Spot Metering 10*

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Does the Canon EOS 300 have spot metering of 10* When they mention Partial Metering of 9.5% is that the same as spot metering.

Confused.

-- Jeffrey Alan Herrington (jeffreyherrington@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002

Answers

What do you mean by 10*?

The EOS 300 (Rebel 2000) has a 9.5% partial metering circle. In other words, it meters all light in a circle in the middle of the frame that covers 9.5% of the image.

No, this isn't considered spot metering since it isn't precise enough. 9.5% is a very fat spot meter. Usually spot meters meter around 2-3% of the image area.

For some reason - probably marketing - Canon have decided that only pro and semi-pro models can carry actual spot metering. So you have to go to the expensive EOS 3 in the current EOS lineup before you get true spot metering. All the low and midrange EOS cameras have partial metering instead.

-- NK Guy (tela@tela.bc.ca), April 09, 2002.


Partial Metering is not Spot Metering. Spot Metering covers a much smaller area, like the EOS 3 @ 2.4%.

-- Derrick Morin (dmorin@oasisol.com), April 09, 2002.

If by "10*" you mean 10 degrees, no. They're not the same thing. It's dependent on the lens you use with it. The 9.5% partial works out to a 11.67 degree, "very fat spot" meter with a 50mm lens. But if you attach a 300mm lens it's less than 2 degrees. That's not a bad spot meter. Of course changing lenses all the time just to take a spot reading would be a bit of a hassel. On the other hand, buying, packing and using a hand held sopt meter is the simplest thing either.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 09, 2002.

Change that last line to read: "On the other hand, buying, packing and using a hand held spot meter isn't the simplest thing either.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 09, 2002.

Thank you all for your replies. The reason I asked is that I photograph birds. The bird is the main point of focus and the only part of the picture I want exposed properly as the background is blurred. Would a spot meter reading of the bird in question improve my pictures or not.

-- j (jeffreyherrington@hotmail.com), April 10, 2002.


Jeff

"The bird is the main point of focus and the only part of the picture I want exposed properly as the background is blurred. Would a spot meter reading of the bird in question improve my pictures or not."

Spot metering cannot help you get focus on bird and a blurred background. Focusing and light metering is completely different. You may use a wide aperture of your lens to make the object stand out and have the background blurred. Spot metering is a type of light metering. This considers the reflected light that comes from the object where you point the spot and gives you a correct exposure values in terms of aperture and shutter speed. I think you need to study a little bit of basics. I suggest to get a book on basic photography. "National Geographic photography field guide" by Peter Burian is a good start. All the best!

-- John (eosquestions@yahoo.com), April 10, 2002.


Whether the background is blurred or not is also a function of how far you are away from the bird with your telephoto. Even using a wide aperture--if you are fairly far away--the background will not be terribly blurry. Such is the nature of photography.

By the same token, if you use a long telephoto, and you have "filled the frame" with the bird, the spot meter isn't going to matter, since you wouldn't necessarily wish to expose the picture according to certain feathers.

Spot meters tend to be of the most use in low-light, when you really care to expose only a certain part of the frame. Don't forget that, of a distant bird in foliage in the daylight, the spot meter and evaluative meter will likely return the same exposure value.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), April 10, 2002.


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