Comments on: Understanding Metering and Metering Modes

By: Babu G S

Babu G S — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:43:28 +0000

Awesome once again…explained very clearly…thank you sirji

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:18:42 +0000

Thank you! very helpful!

By: Viv

Viv — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:36:38 +0000

Thank you so much! I just bough my camera and I am learning to use it. Your tutorials have been VERY helpful!

By: Simeon

Simeon — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:45:07 +0000

Hi, Liju, Nasim,

As I was reading the great article I was surprised to understand that spot metering worked with all AF points. Quickly I tried testing exactly what Nasim suggested with my Canon 550D just to find out that this was not the case. With the leftmost AF point activated and pointed at the lamp, the lamp got overexposed. Then, again with the leftmost AF point activated I pointed the center at the lamp and took the shot – the metering was properly done and the lamp was properly exposed.

So, unless I have not missed something, I can say that not all cameras support all AF with spot metering and, sadly, Canon 550D is one of them.

By: Vinh

Vinh — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:07:22 +0000

Hi Nasim. I am a newbie, I have one question about focus. I’m having D90 using with Matrix metering, every time I took picture in manual the object always out of focus, background always get clear and sharp then object. Do you you have any idea?

Thanks
Vinh

By: Nasim Mansurov

Nasim Mansurov — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:56:56 +0000

Francois, thank you for your feedback! Yes, I did not want to complicate the article with technical language, so I tried to make it as simple as possible with illustrations. I am aware that center-weighted metering looks at the rest of the frame as well :)

By: Francois

Francois — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:19:04 +0000

Oh my excuses – I see you did say “prioritize”. It’s only the picture that threw me off. Maybe if you could have added a light-pink tint to the rest? But then it would have been less clear, I guess. :)

By: Francois

Francois — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:06:14 +0000

Hey Nasim!

Beautiful and clear article, as always!!!

My own experience is that the centre-weighted metering works slightly different than explained here. Also dpreview says something different. It looks at the rest of the frame also, just gives a higher weight to the centre. To quote from dpreview’s summary of the Nikon D3:
“Center-weighted: Weight of 75% given to 8, 15, or 20 mm dia. circle in center of frame or weighting based on average of entire frame (default 12 mm)”

I also noticed that there are issues with other cameras. The Nikon D80 and to a lesser extent the Nikon D7000 almost always chooses to underexpose when using centre-weighted metering – independent of where the light-source is in the frame. On the other hand matrix metering has a tendency to slightly overexpose if the light-source is away from the currently selected focus point. In this sense it seems almost reversed! (except that where they don’t coincide matrix gives priority tot the focus point, not the centre). Maybe something I should blog about. But I think it’s already been blogged about.

By: penny

penny — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:52:09 +0000

Thank you so much, I can’t tell you how much I have been struggling because people assume that you should know what to look for through the viewfinder, now I know! Thank you

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:40:36 +0000

Thanks for this website and all your help! I am an Australian photographer and I think you are amazing and wish we had more mentors like you here in Australia.