanding Metering and Metering Modes


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## Braineack (Oct 10, 2016)

I usually leave in spot, and have programmed my AE-L button to the button for my middle finger -- I use it often.  Especially since I use A mode and auto-iso a lot.

But depending on what I'm shooting I'll switch it around, matrix is usually a pretty "safe" mode, but can cause issues when there's light/dark areas.

The more you know, and what youre cameras trying to do, the easier it is for you to decide what to choose.


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## Ysarex (Oct 10, 2016)

SuzukiGS750EZ said:


> Well yes, i read the descriptions, but real world scenerios are easier to follow. Or images of what the metering looks at.



Whenever I buy a new camera one of the first things I do is turn off the matrix, evaluative, pattern, etc. metering mode. Once turned off it stays off. I then use either spot or center-weighted average metering modes.

The meter in the camera is a measuring tool. I use the camera meter to take a measurement and then I decide how to apply that measurement. What I need from a measuring tool then is precision and consistency. What I don't need from a measuring tool is for the tool to try and second guess me. The algorithms programed into the evaluative, matrix, pattern, etc. modes try and second guess us. *It's my photo.*

In conjunction with the camera meter I also frequently use the camera's live histogram for precision enhancement. Here's a real world scenario: I photographed this abandoned rocker in the alley:




 

The dark wood of the rocker and the cushions/bags over the rocker arms in the bright sun (very high contrast) made me pause to take extra care with the exposure. I engaged the live histogram and double checked that with the meter set to center-weight average. I set a +.3 EC and the raw file exposure is textbook nailed. My exposure goal is to always expose the sensor as much as possible without clipping highlights.

Joe


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## weepete (Oct 10, 2016)

Yup, I switch them all the time. Most of the time I spot meter, but in more dynamic situations I tend to go with CWA. When I'm shooting landscapes I like to spot meter, as I like to know the difference between the darks, mid tones and highlights. Ocassionally I'll use evaluative but normally I find it just as easy to quickly spot meter.


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## TCampbell (Oct 11, 2016)

I bounce between them.

Most of the time the camera is in "evaluative" metering mode (Canon's name ... Nikon calls this "matrix" metering mode.)   But that's because most of the time I care about the exposure of my main subject but also care about the look of the background and I don't want anything in the image to clip.

However... sometimes what I really care about in the image is going to meter so different than the overall frame that I switch to a different mode.  Concert photography is a classic example of this problem where the "room" lighting is typically black but the lighting on the performers are very bright.  If an evaluative or matrix metering mode is used, the camera will try to pull up the blacks (which should be black... we don't need to pull up the exposure) and the result is that some parts of the performance will get over-exposed.  But using either a "spot" mode or even a center-weighted mode I can tell the camera to set the exposure ONLY on my target (or in the case of "center-weighted" it will _mostly_ be about my target (but still considers the rest of the frame.. it's not "center" metering it's "center-weighted" metering.)

I typically only use "spot" metering when I know I'll have this issue.  I don't use it all the time because I've noticed that from time to time the metering spot can land on something that just happens to be not very representative of the lighting in the overall frame and can throw the exposure off.

You can also use "exposure compensation".  In this version the camera does meter, comes up with an exposure recommendation, ... but since you applied some level of "exposure compensation" the camera apply your change to the recommendation to come up with the exposure values for the shot.  E.g. in that concert situation I could just dial down the exposure compensation by a stop (I've even done about -1.7 stops depending on the lighting difference) and then just leave the camera in "evaluative" metering mode.  This can sometimes be more useful because in some concert situations the lighting may be changing rapidly and it would be difficult to keep up if you try to do this manually (by the time you meter and dial in the exposure settings the light may have changed.)

BTW, "exposure compensation" applies only to modes like aperture priority, shutter priority, or program where you set just part of the exposure and let the camera deal with the rest.  If you are shooting in manual then the exposure is whatever you set (there is no "exposure compensation" for manual... if you want to underexpose by 1 stop you just set the exposure so that the meter in the viewfinder reads "-1" instead of reading on the center "0" point inside the display.)


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