How important is accurate metering?

[nickzou]

I keep hearing how the D7000 has some godly metering system but how important is it really? I usually just ball park it with the meter then just use my intuition.

 

[Robin Usagani]

it depends how much you need to fix it really. If your range is really big (dark to bright) I say it is pretty important to get it right pretty close because you have no room to play. If it is mostly middle tones, you can be under or over by 1 no problem.

 

[tirediron]

It's only as important as it is to you to get the result you want.

 

[Josh66]

How important is getting the right exposure?


1 or maybe even 2 stops would be that devastating, but much more than that and you probably won't be able to pull what you want out of it. Depends on what kind of dynamic range you have to work with too, and how you're metering. If you don't want blown highlights or clipped shadows, metering would be more important.

 

[joealcantar]

I'd ask how important is your time. The time you have to spend on correcting images because of metering issues can add up.
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Shoot well, Joe

 

[Big Mike]

If you rely on the camera's meter to get your exposure...then it's fairly important.

But if you expose the photo the way that you want to expose it...then it's less important.

 

[nickzou]

I've been using the using the multi-zone mode on my camera and it seems to consistently overexpose the picture so I have to crank it down to my own liking. I just use it to put me in range but I find myself fine tuning it myself.

 

[Big Mike]

Does it overexpose the photo...according to how you see it on the camera's LCD screen...or are the photos still overexposed on a 'properly calibrated' computer monitor? What about the histogram?

And what are you shooting when you get these overexposed photos? If your subjects have less reflectivity than middle grey, then it's the meter's job to overexpose them (and your job to counter act that).

It's also not unheard of for certain cameras or certain lenses to lean toward over or underexposure. So once you get familiar with what your gear does, you can adjust for that.

 

[Mike_E]

Try using the spot meter on the darkest spot you want to see detail and then add 2 stops.

 

[Big Mike]

Try using the spot meter on the darkest spot you want to see detail and then add 2 stops.

When metering on black, you need to subtract two stops. If you meter on white, then you add 2 stops.

 

[gsgary]

For me it is as important as remembering to take your camera to a shoot

 

[Josh66]

If you rely on the camera's meter to get your exposure...then it's fairly important.

If you rely on a meter of any kind (in camera, or out), I would say it's pretty important...

If you are using any type of meter at all, what's the point in using it if you are going to just disregard what it is telling you?

Just to be clear, when I say "the right" exposure, I don't mean to just zero the meter out on whatever you're pointing it at. "The right" exposure is the exposure you had planned before you took the picture, and you usually need some type of meter to nail that the first time.