Diving Deep on Metering: Spot vs Center-Weighted vs Matrix

Last lesson, we devoted our time in learning the light meter. We said that the light meter is a very useful tool that helps photographers determine the exposure of their image even before they shoot the actual shot.

The light meter is usually located on the topside of the camera, inside the viewfinder, or on the screen itself. Being a meter, the light meter appears to be a ruler with the integers -3 to 3 on it. We said that as the integer decreases, so does your exposure and that an image metered at zero is a well-balanced picture in terms of exposure.

However, we also discussed that a well-balanced picture isn’t necessarily what we are looking for since you may want to intentionally underexpose or overexpose a photo depending on the subject.

In order to adjust the light meter, you simply have to make use of your exposure triangle except for the ISO as adjusting in regard to the light meter requires precision.

During the previous article, we also discussed that the light meter looked to have become obsolete already due to digital photography where people can just do test shots. However, our lesson today will show you how the light meter was transformed to a helpful tool yet again in this new age of photography.

Today we will be discussing the different types of metering, particularly spot, center-weighted, and matrix metering. These three meterings calculate light in different styles and areas to give light metering a digital edge.

The Rebirth of the Light Meter

As we mentioned before, as traditional photography transitioned to the digital age, a lot of elements or tools had to adapt. A classic example is, of course, the film rolls which were replaced by the much superior sensors.

In the topic of exposure, the ISO also experienced a big change since films were not used anymore. In the case of the light meter, however, instead of simply adapting, it had to evolve and expand.

This is where metering enters the picture.

Metering is the camera’s way of calculating exposure to show you what you see in your light meter. Back in the days of film photography, exposure was only calculated in the center and put a prime on where the camera was actually pointing out.

However, today, we will be discussing three types of metering that modern cameras use to calculate exposure. Knowing about the different types of metering should be able to give you a very handy tool in playing with exposure.

Spot vs. Center-Weighted vs. Matrix

Without further ado, here are the three types of metering and a little bit of everything you need to know about them.

Spot Metering

As the name suggests, spot metering is the type of metering that calculates exposure in a spot, particularly the focused area. The spot is an area somewhere in the middle of your view and what spot metering does is to actually average the amount of light in the said spot.

Through spot metering, dark spots and light spots in the center of what you see in your viewfinder are averaged and used. Although the spot metering is quite straightforward, using it still requires a good amount of practice.

Center-Weighted Metering

Much like spot metering, the center-weighted metering also calculates exposure as seen in a spot. The key difference between the Center-weighted metering and the spot metering is that the former has a fixed spot in the middle.

Although brightness around the circle are still calculated, they have minor effects on the result since the center-weighted metering is focused on the middle.

Matrix Metering

Matrix metering is perhaps the most flexible metering among all your choices, and is the most complicated as well. Since this type of metering gathers light through 1005 red, green, and blue sensors, it is able to do more than just calculate exposure.

Matrix metering actually analyzes other elements in the scene also from the overall brightness to the contrast. This metering is the most advanced option among the three and it is actually very helpful for starters.

These three are the types of metering that you can choose to use. Each one has its own way of calculating exposure and degree of difficulty to use so be sure to keep on progressing through them.

Conclusion

Today we discussed the different types of metering available to common cameras. We mentioned that spot, center-weighted, and matrix metering are the light meter’s form of evolving in the digital age.

Through these different meterings, you can calculate exposure in different areas and also in different ways. The spot metering calculates what’s in your focus area, your center-weighted metering has 75% of its calculation done at the middle of the scene.
Also, the matrix metering may be complicated but it is the most convenient one.

Next lesson we will be formally closing this section on exposure. Our final lesson will be about the histogram and how can we use it to judge photos. The histogram is another important built-in tool to help you properly judge your images’ exposure.

Don’t forget to keep on sharing these articles and lessons with your peers!