centre weighted metering / multi segment metering ?

I have been trying to understand in what circumstances centre weighted metering has an advantage over multi segment metering. Tried googling the web of course, but I have not really found any good solid guide lines.

Any tips greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

/Ian

Centre weighted is used for portraits where you want the metering on a specific subject or part of the shot.

There are some really good tutorials here. Lesson 3 covers Camera Metering.

Any metering pattern can be used for any purpose, the key is understanding what the camera is doing so that the photographer knows when to intervene.

I use Centre Weighted metering all the time and have the exposure compensation set to the front e-dial. When I know the meter is being fooled I apply compensation.

That's straightforward if you practice and take note of what happens under what circumstances as you learn.

Spot metering has its uses, but 90% of the people I've seen face-to-face with metering problems have inadvertently set the camera to this type of metering. Then they have used the camera in a point-and-shoot fashion, with disastrous results.

i experimented for a while with Centre-Weighted, and found I ended-up with over-exposed shots. Under-exposed is MUCH preferable -its amazing what you can recover in Lightroom...but clipping is end of story! May be more of a problem on older cameras?

I've got a Sekonic 758 light meter which I now use for those times when Spot Metering would be appropriate (i.e. Full Manual mode), with fantastic results - just wish I'd got it sooner (long wait for one at the right price!). Its far better and easier than trying to get the camera to do it...

So gone back to Multi-Segment for normal situations, with occasional chimping on the LCD with Flashing Highlights (useful to wind-down some -EV) - only a handful of pictures out of the 850+ I took last week on holiday came out with clipping. Interestingly, they were all ones taken on lenses without a CPL...

I found the same myself...I too now always use "multi" and apply compensation if it's a little too underexposed.

It probably doesn't matter much whether you use multi or centre-weighted, the important thing is to check your shots each time and re-shoot if necessary (or pre-shoot if you only have the one chance).

Simon