Camera Metering Mode

[Scott Tilley]

Hi, just a quick question. Does anybody have a particular preference, or what works best as regards the choice of metering with the camera for astro imaging?

The choice for my camera is Evaluative, Partial, Spot or Centre weighted average.

For daylight shots I tend to keep it in evaluative but was wondering if centre weighted may be better for something with a bright centre such as the Orion nebula.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Scott:icon_salut:

[brianb]

The onboard meter is hopeless for most astro subjects .... not sensitive enough by far. Spot metering the Moon with a tele lens (or connected to a scope) works well enough.

Nebulae are always going to tend to burn out the bright bits if you have enough exposure for the faint extremities. Experiment with HDR techniques.... but start off with as much exposure as you can get without the light pollution burning out the background. Setting a low ISO helps keep dynamic range, the image is still there just the same as if you shot with a high ISO & can be got out using a specialist astro imaging program, even if the review screen shows an apparently black all over image.

[Scott Tilley]

Thanks Brian, will fiddle around with one or two options!

Scott

[jgs001]

Scott, I agree with Brian. Spot can do a passable job on the moon, but I've only really had some limited success with it when using at least 600mm focal length. I've found what the camera thinks is the correct exposure for the moon can be rather too bright, and tend to set the meter to underexpose by about 2 stops