How to use metering on K100D

Hi chaps!

I've had a K100D for a couple of months now; it's my first DSLR (and I chose Pentax!!) and I wanted to see if I could get to grips with it before going for a K20D - or possibly a K30D when (if) it comes out next year.

I've been VERY happy with this camera so far - but what I want to experiment with now is metering....and although the manual tells me how to change the default option from spot metering to a multi spot metering - It does'nt actually tell me how to activate it in the first place (or am I being very unobservant?!)

If someone out there can just forgive my newbie-ness and explain how I put my K100D into metering mode, I would be VERY appreciative!

Thanks guys.

i might be misunderstanding this... but it just does it!

the camera neters to automatically adjust the shutter speed/and or aperture depending on the mode the camera is in.

if you are in Av mode the camera will meter to work out the shutter speed to match the aperture selected... you can adjust this with the +/- button on the top to over/under-expose. of course, if you use the camera in Manual mode, then you set both shutter and aperture, so there's nothing to meter (as such). In shutter priority mode the camera will adjust the aperture to match the chosen shutter speed - again, with the ability to under/over-expose to +/- 2 stops.

When you set up a shot you can also 'lock' the metering to a chosen area by pressing the button on the rear top right of the camera. this is handy for wanting the correct exposure for an area that won't be in the centre of the frame (where the camera meters in spot and middle settings). it's much the same as choosing the focal point and then moving the framing.

hope this makes sense.

I'm not sure what you think "metering mode" is, Snootchies. The "meter" is the light meter that is used by all the camera's exposure modes, and it has three modes itself: matrix, centre-weighted and spot.

The meter activates automatically when the camera is turned on, or when you half-press the shutter button after it has fallen asleep.

In Av mode, for example, you set the aperture, and the camera will select the apropriate shutter speed based on the light level that it gets from the meter and the aperture and ISO settings. The meter may give the camera a different reading depending on the metering mode, so the metering mode can affect the exposure.

The only time the exposure is not affected by the meter is with the fully manual "M" mode - but even then the meter reading is displayed for your information.

[ps. I typed this before I saw laurencea's reply - saying about the same thing, of course]

A huge thanks to both laurencea and Iceblinker.

I've spent all of my time in manual mode and have'nt bothered with Tv and Av modes yet - I did not realise that selecting the shutter button half way down invoked their own metering modes with a shutter or aperature priority - I thought that function soley allowed the user to select independantly which shutter speed or aperature setting they wanted. Now I realise it does a bit more than that!

Again; thanks very much and appologies for being an utter newb here!