There are different modes of metering. One of them is spot metering.
Usually a camera tries to determine exposure by using a fairly large portion of the scene.
With spot metering, the camera uses only a 1/1 or 1 degree circle (usually) to determine exposure. To compare, the full moon is about 1/2 degree.
Think about this. You're taking a picture of a black Newf in the white snow. If you want the camera to meter on only the dog (assuming you're not filling the frame with it), then you'd need a way to tell the camera "only meter based on this small thing", which is a single spot in the frame, hence "spot meter".
Most cameras do not have spot meters. Many of the more expensive cameras do. When I was younger I had a dedicated device which was a spot meter.
Multi-spot metering is a very useful tool that lets me spot meter one item, then another, and the camera averages between them. In fact on the Canon 1D series, I can spot 8 or more spots and averager them. Very useful when you need it, but not an often-used feature.
GAD
Usually a camera tries to determine exposure by using a fairly large portion of the scene.
With spot metering, the camera uses only a 1/1 or 1 degree circle (usually) to determine exposure. To compare, the full moon is about 1/2 degree.
Think about this. You're taking a picture of a black Newf in the white snow. If you want the camera to meter on only the dog (assuming you're not filling the frame with it), then you'd need a way to tell the camera "only meter based on this small thing", which is a single spot in the frame, hence "spot meter".
Most cameras do not have spot meters. Many of the more expensive cameras do. When I was younger I had a dedicated device which was a spot meter.
Multi-spot metering is a very useful tool that lets me spot meter one item, then another, and the camera averages between them. In fact on the Canon 1D series, I can spot 8 or more spots and averager them. Very useful when you need it, but not an often-used feature.
GAD
