D70 meter 'knows' when it's dark

It would seem that my D70's meter 'knows' when it's dark and will go
ahead and give a dark exposure in a night scene using A aperture
priority mode. Is this correct or is it just being fooled by an
occasional bright light in the scene perhaps? I'm on center weighted 8mm
metering. Is this where I should change to the larger area metering
mode? Sorry, I'm not sure the right term, the current icon looks like
(0) not the bigger 4 corners icon lacking center dot or the spot meter
mode. I believe this is the default, the 4 corner mode usually does not
work but I haven't experimented that much.

An example is shooting empty white rooms at night with a bright light in
the ceiling, or a night scene with headlights or street lights. I guess
that's what's happening, the meter sees the bright spot & doesn't want
to blow that out so underexposes the whole scene.

Playing around a bit... I guess I've answered my question. Looks like
the spot meter mode is the best way to overcome this problem, that gives
control over what to meter for, the other modes are a little too clever
for their own good in some cases.

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
It would seem that my D70's meter 'knows' when it's dark and will go ahead
and give a dark exposure in a night scene using A aperture priority mode.
Is this correct or is it just being fooled by an occasional bright light
in the scene perhaps? I'm on center weighted 8mm metering. Is this where I
should change to the larger area metering mode? Sorry, I'm not sure the
right term, the current icon looks like (0) not the bigger 4 corners icon
lacking center dot or the spot meter mode. I believe this is the default,
the 4 corner mode usually does not work but I haven't experimented that
much.

An example is shooting empty white rooms at night with a bright light in
the ceiling, or a night scene with headlights or street lights. I guess
that's what's happening, the meter sees the bright spot & doesn't want to
blow that out so underexposes the whole scene.

Playing around a bit... I guess I've answered my question. Looks like the
spot meter mode is the best way to overcome this problem, that gives
control over what to meter for, the other modes are a little too clever
for their own good in some cases.

I've found the D70's meter easy to fool at night. Also, there is such a
wide latitude as to what makes a good night shot you really have to just
experiment to get it right, and assume the lighting may be out of the
shutter speed and lens aperture's range. To get just one more stop out of a
10 minute exposure requires a 20 minute exposure when you've run out of
aperture and ISO.

Remember, if you use a sensitive handheld meter, and go by what the meter
says, your night shot will look like it was shot at noon.

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...
It would seem that my D70's meter 'knows' when it's dark and will go
ahead and give a dark exposure in a night scene using A aperture
priority mode. Is this correct or is it just being fooled by an
occasional bright light in the scene perhaps? I'm on center weighted 8mm
metering. Is this where I should change to the larger area metering
mode? Sorry, I'm not sure the right term, the current icon looks like
(0) not the bigger 4 corners icon lacking center dot or the spot meter
mode. I believe this is the default, the 4 corner mode usually does not
work but I haven't experimented that much.

An example is shooting empty white rooms at night with a bright light in
the ceiling, or a night scene with headlights or street lights. I guess
that's what's happening, the meter sees the bright spot & doesn't want
to blow that out so underexposes the whole scene.

Playing around a bit... I guess I've answered my question. Looks like
the spot meter mode is the best way to overcome this problem, that gives
control over what to meter for, the other modes are a little too clever
for their own good in some cases.

The RGB meter of the D70, taken from the F5, will indeed "know" when a
background is mostly black or white and take that into account in its
response. However, I thought it had to be in Matrix mode (as opposed to
center weighted) to do so, but I could be mistaken.

Why not just keep an eye on the lcd and bracket around the settings that
work best?

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

Matt Clara wrote:

"Paul Furman" wrote in message
...

It would seem that my D70's meter 'knows' when it's dark and will go
ahead and give a dark exposure in a night scene using A aperture
priority mode. Is this correct or is it just being fooled by an
occasional bright light in the scene perhaps? I'm on center weighted 8mm
metering. Is this where I should change to the larger area metering
mode? Sorry, I'm not sure the right term, the current icon looks like
(0) not the bigger 4 corners icon lacking center dot or the spot meter
mode. I believe this is the default, the 4 corner mode usually does not
work but I haven't experimented that much.

An example is shooting empty white rooms at night with a bright light in
the ceiling, or a night scene with headlights or street lights. I guess
that's what's happening, the meter sees the bright spot & doesn't want
to blow that out so underexposes the whole scene.

Playing around a bit... I guess I've answered my question. Looks like
the spot meter mode is the best way to overcome this problem, that gives
control over what to meter for, the other modes are a little too clever
for their own good in some cases.


The RGB meter of the D70, taken from the F5, will indeed "know" when a
background is mostly black or white and take that into account in its
response. However, I thought it had to be in Matrix mode (as opposed to
center weighted) to do so, but I could be mistaken.

See verbage from the manual below. I'm not sure what it really means. I
generally shoot in available light and avoid flash.

Why not just keep an eye on the lcd and bracket around the settings that
work best?

I ended up just adding an EC+1 to compensate. Here's an example:
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=Misc/photography/car-iso-1600&PG=1&PIC=3
That's still overall darker than medium gray with EC+1

The text below is from the D200 manual (which is just handy now but
probably the same as a D70):

3D color matrix II/ Color matrix II/ Color matrix

1,005-pixel RGB sensor sets exposure based on variety of information
from all areas of frame. With type G or D lens,

[I was using a Sigma D DG HSM lens, I guess that's 3D]

....camera uses 3D color matrix metering II for natural results even when
frame is dominated by bright (white or yellow) or dark (black or dark
green) colors.

[what does 'natural mean??? how would distance matter?]

....With other CPU lenses, 3D range information is not included; instead,
camera uses color matrix metering II. Color matrix metering is available
when focal length and maximum aperture of non-CPU lens are specified
using Non-CPU Lens Data item in shooting menu

[D70 doesn't allow this, non-CPU lenses don't meter at all]

....( 93; centerweighted metering is used if focal length or aperture is
not specified). Matrix metering will not produce desired results with
autoexposure lock ( 70) or exposure compensation ( 72), but is
recommended in most other situations.


Centerweighted

Camera meters entire frame but assigns greatest weight to area in center
of frame 8 mm (0.31 in.) in diameter, shown by corresponding 8-mm
reference circle in viewfi nder. Classic meter for portraits;
recommended when using filters with an exposure factor (fi lter factor)
over 1 × ( 181). *


Spot

Camera meters circle 3 mm (0.12 in.) in diameter (approximately 2.0% of
frame). Circle is centered on current focus area (in group dynamic AF,
on center focus area of current group; 54), making it possible to meter
off -center subjects (if non-CPU lens is used or if dynamic-area AF with
closest subject priority is in effect, camera will meter center focus
area). En sures that sub ject will be correctly ex posed, even when back
ground is much brighter or darker. *