Yes, a spot meter is a good tool, but it's only valuable if you can relate the spot you're metering to 18% gray and then compensate accordingly. With the K7 and K5, matrix metering is accurate enough that spot metering is rarely needed. However, I do sometimes use it when shooting something like a neutral colored bird against a white sky background. Paul
On Nov 21, 2010, at 9:41 PM, Nick David Wright wrote: > Jeffery, you're missing the point of the spot meter. IMHO spot meter > was never intended to be used in auto mode (at least not without > exposure lock and exposure compensation). > > The spot meter is there specifically so you can /know/ your highlights > will not be blown. See this blog post: > http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2009/05/do-not-fear-the-sun.html > > ~nick > > On Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 8:10 PM, Jeffery Smith <[email protected]> > wrote: >> I was never one to bracket when shooting film, and most of my wasted images >> were due to dull subject matter and poor choice of subject/angle/telephone >> pole projecting from the subject's head, not exposure. My biggest hurdle >> with digital is what seems to be a lack of exposure latitude that I can only >> attribute to the automation of the camera making some bad choices. That >> said, spray and pray is becoming more of a norm for me. After all, when my >> high capacity memory card keeps telling me that I have 999 exposures left, >> then what the hell. But I wish that this were not the case. If the digital >> camera would give me a sweet spot ISO from which I had some confidence that >> exposure over the entire frame could be salvaged no matter what the camera >> chose for me, I could spend a lot more time composing and moving around, >> thinking more about the subject. >> >> For now, I have decided never to use spot metering on a dSLR. The area being >> spot measured looks great, but that doesn't mean I can salvage the blown >> highlights. >> >> Jeffery >> >> >> On Nov 21, 2010, at 7:33 PM, Walter Gilbert wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> For the past couple of days, I seem to keep encountering references to >>> "stochastic" photography -- or "spray and pray" if you will, and it's >>> piqued my interest. It's not that I'm considering actively pursuing the >>> practice so much as I wonder how much my current style (method?) could >>> actually be considered stochastic. Having never worked in the vicinity of >>> another photographer before, my days out shooting with Ted Beilby were, as >>> I said, educational. We took nearly diametrically opposed approaches. >>> >>> Clearly, Ted came out with better quality shots than I did. He was much >>> more methodical and exacting and produce much more highly textured images >>> than I did. At the same time, I came out with some images that, while not >>> as polished as Ted's, did have some redeeming value -- at least I thought >>> they did. I was so arrested by the sheer amount of potential subject >>> matter that I felt I had to get as many different shots as I could in order >>> to get a reasonable account of my experience, so I shot hand-held, almost >>> exclusively. Knowing that I'd have at least several hundred shots to go >>> through at the end of my trip (also, due to a relative lack of PC >>> processing power and memory), I stuck to shooting single exposures in jpeg. >>> >>> Some subjects, I chose to take three or four different shots from different >>> perspectives and focal depths, while others I shot once or twice and moved >>> on. And, that's typically the way I do things. A large part of the reason >>> for that is that I simply don't trust what the camera shows me on its >>> display to be an accurate depiction of what I'm going to see when I load it >>> onto the computer. The same goes for my perception of any given scene at >>> the time. I come away with rough approximation in my mind, and when I get >>> home, I'm usually "fairly"close, but never seemingly dead-on in my >>> expectations. >>> >>> And, of course, a good bit of what I do shoot simply defies staging in any >>> practical sense. I'm not going to be able to tell a butterfly how to hold >>> its wings, or a bird where to position itself within my frame. So, I have >>> to make snap judgments and several attempts. To the extent that I'm able >>> to dictate composition, I do make a fairly diligent attempt at it. But, at >>> the same time, I don't try to control every minute detail -- essentially >>> because the vast majority of the subjects I shoot are in an environment >>> that simply defies control. >>> >>> So, I was just curious as to the thoughts of the folks on the list as to >>> how much my approach would be considered "spray and pray" by more seasoned >>> photographers, and how much it would benefit if it were less so. >>> >>> Thanks for any input anyone has to offer. >>> >>> -- Walt >>> >>> http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/waltergilbert >>> http://waltgilbert.posterous.com/ <http://polipix.posterous.com/> >>> Contact Me Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/walt.gilbert>Flickr >>> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/walt_gilbert/>Twitter >>> <http://twitter.com/walt_gilbert> >>> >>> --- @ WiseStamp Signature >>> <http://my.wisestamp.com/link?u=ypgdb385pypw7fhb&site=www.wisestamp.com/email-install>. >>> Get it now >>> <http://my.wisestamp.com/link?u=ypgdb385pypw7fhb&site=www.wisestamp.com/email-install> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. >> > > > > -- > ~Nick David Wright > http://www.nickdavidwright.net/ > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
