Are camera metering modes limiting your creativity? + Why I don't use them!! 📷
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ย. 2020
- Are you confused about the various metering modes available on your camera? Don't worry, I've got you covered! In my latest video, I dive deep into the most common metering modes used by popular camera brands like Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Hasselblad.
🔗 Read More: visualeducation.com/understan...
In this informative and visually captivating video, I demystify how these metering modes actually work and present a side-by-side comparison of the results they produce. By the end, you'll have a clear understanding of which metering mode to use in different shooting scenarios.
But wait, there's more! I don't just stop at explaining the basics. I go a step further and reveal the limitations of relying solely on your camera's light meter. I share invaluable tips and techniques to help you achieve creative and unique results that transcend the boundaries of metering modes.
Let's take a quick look at some of the metering modes offered by the top camera brands:
📷 Canon Cameras
▶ Evaluative metering
▶ Center-weighted metering
▶ Spot metering
▶ Partial metering (in some models)
📷 Nikon Cameras
▶ Matrix metering
▶ Center-weighted metering
▶ Spot metering
▶ Highlight-weighted metering (in some models)
📷 Sony Cameras
▶ Multi-pattern metering
▶ Center-weighted metering
▶ Spot metering
▶ Entire screen avg metering (in some models)
▶ Highlight metering (in some models)
📷 Hasselblad Cameras
▶ Center-weighted metering
▶ Centre spot metering
▶ Spot metering
I'm eager to hear about your experiences with metering modes! Join the conversation in the comments section and share your thoughts. Your unique insights could inspire fellow photographers to explore new frontiers!
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I just love learning from you. Hearing how much you do NOT care about the things I spent years in the past worrying about, does my heart good. Thank you for being YOU.
There is one reason why the metering mode is important even in manual mode. The camera uses the meterung mode in manual also, this means if you set your exposure by the build in camera meter it shows you what it reads. Different modes mean your exposure is different even in manual. If you dont care about the mode you have to go by your eyes only which means you could get it wrong
I used to teach photography crash courses about 8 years ago. It was a quick, 1-hour lesson and then another hour shooting landmarks around downtown in the city. It was with a company and they had three levels of expertise people could sign up to.
I quickly realized it was just easier to learn manual mode than trying to go around the camera's "thinking" with the semi-auto modes and all of their implied variables.
I'm with you on that
Plus, using manual mode lets the photographer think! Supposed an intelligent person is using the camera, the thinking will improve (and thus the amount of - instantly - correctly exposed images), which a camera can not.
O yeah - I actually find it MUCH harder to shoot in ANY of the semi automatic modes - Manual all the way :)
This was very well composed lesson. Easy to follow, both the theory and recommendations/examples.
Karl thanks so much for sharing your talents so freely. I always learn something, even when I go back to review. Grateful.
This is one of the best videos I’ve found. Very informative. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very patiently and nicely explained , thanks
Excellently explained as usual! thanks for breaking it down to really nice parts
My pleasure!
Amazing video, truly great. I was watching while I had my camera in-hand.
Thank you! This is a great vid and I like your style and way of thinking!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love your no bs approach to photography!
I appreciate that!
Thank you Karl :) All your vidéos are perfect, easy to understand, very interesting. The best tutorials on the web :)
Thank you.
Back in the days of film, I used to use a handheld incident light meter. I was more interested in light ratios and the light falling on the subject instead of the light reflecting off various tones. Example: A groom in a black suit with a bride in a super white wedding dress measures the same exposure in incident light if the light is of the same intensity on both the groom and the bride. A through the lens meter, being a reflective meter will read the light reflecting from the black and from the white and give different readings.
I love how your videos bring forth so my clarity on topics I've pondered about for so long, but never heard a precise, educated explanation till I see it on this channel. Thank you for your time in putting this education out there.
You are welcome!
Crystal clear. As usual. The best pedagogue in photography.
Thanks!
Love for the initial statement
You're so kind to offer this course. I shoot in Manual 90 percent of the time. Always so much to learn. You're amazing
cheers karl great course thank you
Karl Taylor is by far one of the best photography teachers. Thanks Karl!
Just subscribed Karl … excellent content , many thanks 🙏 have a great day , cheers Gary
Great information! Thanks...
Manual all the way for me. never bother with anything else.....I remember the info on the inside of boxes for rolls of film...a copy of "The Amateur Photographer Handbook" was your only man in those days....great video as always.
Karl is the man. Great content as usual.
You just earned a new subscriber ❤️ it's very easy to understand well executed 😎😎
Thirteen seconds in and I'm hooked already. Go ahead, bust another myth. I've been abusing photo myths for 35 years.
🤣😂🤣
You're one of the best photographers channels ever ❤
Wow, thank you!
Very useful and saving a lot of time. Thanks for sharing Sir 🙏🏼😘🌺
My pleasure
thanks! Simple and clear!
You're welcome
Another great video. Thanks!
Thanks for watching
Fantastic tutorial thank you 🙏🏼
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you very much, it was very informative and helpful
Glad it was helpful!
Great video ! Tks. Very clear.
Glad it was helpful!
I often use highlight weighted spot metering with my Nikon in dark theaters with spotlights in aperture priority.
Wow, thank you. You are a great teacher.
Wow, thank you!
Great video 👌🏼
Excellent job. You explained every thing in great details. I would definitely go to your web site for more knowledge. Thanks, indeed
Glad it was helpful!
Good vid thanks for sharing 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thanks for watching!
Impressive work.
Thanks. Great again!
As soon as the video started, something told me that you didn't pay much attention to metering modes, I don't know why but I knew. Excellent as always.
Cheers.
Very well said, thank you.
Thanks for watching!
I just keep it at spot all the time. But most of the time I don't even use it. Since I use a mirrorless camera, I look through the evf to check if that's good to my eye or not. And I also look at the histogram to make sure that the highlights aren't blown out. I only look at the metering bar when lighting condition is complicated to make sure that the highlights and the shadows are still within the dynamic range that my camera can capture.
Hey Karl ! I love your content. Could you share some stories about your worst times or jobs in photography ? I know it's been a loooong road for you to become such a professional. You could cheer up some of us.
Thanks. Maybe check out my webinar interview on Hasselblad's channel.
The in-camera reflected metering recommendation varies with the size of the subject relative to the meter pattern, background and subject tonality, and built in algorithms. You need only shift the camera, keeping the subject in the same position within the frame, from horizontal to vertical when using Evaluative/Matrix metering to see the metered. recommendation change. More often than not the exposure recommended will need to be altered to suit your vision of the scene: how you want the main subject to be rendered in tone relative to the background environment.
I use spot metering a known tone making adjustments accordingly. Spot Metering Mode does one thing renders all tones it reads to an 18% grey accurately and without fail each and every time. So this is my preferred metering mode. I can make quick on the spot changes to the recommended setting. I know from experience that a total white tone will need three stops over the recommended reading to get a perfect tone.
White with detail plus two to two and half stops, light grey plus one stop and midtone no adjustment. Dark grey minus one stop, black with detail minus two to two and half stops and total black tone minus three stops, then checking RGB histogram to see where the tonal ranges fall. And further compensate if needed.If the scene contrast is greater than that of the range of your medium (typically 5 stops) then the whites will lack detail, and the darker areas will block up unless you compensate accordingly. The closing down of one f/stop for whites, and the opening up of the same for blacks is simply a matter of salting and peppering to taste. For more detail in the blacks, open up; for more in the whites close down, no secrets here.
You can use a digital camera’s RGB histogram to check exposures after the fact, and, while in-camera, histograms are convenient and, yes, powerful tools, they can be confusing to interpret, as can “eyeballing” image brightness on the tiny LCD preview screen found on the back of your camera. An in-camera histogram represents the overall tonal values present in the scene. It does not tell us if the most important element is properly exposed. You could easily be off your ideal exposure and not know that from the in-camera histogram. Isolating the element/subject/area of most importance via a selection in PhotoShop and viewing the histogram is more beneficial in ascertaining critical exposure as it relates to the overall image.
This content is incredible 👍
Cheers.
Excellent explanation
Glad you liked it
Thank you, this was immensely helpful. However, I don't understand how you "lock the exposure" before recomposing the shot.
Karl, you put a smile on my face, cause I don't either, I think it is spot hehehehe.
Always shoot manual, look at the picture in view finder, look at the histogram and most of the time, just by gut feeling !
Thanks for sharing !
Thank you.
I'm currently in art school for digital photography. I started last year when the pandemic first started. I wanted that hands on experience, but sadly campus was closed do to covid. So everything has been online. Its hard for me to get a good grasp when I am just reading the books and powerpoint slides. These videos have helped me tremendously. I really enjoy them and I've learned a lot. Thank you!
Thank you
Thank You Karl !!!!!
Welcome.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful insight about metering modes. I had been looking for such detailed explanation about metering mode since long.
Glad it was helpful!
Super informative video. Remember the time we bracketing for have a safe exposure 😁😁😁
Thanks
Got a manual lens on a camera that doesn't support metering with it. I planned to set it manualy and then adjust based on the readings frm screen and histogram. To my surprise the adjustment was needed only the first couple times. Then the exposure turned out to be just what I expected from looking on the seen. So I don't care if there is a meeter at all.
Really enjoyed that, mm is easier once you’ve got over the hoodoo
The explanations given are true. One thing to keep in mind however, is that all the modes are based on 18% reflectance.
Thanks Mr Karl Taylor for posting.
I use Matrix metering because I want to go down the rabbit hole and explore how to expose for different situations in manual mode and unplug myself from all these jargons that make gear holic reviewers switch camera systems and cause others to follow them like blind Lemmings.
In other words, excellent video.👍👍👍
Thank you.
As usual Karl, right on. I can't believe how many people these days think manual is hard to do. They should try the old, chrome, days with Polaroid backs, flash meters, spot meters, and all the mental averaging calculations....... It's so easy to just look and adjust.
Yes those were the days!
All metering patterns and methods work, some are simply easier to implement than others in certain circumstances. In truth, I will use whatever method I think is easier in a given situation.
I believe to truly be a consistent photographer you need to understand the benefits and detriments of each pattern and method. Knowing how the pattern or reference value determines the recommended exposure, be it Eval/Matrix, Spot, Incident, or Reference Values is paramount to this understanding.
Best teacher ever
Thank you Munarara :-)
As longest I'm on Manuel mode the metering doesn't matter? Thank you for your answer
Fine way to explain metering
Glad it was helpful!
Good information
Thanks
Thank you ❤️🙏
Welcome!
We❤️ your videos always
Thank you.
When I trained in 1990 we learnt sensitometry and the zone system, basically how to measure the tonal range of a scene and increase/decrease exposure and development to produce a printable negative, with today's mirrorless cameras the ability to see the histogram makes things so much easier, that and learning to 'read' a scene i.e. does shadow or highlight detail takes presidence makes camera metering choice less of an issue.
Ahh yes the zone system and also using it in the darkroom for printing, those were the days. I do miss a lot of the facets of the analogue way of doing things and am grateful that I cut my teeth back in that day.
This is best video and best info photographers should watch this video more understands
Thank you.
You’re a blessing
Great video! I started learning more about metering modes and in theory it makes sense but a bit frustrating in practice - for example my 70D is supposed to measure light in spot metering mode based on where the focus point is but when I try it seems like it is only measuring from the small spot in the centre of the screen that cannot be moved ? (same for partial ). Have I understood this wrong?
You'd have to check your manual and also the menu on the camera to see if you have activated that feature.
Brilliant thanks
Very welcome
Thank You soooooooo much sir
Most welcome
All my Canon DSLR's live in evaluative metering mode. I just eyeball the scene and set exposure base on what I want from that in manual. So generally I also don't care about the metering mode.
thank you Karl! very cool and well served information! are you based in england?
In the UK
Great video Karl! Tapping your Rolex on the table when you gestured gave me ocd though ! Lol
I used to be a analogue spotmetering expert:))
I have one example when auto mode could be very helpfull. For example if I'm using camera with digital viewfinder and shooting in very sunny day then screen of my camera will be very dark (compared to daylight) and bad colors. So I just can't rely on my artistic view of correct exposure. In this case I could take big bright monitor with my camera (or some other helping things) or just finger crossed and rely on auto metering. Also auto is good if you should hold hour camera in strange position like very close to the ground or very high and you just can't see what is going on in viewfinder. In this case it's ok, better then trying to find stairs somewhere in the mountains for example. And RAW have enough stored data to correct mistake of +- 1 EV without big problems.
Metering Naming is a great angle to put in some marketing and differentiation. I am pretty sure that whoever came up with "matrix" scored a bonus.
I prefer and almost exclusively use spot+AEL with the help of necessary manual focus support to be honest.
I use my camera in manual mode. I don’t use the other modes. I do use exposure compensation because I shoot ice hockey and many sunny days in winter. The camera will want to close down the aperture. This gives me an under exposed image, muddy colours and no detail in skin tones when players are on the ice due to the reflective surface. So Exposure EV is set to +1,7 or +1.3 depending on the arena. I usually check settings and surroundings before games.
Snow scenes are the same. A lot of reflection from snow. Even when overcast the camera can give me a false reading due to the snow and make the scene flat or the snow almost gray. So I use EV when needed
When using manual mode, you have to consider the luminance value of the metered surface: when metering snow in cloudy light, you have to let the meter go to +2 EV in stead of 0 using aperture or shutter speed setting. That will directly give you the white snow instead of the grey one. Using the EV correction gives the same effect when at +2, but the possibility exist that you will forget to re-adjust it and the following photo's will be overexposed. You can easily train yourself to interpret multiple surfaces to luminance values and it lasts a lifetime.
Smart to use a grey sweater on the model ;)
Happy accident.
I need to check those two brands out, never heard of a nickon or the h one...
Professor Karl!
😊
I think metering mode will be way better in the future, for example take the face priority setting for the sony alpha, it is getting way better by the day and ai solution will come for the next generations where you can just input your object - meaning your style of photography - and the ai will quickly understand the way you want to shoot and will give you the correct exposure
I usually shoot landscape images using fixed aperture at a fixed iso. Having switched to mirrorless I now adjust exposure by monitoring the histogram as I change the shutter speed. I can do this totally manually but often find it quicker to choose aperture priority with evaluative or spot metering to get me close and use exposure compensation for final correction.
Aperture priority is useful when the illumination varies a lot (clouds hovering on a windy day), but for widefield landscapes that is seldom useful because the shadows of these clouds are only partially covering the landscape.
Karl, thanks a lot I am a amateur photographer your video helped me a lot. Continue the good work!
Thanks, will do!
Back in the day, Sony Handycams boasted of being able to expose for the highlights and shadows automatically at the same time. Sounds like HDR right? What happened to that technology? I think newer, more advanced mirrorless can do that for photos, or can't they?
Canon has highlight tone priority feature, that may be similar to what you are describing.
I lot of the newer cameras can generate a HDR JPEG, and a few of the newest are even able to do HDR RAW. Depending on what I'm trying to convey, though, sometimes I'll want the shadows to go to 0 or the highlights to 255. As an old Zone System photographer, I usually begin an exposure by deciding where I want the mid-tones to fall. I prefer to make further adjustments--dodging and burning, as it used to be called--in post for final image refinement or to adjust the image for whichever paper I'm printing on.
Hi, pls what do you mean by your subject in center of the frame for center weighted average mode. What is the frame? How can I understand my frame in the view finder? Do you have a video for it? Pls i might sounds stupid, i just need to get this once and for all. Thank you.
The frame is the entire area of your picture or your viewfinder which is a representation of your picture area
@@VisualEducationStudio thank you 🙏🏿
nice
Karl is a World Class teacher of photography. I'm always wanting to improve my skills. I think I'm going to join a monthly subscription as he's made it very affordable. ❤️
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you there!
I've been photographing with cameras that didn't have a built-in meter, but the negatives were processed by a professional photographer who used a self-levelling developer. That was in the seventies when I was nearly a teenager. Over the years I've learned to work with all these systems and when "photographing" there is no other mode but manual for me. The amount of control is impeccable that way. When the kids - and grandchildren - are doing lovely things in the garden, I prefer matrix metering. On every camera (Canon, Olympus or Nikon) this gives the best results globally. Depending on the subject and the background, I use exposure correction. For fast and candid photography the matrix metering is best, but it happens - mostly on Canon - that I prefer centre-weighted metering.
What works best though, is checking the histogram, even when doing action photography (kids, animals, sports). In such situations the surrounding lighting condition is known and in that case even manual mode (sports indoor i.e.) works very well. I used some test shots (in manual mode, that is) before the play and evaluated the histogram and the possible - usable - shutter speed. I set the aperture and ISO to values that worked to get the preferred shutter speed and kept those values throughout the event. The results were better than I expected, actually.
Yes negatives and the C41 processing was very forgiving you could extract more than a stop either way, unlike E6 slide film where the exposures needed to be at least a quarter of a stop on target. When I worked in darkrooms we used to sometimes 'clip test' slide film by processing one frame or sheet as a test, evaluating the exposure and then adjust the processing time and temperature to get more or less exposure out of the film. This was called 'Push' or 'Pull' processing and could often rescue an incorrectly exposed slide/transparency film.
@@VisualEducationStudio In case I used Kodachrome or Ektachrome, my Sekonic L-398A did good work. Since films like these were calibrated to match a calibrated ASA-value, the external meter was useful there (although the spot meter in the Olympus OM-2 Spot Program did an excellent job *), but since digital cameras interpret ISO-values quite different, the only true way for me is the histogram.
*) this reminds me that I trained myself to interpret different surfaces to the meter values: Caucasian skin would be 2/3 step higher; grass was mostly 1/3 lower as well as dry tarmac, etc... a leftover from my early experiments with black-and-white film where I translated the colours in my head to greyscales or luminance values. That still comes in handy! Of course, using the Sphere on the Sekonic excluded this "trick" because no reflective colours were involved.
Ironically, I feel easier to work on manual mode and just check the histogram than relying on decisions taken by the camera. I am still struggling to understand semi automatic modes.
“A” or aperture priority let’s you pick the aperture and iso, the camera uses its metering to choose a shutter speed. “S” or shutter priority let’s you choose the shutter speed and iso and the cameras metering will choose an aperture to properly expose. Depending on the shot you need you choose one over the other (such as bokeh or needing a high shutter speed for action)
I'm kinda the same. I went straight to M mode have never messed with other modes
same 4 me, started in film days in manual and never learned the simi-auto modes.
I was taught in portrait photography to meter close to the subject with a light meter or camera meter. Is that still the case?
Spot metering
When difference between what you see on camerascreen is very different from what you see on computer at home, going from normal to underexposed?
This has happened to me, sometimes the ambient conditions shooting in bright light mean the screen doesn't stand out as much as you would like, just like looking at a phone in the sun. In the menu settings of most cameras though there is a brightness adjust for the screen only which helps but you need to remember to put it back when indoors or it will look wrong the other way too. I also usually have a black cloth in my bag to throw over my head to look at the camera.
The camera display is neither calibrated nor profiled and displays an 8-bit jpeg thumbnail, therefore not the most reliable way to assess exposure.
Yes you can use exposure compensation and find out which metering mode to use and waste half an hour or just use the spot meter and check on screen and see if it's ok...
Yes exactly what I said
@@VisualEducationStudio and that is why I like your vodeos 😉
Great stuff. I'm certainly no 'pro', but it's always a delight to hear another photographer who's more interested in getting the shot than in getting the gear.
Incidentally, this video reminds me (in a GOOD way) of Jean-Luc Picard on the Enterprise discussing the main deflector's settings with Geordi... 😁
😊
Sir I have a small doubt.. please... If I go to multiple flashes with trigger.. if I do not use 15 to 20 minutes flashes in the shooting.. again if I triggered is it fire or go to off mode.. is their any option too sir...
Most flashes have a 'sleep' mode which you may be able to deactivate.
Thank you sir
I often take a first shot with spot metering and a simplified zone system, then adjust the exposure based on the result.
Hi @Karl Taylor : I have a doubt, which I have asked many, but not got an answer at all. Why don't camera makers introduce a bracketing with Spot, Centre weighted, average and evaluative metering. Is it not good to have such bracketing in complex situations where photographer do not have time to experiment or might miss the shot due to wrong selection of metering.
Hi, I'm sure some of the current camera models do have exposure bracketing.
@@VisualEducationStudio I have Nikon Z7, Z5 and D850. None of these models have bracketing on metering modes.
If you shoot manual mode, do you need metering modes? I’m confused.
Nevermind. I looked at your website and got the answer.
“It’s only really when you’re working in automatic or semi-automatic modes that metering really comes in handy.”
@@lewis1180 ok great!
Which mode would you use for football 🏈
Good video, little bit too basic but we need these sometime. Light metering is useful in a rush but for anything else I prefer manual aswell.
Totally agree
Before i finally bought a pro DSLR i thought that photography is a piece of cake (easy)... But after I got my 5D Mark III, and watching many tutorials, tips, etc... I am overwhelmed a little bit 😟
If you go through our free course you will find it much easier karltayloreducation.com/free-photography-course/
How much did the big reflector you used during your various 'real-world' metering examples influence the final results?
The only big reflector would have been the wall of the building? The sun was behind or to the side of the model. Would you like me to repeat the test in a bigger open space?
@@VisualEducationStudio I think he means that you shot the photos in conditions in which the differences are not so visible.
I don't want to give suggestions to a very professional photographer as you are, but - maybe - a situation like the one you used at the end of the video as an example of "fill flash" (the one on the beach) could had suited better the purpose
@@Misterrocckettaro I think he thought we used a reflector and there was some sort of conspiracy. In fact shooting next to a wall with light bouncing off it is quite common in many street photography scenarios so not that unusual besides that's not the point of the video, this wasn't a comparison of different camera types metering accuracy this was a general beginner level video to help new photographers understand the purpose of different metering modes and then allow them to find out more for free with our introduction course. I snapped these shots out the back of our studio, I'm afraid a trip to the beach wasn't possible on this day!
@@VisualEducationStudio Yes, that's the reflector I was referring to. :) Whether a happy accident or a deliberate choice, there's no denying it's significant impact in reducing the overall scene contrast, which in turn makes for easier metering.
@@ThorstenMerz There was nothing deliberate about going out the back of the studio to find a spot where the sun would be behind one of my team. This one is aimed at beginners, it helps them understand metering modes and what they do and when you might use them, it also directs them to an in-depth course that we make available for nothing because it's good for our brand. It's not a video about the accuracy of meters or one brand type against another so it wouldn't really make a difference if we shot it in the middle of the Sahara.