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Exposure Metering System

This document discusses three different exposure metering systems used in digital SLR cameras: Center-weighted metering takes a reading from the whole frame but biases the exposure towards the center. This helps prevent bright or dark areas from affecting the overall exposure. Matrix metering divides the frame into segments and takes separate readings from each, then analyzes the readings to arrive at the final exposure. This allows it to compensate for specific bright or dark areas. Spot or partial metering only takes readings from a small area, either the center or a selected focus point. This gives more exposure control but is more difficult to use than the other systems.

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Sahil Tiwari
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43 views

Exposure Metering System

This document discusses three different exposure metering systems used in digital SLR cameras: Center-weighted metering takes a reading from the whole frame but biases the exposure towards the center. This helps prevent bright or dark areas from affecting the overall exposure. Matrix metering divides the frame into segments and takes separate readings from each, then analyzes the readings to arrive at the final exposure. This allows it to compensate for specific bright or dark areas. Spot or partial metering only takes readings from a small area, either the center or a selected focus point. This gives more exposure control but is more difficult to use than the other systems.

Uploaded by

Sahil Tiwari
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Exposure Metering System

In order to accurately expose a


greater range of subject lighting
and reflectance combinations, most
cameras have several metering
options. Each option works by
assigning a relative weighting to
different light regions; regions with
a higher weighting are considered
more reliable, and thus contribute
more to the final exposure
calculation. In DSLR we use three
metering system : center weighted,
Matrix and spot or partial
metering system
Center weighted metering
This is the most basic of the metering modes. It takes a reading
from the whole image, but the exposure is biased towards the
center of the frame. This helps prevent the exposure being
affected by any dark or light areas in the foreground or
background.
Center-weighted metering was once a very common default
setting in cameras because it coped well with a bright sky above
a darker landscape. Nowadays, it has more or less been
surpassed in flexibility by evaluative and matrix, and in
specificity by partial and spot metering. On the other hand, the
results produced by center-weighted metering are very
predictable, whereas matrix and evaluative metering modes have
complicated algorithms which are harder to predict. For this
reason some still prefer to use center-weighted as the default
metering mode.
Matrix Metering System
This is the default metering mode on most DSLRs, but is
one of the most sophisticated. It works by dividing the
image into equally weighted segments of about the same
size, and taking a separate reading from each segments.
These separate readings are then electronically analyzed
by the camera to arrive at the final overall exposure.
This analysis is where the clever bit comes in, as it allows
the camera to try to automatically compensate for any
specific bright or dark areas of the scene, darkening
them down and brightening them up respectively, thus
giving more useable results across a wide range of
different lighting conditions.
Spot or Partial Metering System
Unlike the other two metering modes, this only takes the
reading from a small parts of the frame-normally the
center, though some DSLRs can take a spot reading from
focus point you’re using. The difference between spot and
partial metering is the size of area the assess-spot meters
normally use around 1-5% of the frame, while partial meter
use larger area, 10-15%.
Partial and spot metering give the photographer far more
control over the exposure than any of the other settings, but
this also means that these are more difficult to use — at
least initially. They are useful when there is a relatively
small object within your scene which you either need to be
perfectly exposed

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