 Linda M. Walker |
Metering with a D200 Can someone explain in simple terms exactly how to meter with a Nikon D200....I am still a bit confused
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Anne Gro Bergersen |
Could you be more specific? What is it that you do not understand - the buttons on the camera, the display menu or the text in the camera manual? Are you shooting in manual mode or A,S or P? I have the same camera, so if I knew the exact problem, I'd be able to help.
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Linda M. Walker |
I usually use A mode and the matrix metering...I read where people say I metered on the ____________ and that is what I do not understand. I hate to admit it,but I almost use it as a point and shoot and I would like to know should I be focusing on a certain color or light area of my picture or is the camera doing it all...I hope this makes sense
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Anne Gro Bergersen |
"I metered on the ____________ " I did not quite understand that... With matrix metering the camera does it all and meter the whole image, but the in camera calculations are rather sophisticated and sometimes make assumptions about light and shadow areas that you may not like. High contrast is very tricky, for example a bright sky and very dark shadows. The matix metering is also a little different depending on the type of lens you use. Use the histogram to check the exposure and over/under compensate if necessary. Bracketing the shot is also sometimes necessary, or you may use a filter. After all, the camera is a mechanical thing, it cannot think! You meter from a certain light area (usually one that is equivalent to 18% grey) when you use spot metering, then lock the exposure (the AE-L button set to lock exposure only in the menu). The lock then works until you press the shutter. I recommend you read the manual and experiment.
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Linda M. Walker |
Thanks for your help,Anne.....I understand what you are saying... I meant that people say I metered on the greens or I metered on "something' that's what I mean. I do appreciate you taking the time and I will experiment
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William Schuette |
Anne, the one point that you have to remember is that all cameras meters assume that you want whaever you are pointing them at to be an 18% neutral gray in luminance. If you use matrix metering on a landscape shot the meter will set the exposure so that all the light values average out to 18% gray. Generally, this works fairly well but in certain situations where the light values do not average to 18% gray the exposure will not be correct. For instance, if there is a lot of white snow in the picture, the meter will underexpose to try and make the overall luminance average to 18% gray. Similarly, in a strong backlit portrait the meter will underexpose the face to average out the strong backlighting. In these situations, you can look for something that appears to be close to a neutral gray, fill your frame with it, see what the meter says and enter it manually. You can generally use your hand and if caucasian close down one stop and get pretty close. Or you can meter off green grass and open up 2/3 stop. Or you can use an 18% gray card or similar reference. The same thing occurs when you use the other modes of metering, you just have to be aware of what part of the frame is being metered. Bill
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Anne Gro Bergersen |
Bill, I guess you mean to address Linda, not me?
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Matrix, center weighted, spot, are metering patterns. Matrix takes measurements from the broadest area. It comes to it's conclusion from measuring multiple sections. The goal is to figure the correct overall exposure from a typical mixture of light and dark without having a small area of very light or dark skew the final reading to far away. Center weighted and spot take reading from a smaller area with spot being the smallest. Since most people put things in the middle of the frame, center weighted puts more emphasis on what's read in the middle. Spot is how it's named. All three measure the same way, to determine exposure based on neutral tones and colors. Which is the 18% gray, or very close to green grass. That's why you here people say the read off of something other than what they are taking a picture of, or a certain spot of what they're taking a picture of to get their exposure correct. It's up to you to learn and recognize when a scene has a good mixture of colors, light and dark, to go ahead with what the camera comes up with. And to recognize when this thing is going to fool the camera so to meter off of grass or something.
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William Schuette |
Sorry Anee, no insult was intended. Bill
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Michael A. Bielat |
I was a huge fan of Matrix metering when starting off with Digital. However, I have grown to use the spot metering to basically find the brightest most reflective spot of the image, AF on it and take the metering of it and expose from there. The best way to spot meter through the camera (that I have found) is to almost treat the scene as black and white (yes even though we are in color) So if you have a bride for example, her dress is white. If you meter the dress so it is in the center, then the image will come out to be too dark (by about 1 stop), if it is a groom and you meter for the black suit, and set your exposure in the center then it will come out too bright. This is because of what the others mentioned and the camera thinks that what you are metering for is 18% gray. Well the white dress is NOT gray and the grooms suit is NOT gray. The white dress needs to actually reflect about 36% of light to produce white and the grooms suit needs to reflect only about 9% to appear black. This is where your histograms and test shots come in handy by the way! So for the white, you need to expose for +1eV and for the black you need to expose for -1eV. Check your histograms and make sure you aren't blowing out the highlights and so forth. Now take this idea and set it loose on other areas of photography and you will be on the right track!
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Stephen R |
Bill, When you said to meter from a caucasian hand, didn't you mean to say then OPEN up one stop? The hand is one stop brighter than an 18% gray card, so if you close one stop, you'd be 2 stops underexposed from 18% gray. That's how I've always done it.
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wildlifetrailphotography.com - Donald R. Curry Contact Donald R. Curry Donald R. Curry's Gallery |
I have always used a +1 for a color like the palm of a hand, a +2 for something white like snow, zero on green grass and -2 for black. Linda, just remember you should use spot metering to do this. John Shaw gives a great explination of this in his book Nature Photography Field Guide.
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William Schuette |
Yes, Steven is right open up if you meter on your hand. I must have been dys-aperture-nic that night. Bill
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