This is something I should know alllll about, I'm sure, but just don't. I have 3 settings on my Canon Rebel xTi that say:
Evaluative Metering, Partial Metering, and Center-Weighted Metering Average.
What, for the sake of all that is decent and holy, does this mean?? I always have mine set to the third one (not sure how it got there, but there it is...)
Thanks in advance for all of your wonderful help!!
Evaluative means it uses what's filling the entire viewfinder to come up with an exposure setting that will try to average and expose the scene the best it can. Center weighted instead puts a higher priority on the light in the central area of the viewfinder for calculating an exposure, so the far fringes of the shot could be very bright or very dim and have little effect on changing the exposure. Partial is usually just a concentrated circle (usually the circle you'll see in the viewfinder) that takes the metering and the rest of the scene is ignored.
There's no right or wrong method of metering and ultimately it depends on the type of shot you're shooting that will dictate which one to use. Backlit subjects can benefit from a spot/partial or sometimes center-weighted over evaluative since you can tell the camera to expose for the relatively dark foreground subject and ignore the bright background, etc.
@nicklynne Welcome, The other thing to try, maybe, is the old neutral gray card, or an asphalt road, to meter off of and see what your camera does with that. Hold the card, or road, in the same direction as you are shooting and meter, raise you camera and shot. Someone taught me that in the dark ages and seemed to work then, but WA is too overcast most of the time to use that time, plus I don't have a DSLR.
@nicklynne I know this sounds a bit rough stead, but my advice is when you've got digital - kick the metering and do check shots, almost every digital SLR I've shot with the metering has been off by a fair bit, tuning in the LCD brightness and using the right viewing angle gives you a ton more info than the meter ever will.
Though as a rule with the canon, for example I've learned, 1.5 below - 1.0 above are the points you have to post process to get a decent image. That's with a 10D, you might want to test it out yourself... To calibrate your screen try using curves or levels to get a photo just perfect, do a B+W, a high saturation and a general exposure photo, load them back on the camera and adjust the LCD brightness to give closest to real results for all...
What Adam said. I don't know what Canon's metering words mean, as they go against the grain of everyone else (why I don't own Canon), but typically there is spot metering and matrix metering.
Usually, matrix is best, but for some portaiture, spot is better.. Like Adam said, take the same pic with the different metering and see what works when.
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There's no right or wrong method of metering and ultimately it depends on the type of shot you're shooting that will dictate which one to use. Backlit subjects can benefit from a spot/partial or sometimes center-weighted over evaluative since you can tell the camera to expose for the relatively dark foreground subject and ignore the bright background, etc.
Though as a rule with the canon, for example I've learned, 1.5 below - 1.0 above are the points you have to post process to get a decent image. That's with a 10D, you might want to test it out yourself... To calibrate your screen try using curves or levels to get a photo just perfect, do a B+W, a high saturation and a general exposure photo, load them back on the camera and adjust the LCD brightness to give closest to real results for all...
Usually, matrix is best, but for some portaiture, spot is better.. Like Adam said, take the same pic with the different metering and see what works when.
As always, happy shooting!