 Meg Voyzey |
How do I go about metering with my camera? I have searched for metering questions and have not found the answer I'm hoping to find. I hope this question doesn't sound too lame but here goes... When someone says "I aimed the camera at the sky and adjusted my aperture until the camera meter indicated f/8 was correct." how do you physically do that with your camera? Do I push the button half-way down and it reads on the LCD what the aperture is supposed to be? What will it show me and where will it show me? I've read what metering is but have not figured out how to do it on my camera. I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5. I know there are different metering settings but I don't know how to go about metering with my camera. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Ariel Lepor |
Hi, Meg. First you should (and I think you do) know that setting the exposure is different for different cameras. I never had a Panasonic, so I can't give you exact steps, but I might still be able to help. The quote, "I aimed the camera at the sky and adjusted my aperture until the camera meter indicated f/8 was correct." isn't very clear. I think it means that someone wanted to shoot a photo of the sky, so they set the camera to manual mode, aimed the camera at the sky, set a high shutter speed, low ISO, and changed the aperture until the camera read that f/8 would give a proper exposure. Well, you can't do that on Auto mode. In auto mode, the best you could hope for is that the camera decides by itself that it wants an aperture of f/8. You could do that either in manual or aperture priority mode. In aperture priority mode you could get a proper exposure with a range of apertures. For example, if you set it to a wide aperture (f/4), it might still be properly exposed, but the camera would change the ISO to lowest possible (unless the ISO is already set) and the shutter speed to very fast. You could also change the aperture to f/8, and the camera would again adjust itself for a proper exposure. In my camera, you do this by turning the nob to "A" (aperture priority mode) and then using the up and down arrows to select an aperture of "8", or f/8. In manual mode, and I think this is the mode you are asking about, you need to set all the settings yourself until the meter reads that it is properly exposed. In my camera, I first turn the nob to "M" (manual mode). Then, an exposure meter appears in the lower left part of the LCD display. The meter looks like a horizontal line with a + sign on the right of it and a - sign on the left. When the indicator is all the way to one side, the photo is way too under or over exposed. When the indicator is on the middle of the bar, it is properly exposed. (Note that you may desire to have the exposure higher or lower than what the camera displays as correct, depending on what part of the picture you want properly exposed. For example, if you are shooting a landscape, and the center of the photo is the sky, and you want the ground to be bright enough, you'll want to have a slower shutter speed or a wider aperture or a higher ISO. Also note that, in this case, you could get GND filters or a polarizer filter to get a proper exposure for both the land and the sky.) So to adjust the different settings, for me, to change the ISO, I have to press the "f" (quality) button to get into a menu to change the ISO. To change the shutter speed, I use the up and down arrow keys. Now, to change the aperture, I have to press another button (for me, the exposure button) while pressing the up and down arrows. The aperture number changes accordingly. To change it to an aperture of f/8, I would press the exposure button, and, while holding it down, press the down arrow until the display shows F8. Then I would need to adjust the shutter speed accordingly, of course. You could also choose the shutter speed and ISO you want, for example, press the down arrow until the display shows "400", which means 1/400s. Also change the ISO. Then change the f-number until the meter shows up in the middle of the bar. I hope all this information is helpful! We don't have the same camera, but they're probably similar enough that you could figure out what to do based on my instructions and your user's manual. Good luck getting the proper exposures! Ariel
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Meg Voyzey |
Hi Ariel, Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your explanation is definitely what I was looking for. I never noticed the meter when I was in manual mode and how it changes depending on where I point the camera. It was driving me crazy hearing how everyone was "metering" and I just wasn't grasping exactly what they were looking at on the camera. Now I know and will definitely play with it and use your detailed description to help me understand things a little better.
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Ariel Lepor |
You're welcome, Meg! :) I'm glad you found me helpful! And thank you for your nice comment about my images, too!
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Bob Chance |
I'm not sure why someone would meter the sky, because that would give an incorrect reading. Camer meters are designed to replicate 18% gray. Most things in this world reflect close to that. The sky is not one of them. If you meter the sky, you would be underexposing the shot because the sky is brighter than 18%. The camera has no way of knowing that. It only knows to adjust the exposure to reproduce 18% gray. If reading from the sky, you typically have to overexpose 1 1/2 - 2 stops for a correct exposure. Ariels explanation of manual settings is right on. But even then, you must think carefully about the subject matter you are metering to know whether or not the cameras recommendation is correct, or whether you have to step in and under or overexpose.
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Bret Tate |
An average blue sky falls in Zone V (18% gray) and would therefore give a correct meter reading. A light blue sky is in Zone VI and would cause the camera to underexpose by 1 stop.
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Meg Voyzey |
Thank you to all who replied. I know I have a lot of practicing to do regarding metering now that I know how to read the meter on my camera (thank you again Ariel). I will certainly keep these responses and consult them as I try my hand at it. Take care,
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Alix Nublado |
Sometimes the sky is less blue than it should be, and though you could try exposing for the sky, it will still look washed out.
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