FujiFilm X-Pro2 - Manual (Page 18)

62 Using the Fujifilm X-Pro2 Exposing Right 63
■ Center-weighted metering is a crossbreed between aver-
age and spot metering. While it encompasses the entire
image area, it puts special emphasis on the image center.
■ Multi or matrix metering calculates a weighted average
of the total light that hits the sensor. The weight is a
result of 256 metering areas (the matrix) that the cam-
era evaluates and compares to typical scenarios, which
is why multi metering is considered “smarter” than the
other methods. For example, multi metering is designed
to recognize when you are shooting against the sun.
Average, spot and center-weighted metering return ex-
posure recommendations based on middle gray. In other
words, when you take a picture of a black wall and then
a picture of a white wall, the results will look middle gray.
This means:
■ If you want the black wall to actually look black in the re-
sulting image, you have to manually adjust the exposure
downward.
■ If you want the white wall to actually look bright white
in the resulting image, you have to manually adjust the
exposure upward.
Fig. 20: This illustration shows a black sheet of paper and a white
sheet of paper. Both were photographed with the camera’s spot
metering without any exposure correction. As you can see, the
camera delivered a
middle-gray exposure in both cases. In order
to get an image that reflects the actual brightness of the subject,
the metered exposure has to be adjusted.
Since you have read the owner’s manual, you know that
Fujifilm offers a few recommendations regarding expo-
sure compensation in certain scenarios. For example, it
recommends a correction of +1 EV when you are shooting
in snowfields, or –2/3 EV when you are shooting subjects
in spotlight. Instead of these rules, I recommend a more
precise and methodical course of action using the live view
and the live histogram. To minimize corrective adjustments,
it’s best to select a metering method that fits the subject or
the job at hand:
■ Multi metering is a general-purpose method. Since it is
supposed to be “smarter” than the other methods, there’s
a good chance that you won’t have to apply any correc-
tive adjustments to the proposed exposure.
■ Average (and, to a lesser degree, center-weighted) me-
tering are rather neutral metering methods that will
likely stay more consistent despite small changes in
composition (or framing) than multi metering and spot
metering. I recommend average metering if you want to
take a series of shots of the same subjects under similar
conditions. In such cases, average metering will help you
keep the exposure consistent.
■ Spot metering bases its measurements on one particular
spot of the overall image. This means you have to work
very precisely to make sure you are metering the appro-
priate part (spot) of the scene. The resulting exposure
recommendation will expose this spot with middle-gray
brightness. For example, if you spot meter a backlit face
against the sun, the metered exposure will display the
face with middle-gray brightness (or zone 5 in the famous
Ansel Adams zone system [26]). If that’s too dark for your
taste, you can use the exposure compensation dial to lift
the exposure by +1/3 EV or +2/3 EV. On the other hand,
if the person has dark skin, you may want to reduce the
exposure with a correction in the opposite direction. It’s