Chris Murray wrote: > My camera comes with a built in through the lens multi-segment > meter, my question is? What the heck is that :)
> I did a net search, and came up with a site that said it was almost like a > spot meter, taking 75% of the reading from a circle about the size of the > autofocus markers [ ] and takes the other 25% from the rest of the > frame. > Does this sound correct? Can I use the camera meter like a spot meter? > (is it close enough) Hi Chris, Well, that would be a really BIG spot.... ;-) A spot meter measures a very narrow field of view -- perhaps a degree, or a few degrees. It meters exposure based on the intensity of light within that narrow field of view, and is (ideally) not affected by intensity of light outside this narrow field. Multisegment metering -- at least in the ZX/MZ-50 -- is probably closer in performance to center-weighted averaging, I think. Definitely not spot metering, though. On the ZX/MZ-50, it works somewhat better than center-weighted averaging in scenes with very high contrast. For example, in shutter priority mode, I had very bright and very dark surfaces simultaneously in the viewfinder of my MZ-50, and the body was indicating the need for flash, even though the metered shutter speed was 1/60 sec on a 50mm lens. Is it close enough? Depends on what you're shooting. If the light intensity from every point in your scene is equal, then spot metering and multisegment metering would give identical results. (And in this case, center-weighted metering would also give the same result.) However, if there are shadows and lights across different portions of your scene (e.g., a close-in portrait of someone illuminated from the side, a black dog on white snow, etc.), then spot metering and multisegment metering would give different results. Hope this helps. Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
