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Metering Modes

There are three primary metering modes in cameras: evaluative metering, center-weighted metering, and spot metering. Evaluative metering evaluates the entire scene and aims for an overall balanced exposure. Center-weighted metering bases the exposure calculation primarily on the center of the frame, disregarding the edges, which is useful for portraits. Spot metering precisely calculates exposure based only on a small area in the selected focus point, ignoring the rest of the scene, which is useful for high contrast subjects.

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230 views3 pages

Metering Modes

There are three primary metering modes in cameras: evaluative metering, center-weighted metering, and spot metering. Evaluative metering evaluates the entire scene and aims for an overall balanced exposure. Center-weighted metering bases the exposure calculation primarily on the center of the frame, disregarding the edges, which is useful for portraits. Spot metering precisely calculates exposure based only on a small area in the selected focus point, ignoring the rest of the scene, which is useful for high contrast subjects.

Uploaded by

Sabucor, Angelou Faith
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Metering Modes

In TTL mode, the camera controls the exposure by using


techniques that are very similar to the familiar spot, center-weighted, and matrix
metering methods used in continuous light situations. FE Lock
and FV Lock save spot-metered exposure values that you can then use to light a
Re framed image; this technique is often called meter and recompose. Spot
metering/FE Lock is used in the first workshop, allowing the preflash to be
decoupled from the main flash. With this trick, it’s possible to even use slave
flashes without preflash suppression.

There are typically three primary metering modes found in cameras: 

 Evaluative Metering

Evaluative metering (known as Matrix metering on Nikon cameras and Multi-


pattern on Sony cameras) is most popular among beginning photographers because
it is the one-size-fits-most approach. What this mode does is divide the scene into a
lot of squares and evaluate each of them for the presence of 18% grey (and
sometimes other factors, such as color).
Evaluative metering is a good default option because it can be really used for most
scenes and genres: anything from wildlife to portraits to landscapes to fashion. It
aims to achieve a good balance between the light and dark portions of the scene.

 Center-Weighted Metering

Center-weighted metering mode is great for photos in which your subject is


in or near the center of the frame, as this is the region the camera will base its
exposure setting
calculations on. It
will disregard the level of
grey on the edges and
only take into
consideration the
tones in the center.

It can also be a great


option for portrait
photoshoots.

 Spot Metering
Spot metering is for precisely calculating proper exposure based on only the
tiny area of the selected focus point. How precise may vary depending on the
camera being used, but it often takes only 1.5% to 2.5% of the scene into account.
This will likely be the mode you would use for photographing the bright moon on a
dark cloud-free night or a dark bush in a snowy landscape. It will meter only your
small subject and ignore the rest of the scene that would cause underexposures or
over exposures in broader metering modes.

When spot metering exposing for the black square, the camera will ignore (and
overexpose) the rest of the scene as it prioritizes bringing the black values to 18%
gray.

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