What are the exact effect between Spot, Multi, & Average metering?

Question

Sometimes ive got confuse between these 3 metering. In terms of what the result of the picture will effect? Focusing? Exposure? etc..? In briefly, i maybe know the difference, but im lacking of the skill of it, when should i use the different metering. I know there is certain situation to vary the usage of metering. But when the time comes, ive went confuse again. Any experts help...?

Answer 1

they are three ways of metering, (measuring exposure)

spot is a single spot the camera meters off,

multi is the segments you choose to have the meter, meter

average the camera meters the average of the sence you point it at

end of the day its all automatuc and unless you point the camera at mid grey or green grass and blue sky your exposure is at the mercy of the camera

carry a grey card and spot meter of that and you will get the brightess cleanest images posible


a

Answer 2

The most common meter,. the one you find in all cameras, is the averaging meter. How it actually works depends on the maker but generally, this meter measures the light in the entire image frame and tries to come up with an average value that balances the bright spots and the dark spots in some way.

Where they differ is in several ways. Some designers try to include more detail in the dark spots which means the bright spots could come out brighter and even over exposed. Some designers to the reverse leaving your shadows black and without detail. In addition to this variation, some designers also assume that your subject is in the middle of your picture and thus assign a greater weight to the light values in the middle at the expense of the values on the edges. Some other designers try to balance the whole image.

Which flavour of averaging meter you have can be determined by taking a few pictures in different settings. that will quickly show you what light values the meter prefers.

This meter is ideal when you're in a hurry and really can't be bothered making exposure decisions. This meter will typically also get you reasonabl exposures 85% or the time as long as there aren't any dramatic light level differences. On the other hand it's not really good for moments when you want to concentrate on a specific subject.

To get around some of the limitations of this metering method, many cameras also incorporate a centre weighted meter. What this means in English is that the meter doesn't pay attention to the whole scene. Usually this meter places seventy five percent weight on the central portion of the image and the remaining twenty five percent of the rest. In many cameras you can control how much the camera sees allowing the central portion to be anything from about 40% to 60% of the frame. Whether you have a choice or not, the meter takes two kinds of light readings, the one in the central portion of the frame and a second outside that central area. It then errs on the side of the centre ensuring that the centre is properly exposed at the expense of the outside. When light level differences aren't too great the background will still be rendered reasonably well, when they are extreme, the background could end up over or under exposed.

The strength of this method is to enable you to make sure that your central subject is properly exposed. Often this is used in a backlight situation like someone standing in front of a window. Using the centre averaging meter will get your subject properly exposed while at the same time leaving your background over exposed. Had you used the averaging meter the subject would have been black. The centre averaging meter is usually the preferred one for most photography unless your subject is the entire image. Usually whatever subject you have it’s smaller than the entire frame so centre averaging is best. When the subject is off centre place it in the middle, take your reading, hold the shutter half way down, recompose and then take the picture. Either way your subject will come out a lot better.

The spot meter is the most specific approach. Spot meters are a very tight light reading often seeing only 2% of your total image. Those that are adjustable can also see as much as 6% of the image. In SLRs and high end P&S cameras you can also tie the spot meter to your focusing point so that you are metering only what you are focusing on.

This meter is perfect if you’re after a proper exposure of only a small portion of your image at the expense of all else. I do a lot of macro photography so this tends to be my meter of choice. I am able to meter on the head or body of a bug and get that bug perfectly exposed even when the surrounding area, usually a flower, is darker or lighter than my subject. The meter is also handy if you want to average your own exposure instead of having the camera do it. You can point the meter at different parts of your scene to get a sense of light contrasts and then make your own exposure decisions in manual mode. The spot meter leaves you in absolute control over what actually is exposed properly. It’s major shortcoming is that if you’re doing something like a landscape you’re not going to get a good picture unless you take the trouble to do all the averaging yourself.

In terms of using the meters, I use a Nikon D200 which has all three as well. All of my macro work is done with the spot meter or the centre averaging meter. The spot meter is used about 75% of the time especially when I’m after something very small in my frame, and the remaining 25% is my centre averaging meter when the subject fills a good portion of the frame. This way I control exactly what is properly exposed within that little world. Beyond my macro work 80% of my work is done with the centre averaging meter. I rarely do landscapes, there is usually a specific subject I try to capture. 15% of the time I’ll use the averaging meter, specifically for the rare landscape or architectural shot. 5% of the time I use the spot meter especially when my subject is something like a distant person who just has to be exposed correctly.

To wrap up – when you’re in a hurry or when the whole picture is important to you, use the averaging meter. When the subject is a large part of your image and you only care about the subject, use the centre averaging meter. When the subject is small and it’s really important that it’s properly exposed, use the spot meter.

I hope this helps you understand the meters and when to use them.

Answer 3

Which metering method you choose will not have an effect on focusing, but it might have an effect upon exposure depending on the circumstances.

Spot metering is when the metering is done the central zone of the image, normally the central focusing ring or zone. Only the light value in this area is measured, and exposure calculated on that alone. Spot metering is good when there is high contrast between the subject and the background, eg light subject on dark background or vice versa, and you want to ensure that the subject is correctly exposed. If the subject is off-centre, you can still use spot metering. If you are on an automatic exposure setting, you meter the area you want correctly exposed, set auto-exposure lock, and re-frame the image to get the composition you want and then release the shutter.

Average metering takes a single measurement based on the whole image area. Commonly there is a weighting towards the central area, when it is known as centre weighted metering. Both average and centre weighted metering needs some form of adjustment in difficult metering situations. If it is true average, normally the only option you have if you want to meter to get correct exposure for a specific area of the image is to get close enough that part of the scene fills the image, do your metering, and then move back to get the desired composition. A centre weighted meter can be used in a similar way to a spot meter for high contrast situations using the auto-exposure lock.

Multi zone or matrix metering splits the image up into different zones, normally a circular central zone and then several zones around the periphery of that. The metering circuit then compares the measured light falling on to the image in each zone and computes the best exposure setting based on extensive test shooting. While much more likely to give you a good result in a broad range of shooting circumstances, there are still times when you want a specific area of the image correctly exposed even if it means other areas will be clearly under or over exposed. You can then revert to spot or centre-weighted metering to set the exposure you want.

Alternatively, most automatic exposures systems allow you to set an exposure compensation setting to deal with the more difficult metering circumstances. Increase exposure when you have a dark subject against and light background, and decrease exposure when the opposite occurs.

My advice would be use matrix or multi-metering in most normal shooting circumstances, but learn enough about spot metering or centre weighted metering to use that for really difficult metering. You might find carrying a pocket guide helpful, either on photography in general or one specific to your camera.

Answer 4

Your camera's meter "sees" the world as 18% gray. For most of our photography this yields correctly exposed photos. The meter can be fooled, however, by different lighting conditions.

Suppose your subject is front lit against a dark background. In "averaging" mode the meter will compute exposure based more on the background and your subject will be overexposed or "washed out."

If your subject is against a light background or backlit the meter computes exposure for the light areas and your subject is a silhouette.

Neither of the above examples will give you satisfactory results (unless you wanted a silhouette of your subject). This is where you'd use "Spot Metering". Switch to that setting and meter off the subject. The background will not be correctly exposed but your subject will be. If you don't have the spot meter option don't dispair. Zoom in on your subject, meter, and lock that setting. Recompose and take the photo. As BuL stated, you can also meter off your hand, open up a stop and shoot.

If your camera has an EV setting you can also use it in the above lighting conditions. In the 1st. example try EV -2 which is giving the subject 2 stops less exposure to prevent the washed out look. In the 2nd. example try EV +2 to give the subject 2 stops more exposure and avoid the silhouette effect.

Someone once said "Automatic is fine 95% of the time. The other 5% is in magazines."

Answer 5

metering is exposure no longer concentration spot metering is settingthe digicam to meter of a gap you choose like Dr sams incredible occasion multi is telling the digicam to meter maximum of "zones" or factors contained in the physique hassle-free is an hassle-free of each and everything contained in the physique i'm going to be somewhat incorrect on the above, I dont use them I manually set my exposure doing a hand interpreting in many circumstances, gentle meters are sturdy to in the event that they are my techniques i meter off my palm then upload a stop, or you could spot on a gray card and shot off that interpreting a

Answer 6

the manual tells you the exact time to use each one.