Metering mode

In complex light situations professional photographers tend to switch to manual mode, rather than depending on a setting determined by the camera.

For example, in a backlit situation a rising sun may be behind a person whose face will be much darker than the bright halo around the body and hairline.

Other metering methods will increase overall exposure in an attempt to lighten the dark sky area, resulting in overexposure of the moon.

This mode of exposure is less influenced by peripheral areas of the scene and is therefore well suited for photographs with subjects or objects of interest in the central part of the image.

In some situations, such as a snowy landscape, this mode will result in underexposure by 2 f-stops or more, because the metering system attempts to darken an excessively bright scene.

The camera measures the light intensity in several points in the scene and then combines the results to find the setting for the best exposure.

A number of factors are taken into consideration, including: autofocus point, distance to subject, areas in or out of focus, colours/hues of the scene, and backlighting.

Clipping is reduced by using a high resolution metering sensor and analyzing each area for washed-out ("blown") highlights or underexposed shadows.

[3] Although there are some similarities with multi-zone, matrix, or evaluative metering, this mode uses a high-resolution sensor for detailed detection and gives more weight to reduce clipping.