New type of metering?

[EchoingWhisper]

Shouldn't there be a new type of metering? A metering that calculates how many stops from blowing out the highlights/how much exposure needed to decrease to prevent blowing out the highlight?

 

[MLeeK]

I think your idea is rather brilliant in general. I think it would make it easier to know exactly what you are exposing. Do I think it will happen? I have faith in you! Develop it!

 

[2WheelPhoto]

+1, make it happen =)

 

[Josh66]

You can do it now if you really want to, it's not that hard.

Just spot meter on more than one place.


edit
I re-read your post, and the answer is even easier than I thought at first. You just need to learn about the zone system...

 

[EchoingWhisper]

You can do it now if you really want to, it's not that hard.

Just spot meter on more than one place.

I do use spot meter, but it just doesn't really fully work, I still get blown highlights.

 

[Josh66]

You can do it now if you really want to, it's not that hard.

Just spot meter on more than one place.

I do use spot meter, but it just doesn't really fully work, I still get blown highlights.

Well, then you are ignoring what the meter is telling you. You can't blame the camera for that...

 

[Rephargotohp]

You can do it now if you really want to, it's not that hard.

Just spot meter on more than one place.

I do use spot meter, but it just doesn't really fully work, I still get blown highlights.

Then you are not spot metering the Highlight. BUT, if the Dynamic Range of the Scene is beyond what your camera can capture, if you expose correctly for highlight, you most likely will have a very under exposed image

 

[Josh66]

You don't have to expose for the highlight, you just need to know which zone the highlight should be in. And then put it there.

 

[Rephargotohp]

Also in-camera Spot meters cover a lot larger area than you think so often you are still getting an average of that highlight area+

I've measured fo highlight and then gone 2 under and have gotten a correct highlight exposure (if that is really what is critical to the image) If you are shooting portraits the highlight is not critical to the image, the skin tone exposure is

 

[unpopular]

The Gossen Starlight could do this in Zone mode. You would spot meter off a reference, place in the appropriate zone then spot meter off another region you wish to compare, I think, iirc, it would then read out the number of zones/stops over Zone X. You could even turn the dial and place the regions into different zones, so if you metered Zone III and Zone X+2, you could turn the knob so you could get Zone I and Zone X. You would then exit zone mode and it would tell you what the exposure was based on the placement of the reference.

As for spot metering and blown hilights, what I do is spot meter off the brightest region and increase by 4 2/3 stop's exposure, which is the outer limits of my camera's latitude. If anything is clipped on the shadows, I know that if I provided any additional exposure to prevent these blocked up shadows, then it would clip the hilights since my exposure compensation is already at extreme latitude. The permits maximum signal and latitude in the RAW file.

The RAW file will appear too light, but with maximum signal I can just decrease the exposure using curves in post.

 

[unpopular]

I've measured fo highlight and then gone 2 under and have gotten a correct highlight exposure (if that is really what is critical to the image) If you are shooting portraits the highlight is not critical to the image, the skin tone exposure is

While that is true, I still think it is a good idea to prevent blown specular hilight whenever possible.

I also don't quite understand. If you spot meter off the hilights, this would place them at middle grey? Are you using an evaluative mode?

 

[EchoingWhisper]

I mean, even if you could use spot meter, it wouldn't be good enough. If this type of metering does exist, you could ETTR as much as possible to get the least noise without blowing out the highlight and will also be a good starting point for people shooting ISOless.

 

[Josh66]

It's not about exposing to the right.

It's about using the tools you already have (spot meter) to measure the dynamic range of the scene and then make an informed decision based on your findings.

The tools are already there - you just have to learn how to use them.

 

[unpopular]

You don't have to expose for the highlight, you just need to know which zone the highlight should be in. And then put it there.

With b/w film you would expose for the shadows and develop for the hilights, but with digital hilights are far less flexible. I prefer exposing for the hilights and "developing" for the shadows. Doing this I very seldom encounter lost shadows, and typically they fall in around Zone 3 or lighter, but I usually also opt for low contrast lighting situations.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

I've measured fo highlight and then gone 2 under and have gotten a correct highlight exposure (if that is really what is critical to the image) If you are shooting portraits the highlight is not critical to the image, the skin tone exposure is

While that is true, I still think it is a good idea to prevent blown specular hilight whenever possible.

I also don't quite understand. If you spot meter off the hilights, this would place them at middle grey? Are you using an evaluative mode?

Spot metering covers quite a large area, so you are getting an average of the entire area, not just the brightest area, so you might still get blown out highlights.