ehhh.. metering??

I've seen a lot of references to this and I was given a link to quite a technichal page (which I have to admit, went over my head!)


Can someone here here give an overview of what exactly it is? Camera I have access to is a D90 if that makes any difference.....

Cheers!

Borderfox

for landscapes you want to meter (measure) the whole area in the viewfinder whereas in sport you only want to meter the centre area where the action is. Probably the easiest way to explain.

charybdis

Metering is using a device called a "meter" or "light meter" to measure the amount of light in a given scene and provide you with what it considers an appropriate exposure value, in one form or another, for the scene. All "modern" cameras incorporate some form of internal metering system. These internal metering systems can offer exposure values, suggest that the scene is not correctly exposed, or even select one or more exposure parameters (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) based on what it believes to be correct exposure for the shot.

Unless your are using your camera in full manual mode, its internal metering system is making decisions about exposure parameters for you. If you are in full manual mode, it's probably just offering its opinion.

There are different metering modes which allow you to request different opinions from the metering system.

It is important to understand that there is no absolutely correct exposure value for a shot, your metering system will most likely offer one it considers practical and believes will produce the most even exposure.

elven

There was a post about this last week that I'm sure you'll find pretty easily by searching the forum for "metering"...

af_thefragile

I made this thread last week, it might help you a bit... Especially the post about how the camera wants to turn everything grey.
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055473121

coylemj

Deleted User wrote: »

I've seen a lot of references to this and I was given a link to quite a technichal page (which I have to admit, went over my head!)


Can someone here here give an overview of what exactly it is? Camera I have access to is a D90 if that makes any difference.....

Cheers!

It's explained on P.87 of the D90 Users manual, the first section in the 'Exposure' chapter.

coylemj

coylemj wrote: »

It's explained on P.87 of the D90 Users manual, the first section in the 'Exposure' chapter.

Which is in German!

coylemj

Deleted User wrote: »

Which is in German!

Download the English version from here....

http://www.nikonusa.com/Service-And-Support/Download-Center.page

Irish Halo

Not sure how much you know but here is a starter:

If the D90 has the same meter display as the D80. Look through the viewfinder and you should see something like this:

+ . . I . . -

but you will have bars below the dots on one of the sides indicating that the image is (as far as the camera is concerned) overexposed (if the bars are on the + side) or underexposed (if the bars are on the - side)

The idea is to get rid of the bars by playing with the ISO, aperture or shutter speed.

Increasing ISO will move the bars to the + side but make your image "noisy"

Increasing the f number (aperture) (scroll the front click wheel its where your index finger sits) will make the bars move to the - side (note big f = small aperture) low f number allows the most light in but gives you a ow depth of field i.e. just what you focus on and things close to it are in sharp focus

Increasing the shutter speed (scrolling the wheel at your thumb) will also move the bars to the - side, slow shutter speed will make movement blurred and very low will make camera shake more of an issue.

You can only play with aperture and shutter speed in A (aperture priority, you set the aperture, camera chooses the shutter speed), S (shutter priority, you set the shutter speed, camera chooses the aperture), P (program, you set either shutter or aperture and the camera chooses the other), M (Manual, it's all up to you the camera will let you do what you want).