All About Built-in Camera Light Meters

Ever since I posted my video on Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, people have been asking me to expand on the way in which you know what setting you should use to get proper exposure when using the manual mode in your camera. What I forgot to explain in that introductory video is that there are several different features that your camera has built into it to make it easier for you to find the proper exposure for certain situations. One of these features is your camera's built-in light meter.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that although there are certain things that can tell you what the "proper" exposure of a scene should be, you shouldn't rely on these things to tell you what is right and what is wrong. In the end, you need to choose what your exposure needs to be to get the image that you want.

There are are many people that don't know that there is a light meter that is built straight into your camera. The light meter is what your camera uses to measure light, which is how it knows what settings to use when you're using one of the cameras automatic modes. The light meter can also be used in manual mode to help guide you to the correct exposure.

Light meters work by measuring the amount of light there is and averaging the light information to middle gray. The light meter in most modern day cameras is shown as a number line. When the marker is on 0, you have what then camera believes to be is the correct exposure. If you're above 0, the camera thinks that the image is over exposed and if you're bellow 0, the camera thinks your image is under exposed. The goal is to get your exposure to that 0 mark and adjust it from there.

The light meter in your camera has different metering modes, which changes the way in which the camera reads light. Most modern day cameras have 3 different metering modes, which are explained in the video bellow.