Nikon D7000 manual Choosing a Metering Method, Matrix Metering

Chapter 4 ■ Getting the Right Exposure 105

Choosing a Metering Method

The D7000 has three different schemes for evaluating the light received by its exposure sensors: Matrix (with several variations, depending on what lens you have attached), Center-weighted, and Spot metering. Select the mode you want to use by holding down the Metering button and twirling the main command dial while noting the symbols shown in the top-panel LCD. Here is what you need to know about each metering method:

Matrix Metering

For its various Matrix metering modes, the D7000 slices up the frame into 2,016 dif- ferent zones in an RGB (red/green/blue) array that covers most of the sensor area, shown in Figure 4.7. When Matrix metering is active, an icon appears in the monochrome sta- tus LCD (enlarged in the upper-left corner of the figure). In all cases, the D7000 eval- uates the differences between the zones, and compares them with a built-in database of several hundred thousand images to make an educated guess about what kind of pic- ture you’re taking. For example, if the top sections of a picture are much lighter than the bottom portions, the algorithm can assume that the scene is a landscape photo with lots of sky. An image that includes most of the lighter portions in the center area may be a portrait. A typical image suitable for Matrix metering is shown in Figure 4.8.

The Nikon D7000 also uses information other than brightness to make its evaluation:

■3D Color Matrix metering II. This metering mode is used by default when the D7000 is equipped with a lens that has a type G or type D designator in its name, such as the AF-S DX Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR lens. The G after the f/5.6 is the giveaway. (More on lens nomenclature in Chapter 11.) The camera cal- culates exposure based on brightness, colors of the subject matter (that is, blue pix- els in the upper part of the image are probably sky; green pixels in the lower half probably foliage), focus point, and distance information. The D7000 is able to use that additional distance data to better calculate what kind of scene you have framed. For example, if you’re shooting a portrait with a longer focal-length lens focused to about 5 to 12 feet from the camera, and the upper half of the scene is very bright, the camera assumes you would prefer to meter for the rest of the image, and dis- count the bright area. However, if the camera has a wide-angle lens attached and is focused at infinity, the D7000 can assume you’re taking a landscape photo and take the bright upper area into account to produce better looking sky and clouds.

■Color Matrix metering II. If you have a non-G or non-D lens equipped with a CPU chip (these are generally older lenses, although chips can sometimes be added to optics that lack them), the distance range is not used. Instead, only focus, brightness, and color information is taken into account to calculate an appropri- ate exposure.