Evidently other folks have had different experiences than I have had. I come from the old school where the camera did nothing for you. Most of my shooting is sports and very active with changing backgrounds, clouds moving in and out etc. The camera deosnt know what a highlight is is a true statement but I have found that the camera does give preference to limiting exposure based on the hottest part of the image which is the highlights.


My preference is to choose what I want and how I want the exposure to look and not let the camera decide. I call it painting with light. I am also fully aware of how the meter is faked out and apply that to my manual settings instead of using auto and exposure compensation as when shooting outdoors and the lighting changes so did the compensation amount, that would require to menu to exposure compensation reset that then back to shooting and adjusting your chosen method in Av or Tv. I can do the same in full manual with a roll of the controller for aperture or shutter speed in half a second.


Yes the metered area is certainly much smaller than the full sensor and is also changed dependant on what mode is used. Im a Canon junkie so my experience is limited to the Canon products begining with the original 1D and every body since then with the exception of no rebel series.


An example, had I shot this in auto anything the image would have been under exposed. I instead choose to meter a neutral place of the grass at such events and remeter as necessary if the clouds roll in or out.


Different folks have different styles, full manual always works flawlesly for me. About the worse case scenario for auto modes is mid day sun with shadows in the backround, at leastthat has been my experieince.


[View:http://www.rnmphotography.com/photos/612725817_pFpej-XL-1.jpg]