Perhaps naive question, but who needs such fancy metering?

I set the camera to manual, point the camera at a general part of the scene and press the green button, and take a test shot. I then look at the histogram, adjust as necessary and take another test shot.

Everybody should find their own way of working. I acknowledge that my method would not work in many other situations, but it works for me with my type of photography, and I'm happy with how the images turn out )

I take a similar approach to Timbo. Either manual with green button, or AV with exposure compensation. It's very simple and it works! Why do we need to get hung up on technicalities?

If you're shooting fast moving subjects with various backgrounds then obviously this approach won't work, but I've never really had an issue with matrix metering or centre weighted on the K-5, both give me pretty consistent results and if it's obvious there is a bias towards under or over exposure it's easy just to dial in some exposure compensation.

Regards
David

I normally just guess.

Centre weighted metering for me. Just occasionally I might switch to spot metering if the subject requires it. I use EV compensation when
needed.
David

PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

As I understand it, the metering sensor is used as part of the AF system for pattern and scene analysis. As it can differentiate colour, its able to determine whether something has interrupted the object you are tracking, for example.

In a studio, where lighting is under my control, I use manual. Although I have a good exposure meter, I no longer use it. I take a test shot and look at the histogram.

I've also shot an entire airshow (about 6000 DNGs) using manual. I took occasional test shots and use the histogram. For example, test shots of the public address loudspeakers against the sky. This means the camera isn't getting confused by different colours and shades of plane against changing skies and clouds.

(I am more likely to use center-weighted metering in those conditions in combination with TAv mode. I still take occasional test shots and check the histogram).

I have my meterings et to the same as the focus point which is usually the centre spot and then recompose. I can see the advantage of better metering but im set in my workflow now...

Sunny 16 rule in sunshine is usually better than metering.
I always use manual at other times based on what the
THREE Histograms show.... more accurate than just the
white histogram. I usually take a test shot to make sure
the highlights aren't clipped.

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It makes good sense to use these tools and techniques to improve the exposure at capture, and it need not interfere with any creative flow, just needs to be built into a natural shooting workflow, and of course practice makes perfect

Gary, as I understand it, the option to link active focus point to the metering will not limit the reading only to that focus point area, but will give extra bias to that area. In multi-zone mode you're still getting all the advantages of the wide range of readings and rebalancing (say for backlighting) but with that central bias on your focus point. For af work this would arguably be more accurate and faster than centre-weighted metering.