The White Paper - Metering Modes

Chapter 5 - Metering Modes

As we discussed in the previous two sections, exposure is probably the single most important factor in achieving excellent photos. But how do you determine the correct exposure? And how do you determine whether your settings correspond with the best exposure? Metering.

Metering Mode

Before you implement exposure, you first have to gather information about the light in the scene you're shooting. The H-Series supports three modes for gathering that information: Multi, Center and Spot metering.

Multi Metering

Multi-metering mode reads light from a pattern of points all over the frame. This mode is useful for scenes that don't have much in the way of highlights and shadows. I rarely use this, as I find that almost every scene has sufficient highlights and shadows to use more effective metering methods. Unless your scene is unusually uniform, Multi-metering's compromise can actually be mostly wrong - any part of your picture that reflects anything other than "average" light will be over- or under-exposed. Multi-metering is also relatively slow compared to the other modes.

The H-Series Auto mode uses Multi-Metering

Center Metering

Center-metering mode reads from a mid-sized area in the middle of your frame. It's more accurate than Multi-metering mode, because it allows you to determine which area of your scene is most important to be exposed properly. Center-metering is useful when the subject is of reasonable size and uniform lighting. A car, a house, a tree against a sky or forest background.

Spot Metering

Spot-metering uses a tiny spot (crosshairs) in the center of your frame. I use this almost exclusively. It lets you pinpoint exactly where in your scene you want the perfect exposure to be. For example, in a group of people posing on skis on a mountain, you can point the crosshairs at a face. The white snow may blow out and dark ski clothes hide detail. But the faces will be dead-on. If you want a more "compromise" reading with less blow-out on the snow and more detail on the dark clothing, use Center-metering.

There is a potential pitfall to spot metering. You may be metering on the face of a distant subject and inadvertently meter on an eyebrow (too dark) or teeth (too bright) instead of on the facial skin. Be careful where you point the crosshairs! If you cannot identify the proper point, you may be better off with Center-metering.

3) Aiming The Meter - Except for Multi-metering mode, metering is always based on the center of your frame. To meter an area that is not in the center of your frame, aim the center of your viewfinder at the point you wish to meter, half-click the shutter. Move the camera to compose the scene and complete your shutter-click.

Since metering is center-based and metering and autofocus happen simultaneously, how do you meter on one spot and focus on another? Use the Flexible Spot autofocus. Point the center of your viewfinder at the spot you wish to meter, then move the flexible spot rectangle to target the point you wish to focus on. Half-click, hold, compose and shoot.

EV - Calibrating Your Exposure

EV (Exposure Value) is the baseline used to calibrate your meter. Normally, the default EV (EV = 0) on all the H-Series cameras is pretty accurate. But you may wish to shoot a little darker or lighter than normal. I tend to shoot most of my shots a little dark (-.3 to -.7 EV) to prevent blown-out skies and to color and highlight detail. In my experience, there's nothing worse than an overexposed, washed-out picture with blown highlights. Very hard to recover from in post-processing. But, if you elect to work darker or lighter than normal, be prepared to post-process most of your pictures.

In all automatic modes, setting EV changes the formula the camera uses to calculate the proper aperture, shutter speed or ISO. It is how you tell the camera to set all subsequent photos a little darker or a little lighter. It is your exposure preference setting.

Built-In Light Meter

In Manual mode, EV undergoes a wondrous metamorphosis. Since you don't need EV in Manual mode (you're making all the decisions yourself), the EV display becomes your light meter. Instead of setting your exposure preference, it reports the result of the settings you selected. It tells you if you've exposed too bright (+.3, for example) or too dim (-.7, for example).

Of course, the response of the EV meter is based on the camera's built-in defaults and, most unfortunately, the H-Series cameras do not allow you to calibrate the EV meter in Manual mode (my Nikon DSLR does).

So to adjust to your own preferences, you have to adjust your decision process instead of the camera. For example, I generally don't shoot when the EV meter shows "0". I wait until it shows -.3. Simple!

Histogram

The Live Histogram is an entirely different way of metering your image and, arguably, the best. More about histograms in the next section.

Next: Chapter 6 - Setting Exposure
Return to White Paper Introduction and Contents



	Chapter 5 - Metering Modes

	As we discussed in the previous two sections, exposure is probably the single most important factor in achieving excellent photos. But how do you determine the correct exposure? And how do you determine whether your settings correspond with the best exposure? Metering. Metering Mode Before you implement exposure, you first have to gather information about the light in the scene you're shooting. The H-Series supports three modes for gathering that information: Multi, Center and Spot metering. Multi Metering Multi-metering mode reads light from a pattern of points all over the frame. This mode is useful for scenes that don't have much in the way of highlights and shadows. I rarely use this, as I find that almost every scene has sufficient highlights and shadows to use more effective metering methods. Unless your scene is unusually uniform, Multi-metering's compromise can actually be mostly wrong - any part of your picture that reflects anything other than "average" light will be over- or under-exposed. Multi-metering is also relatively slow compared to the other modes. The H-Series Auto mode uses Multi-Metering Center Metering Center-metering mode reads from a mid-sized area in the middle of your frame. It's more accurate than Multi-metering mode, because it allows you to determine which area of your scene is most important to be exposed properly. Center-metering is useful when the subject is of reasonable size and uniform lighting. A car, a house, a tree against a sky or forest background. Spot Metering Spot-metering uses a tiny spot (crosshairs) in the center of your frame. I use this almost exclusively. It lets you pinpoint exactly where in your scene you want the perfect exposure to be. For example, in a group of people posing on skis on a mountain, you can point the crosshairs at a face. The white snow may blow out and dark ski clothes hide detail. But the faces will be dead-on. If you want a more "compromise" reading with less blow-out on the snow and more detail on the dark clothing, use Center-metering. There is a potential pitfall to spot metering. You may be metering on the face of a distant subject and inadvertently meter on an eyebrow (too dark) or teeth (too bright) instead of on the facial skin. Be careful where you point the crosshairs! If you cannot identify the proper point, you may be better off with Center-metering. 3) Aiming The Meter - Except for Multi-metering mode, metering is always based on the center of your frame. To meter an area that is not in the center of your frame, aim the center of your viewfinder at the point you wish to meter, half-click the shutter. Move the camera to compose the scene and complete your shutter-click. Since metering is center-based and metering and autofocus happen simultaneously, how do you meter on one spot and focus on another? Use the Flexible Spot autofocus. Point the center of your viewfinder at the spot you wish to meter, then move the flexible spot rectangle to target the point you wish to focus on. Half-click, hold, compose and shoot. EV - Calibrating Your Exposure EV (Exposure Value) is the baseline used to calibrate your meter. Normally, the default EV (EV = 0) on all the H-Series cameras is pretty accurate. But you may wish to shoot a little darker or lighter than normal. I tend to shoot most of my shots a little dark (-.3 to -.7 EV) to prevent blown-out skies and to color and highlight detail. In my experience, there's nothing worse than an overexposed, washed-out picture with blown highlights. Very hard to recover from in post-processing. But, if you elect to work darker or lighter than normal, be prepared to post-process most of your pictures. In all automatic modes, setting EV changes the formula the camera uses to calculate the proper aperture, shutter speed or ISO. It is how you tell the camera to set all subsequent photos a little darker or a little lighter. It is your exposure preference setting. Built-In Light Meter In Manual mode, EV undergoes a wondrous metamorphosis. Since you don't need EV in Manual mode (you're making all the decisions yourself), the EV display becomes your light meter. Instead of setting your exposure preference, it reports the result of the settings you selected. It tells you if you've exposed too bright (+.3, for example) or too dim (-.7, for example). Of course, the response of the EV meter is based on the camera's built-in defaults and, most unfortunately, the H-Series cameras do not allow you to calibrate the EV meter in Manual mode (my Nikon DSLR does). So to adjust to your own preferences, you have to adjust your decision process instead of the camera. For example, I generally don't shoot when the EV meter shows "0". I wait until it shows -.3. Simple! Histogram The Live Histogram is an entirely different way of metering your image and, arguably, the best. More about histograms in the next section. Next: Chapter 6 - Setting Exposure Return to White Paper Introduction and Contents