5D mkII metering mode

Hi everyone,

Its been a few years since I've been active on the forum. I havent been photographing as much. The past few years were sort of turbulent, in a good way.

Any how, I mentioned earlier that I shifted from my 1D MKII to a 5D MKII. Finally got into full frame.


What metering should we use?

I know thats a huge question but just generally which metering mode is best for most scenes or can someone provide a little summary on each mode.

Thanks!

Evaluative Metering should be fine 90% of the time. You may have to use Spot Metering for back-lit subjects. I don't use Center-Weighted Average, but that's just me. I find Evaluative Metering works best. Just MHO.

gibbit1 wrote in post #13324125
Evaluative Metering should be fine 90% of the time. You may have to use Spot Metering for back-lit subjects. I don't use Center-Weighted Average, but that's just me. I find Evaluative Metering works best. Just MHO.

I agree and will add that spot metering works well when the subject is 'squeezed' inbetween other portions of the composition. The manual has a good explanation of how the different modes operate.

I am very well aware of spot.

I am confused between the other 3.

Evaluative works fine for "average" scenes with even lighting, but less well for high contrast scenes or other unusual subject/lighting situations unless you intervene to apply the appropriate exposure compensation (which can also be true for any of the metering modes).

Here are some good links:
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com/tutorials/c​amera-metering.htm
http://mansurovs.com/u​nderstanding-metering-modes

What about indoors and theres not much sun light and the lights are off.

Evaluative averages the entire frame but weights the area around the active focus point and then compares the distribution of light and shadow in the image and the position of the focus point to a database of several thousand patterns to find the "best" exposure. Thus it works best in conjunction with auto focus point selection, less well when focus point is constrained (to the center point, for instance, as most people work). Center weighted averages the entire frame but attaches more importance to a central area that is 9-10% of the frame. Partial measures only that same 9% area and Spot measures only a central 3% spot.

BTW and for what it's worth, personally I don't use any of them. I prefer to determine exposure using the real time histogram in Live View because I shoot only RAW and am primarily concerned with proper placement of the highlights.