Nikon 8400 - Manual (Page 97)

87
The Shooting Menu
Metering
Choose a metering method suited to the composition
and lighting conditions.
METERING
Spot
Center-weighted
Spot AF area
Matrix
Metering
Metering is shown by icons in the control panel and shooting display. No icon appears
in the shooting display when
(Matrix) is selected. When spot AF-area metering is
selected, a icon appears in the control panel.
Control panel
Shooting
display
Spot metering
target
F2.6 F2.6 F2.6
8M 8M 8M
126 126 126 1/60 60 1/60
Mode How it works When to use it
Matrix
Camera compares measurements
from 256 areas of frame with library
of typical compositions to set expo-
sure for entire frame.
Recommended for most situations.
Spot
Camera sets exposure by metering
area shown by square in center of
monitor. Only about
1 /
32
of frame is
metered.
Ensures that subject in metering tar-
get is correctly exposed even if back-
ground is much brighter or darker.
Can be used with autoexposure lock
(
22) to meter off-center subjects.
Center-
weighted
Camera meters entire frame but
assigns weight of 80% to area in
center of frame occupying roughly
¼ of total.
Classic meter for portraits; pre-
serves background details while let-
ting lighting conditions at center of
frame determine exposure. Can be
used with autoexposure lock (
22)
to meter off-center subjects.
Spot AF
area
Links spot metering to active focus
area when auto or manual focus
area selection is in effect (
100).
Use instead of autoexposure lock to
meter off-center subjects. Not avail-
able if focus-area selection is off.
Metering