EOS The question of spot-metering

[Ken Durling]

A few folks have mentioned the lack of spot-metering in the 20D, and one 
person suggested that this is less of an issue with digital cameras  in 
general.  This got me thinking.  One of the purposes of spot-metering is to 
make sure that the contrast range of a scene falls within the range of a 
given film, or that it is at least "placed" in relationship to that range 
in such a way that it can be then controlled further during 
development.  Zone system and all that.  In this respect, I understand why 
a SM would be less relevant for a digital camera. We also think of reversal 
film having an f/stop range of about 5 stops, and negative film about 7 
stops.

So for me this brings up two questions: given that we still print from 
digital images,  even though we can't really "expose for highlights, 
develop for shadows", isn't there still some benefit to being able to 
"place" values with a spot meter if for no other than reason than to make 
printing easier?  And, what is the exposure range of a "typical" digital 
sensor?  Is it closer to 5 or 7 stops?

(Note: all I own digitally so far is a G2, which has a sort of "spot 
meter."  I use it a lot to do kind of an "exposure preview", placing that 
(I assume) 18% spot on different values and gauging the result in the LCD 
which i know you can't do with a DSLR except after the shot , but I do find 
it a very useful feature for that.)

Ken
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