A common problem that appears time and time again in photography forums is something like "my camera over-exposes in matrix metering mode!" - but is it really true?
Its important to understand how matrix metering works. Unlike center weighted or spot metering, matrix metering is somewhat "intelligent". To give a very rough explanation, the scene is divided into various parts, and the brightness of those parts is weighed against some umpteen "standard scenes" stored in the cameras logic. The camera knows (or should know) which type of scene it is dealing with, metering wise, and adapt to the scene.
Whats worth knowing is that the selected AF sensor (or sensor area) is taken into account, too. When you're using the center AF sensor and use the typical technique of "meter & focus, then recompose" you're maybe wasting the potential of matrix metering, because the selected AF sensor tells the matrix metering process in the camera "hey, thats the most important part in my scene" (because you put the focus on it, right).
Sidenote: the newer Nikon models (and the Fuji S5 pro, too) use a "3D matrix metering" - with lenses that report the distance to focus to the camera (Nikkor models with a D or a G) that distance is also including in matrix meterings "magic".
The camera manual also mentions that it doesn't make sense to use exposure compensation in matrix metering mode - because the camera already applies it if it "sees" a certain type of scene (the question is if this really works, and my experience is that it fails often enough, and I do apply exposure compensation then).
Question is... how do we use this knowledge to make our life easier? And by easier I mean worry-free metering, easy composition, and accurate sharpness.
Well... if I were to make a photo of a landscape scene in bright sunlight, I'd probably use manual control, then make my composition and activate the AF sensor in the brightest part of the image (which will most often be the sky), adjust the camera exposure, then probably go back to the center AF sensor (which is the sensor with the most accuracy in both my D70s and the S5 pro), focus, and then go back to my composure.
Hmmmm well, not quite so easy, but the important part for me is: this works quite nicely with the S5 pro with most standard scenes. The camera's metering information is very reliable with this technique and I have to worry about additional exposure composition rather seldom, if at all (and, depending on the situation and subject it can be made even easier, using aperture priority and focusing with an AF sensor closest to the subject that I intend to focus on anyway).
If you're still in doubt, just point your camera to a contrasty scene (in a room with a bright window for example) and change the position of the active AF sensor in matrix metering mode. Watch the metering of the camera.
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