How important are spot metering & "highlight tone control" for my needs?

[fbrdphreak]

Situation: My Panasonic point & shoot died and it's a good time for me to get into a DSLR. I shoot tech products in a little white box setup as part of my side job and like to do casual photography: outdoors, cars and maybe a friend's wedding just as a backup set of photos for them.

I've done a lot of research and like a few different models, in particular the Canon XSi and Sony A300.

This question goes more specifically to the XSi vs XS. I see that the XSi adds spot metering and "highlight tone control." AFAIK, "highlight tone control" plays with the exposure or contrast or something to help prevent over-exposure, particularly in bright outdoor scenes. I see how that would be helpful, but I imagine this can also be corrected manually? If it's a photo set I really care about, I will run it through Lightroom anyway. But still, sounds like a positive.

As for spot metering, what does that bring to the table? I know nothing about it.

Perhaps the biggest thing I want to make sure I invest in for my first DSLR is good low light performance. Nothing pisses me off more than there being just not enough light to get a clean shot that isn't either blurry or noisy. I realize this is a huge problem on point & shoots and not nearly as much on DSLR's, but that is a big priority for me.

So, does the XSi hold any special value over the XS given my needs?

Thanks in advance folks

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Highlight tone control i think is just a gain feature that adjusts exposure properly so you don't blow highlights. people with shadows around them, but face well lit. Bride in shadows? You could easily blow out the dress' whites. Useful, but not completely necessary. If you shoot in RAW, you can always make some corrections to avoid problems like this. This is definitely useful in JPEG shooting, and can make some of your RAW shooting easier as it will apply a curve to your colors so it's more friendly on the highlights.

Spot metering is nice if you really need your camera to meter based on a certain center spot. I haven't really messed with metering much myself as I typically shoot in Av mode. Just let the camera pick. If I don't like it I put some EV +/- adjustments, or if I really think it's tricky I just switch to Manual.

 

[Lemon law]

Even though I opted to buy a Canon XSI, for low light the balance probably shifts to something like a Canon 40D or a Canon X2i.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Highlight tone control i think is just a gain feature that adjusts exposure properly so you don't blow highlights. people with shadows around them, but face well lit. Bride in shadows? You could easily blow out the dress' whites. Useful, but not completely necessary. If you shoot in RAW, you can always make some corrections to avoid problems like this. This is definitely useful in JPEG shooting, and can make some of your RAW shooting easier as it will apply a curve to your colors so it's more friendly on the highlights.

Spot metering is nice if you really need your camera to meter based on a certain center spot. I haven't really messed with metering much myself as I typically shoot in Av mode. Just let the camera pick. If I don't like it I put some EV +/- adjustments, or if I really think it's tricky I just switch to Manual.

Yeah, I think we're on the same page about the HTC.

So metering affects auto-focus, or how the camera determines proper exposure? If all it does is adjust exposure based on the lighting of a center location, that doesn't seem like it would matter much to me. For my product photos, I generally shoot a few different exposure levels as I try to blow the background out as much as possible while preserving detail of the product.
For scenery and car shots, seems like it wouldn't matter at all.

Even though I opted to buy a Canon XSI, for low light the balance probably shifts to something like a Canon 40D or a Canon X2i.

Trying to keep the budget as much under $500 used as possible. The 40D looks like its double that But thanks!

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I use spot metering at least 10% of the time, as I photograph a lot of the local wildlife. Here's an example of spot metering usefulness: I'm taking a photo of a mute swan (bright white) on the lake, which is a medium blue. I'll spot meter the swan and add +1 2/3 exposure compensation. No blown highlights in the swan, lake water looks great, if a tad deeper in color. Other than that, like DLeRium, I usually shoot Av with exposure compensation as needed.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Yeah, I think we're on the same page about the HTC.

So metering affects auto-focus, or how the camera determines proper exposure?

Metering doesn't effect the AF, just the exposure.

 

[fbrdphreak]

I use spot metering at least 10% of the time, as I photograph a lot of the local wildlife. Here's an example of spot metering usefulness: I'm taking a photo of a mute swan (bright white) on the lake, which is a medium blue. I'll spot meter the swan and add +1 2/3 exposure compensation. No blown highlights in the swan, lake water looks great, if a tad deeper in color. Other than that, like DLeRium, I usually shoot Av with exposure compensation as needed.

Good example, thanks.

A friend pointed out the D5000 to me, which I had missed. I'm liking the rotating display for my product photos, and the rest of the features seem comparable to the XSi. Plus I found a good refurb deal which takes the hassle out of buying used.

I also saw the other thread about the D5000 et al and will hit up Best Buy to put my hands on some of the cameras.

 

[996GT2]

Highlight tone control isn't all that important. It's useful if you shoot JPEG and don't want to post-process, but you can get better results in the first place by shooting RAW (which is natively 12 or 14 bit, instead of 8 bit like JPEG). This gives you a lot of headroom to recover blown highlights later on.

Same thing applies to all the other software features like Dynamic Range Optimizer, Peripheral Lighting Control, etc.



Spot metering can be useful some of the time, when you want to get good exposures on difficult subjects (for example, highly contrasting levels of brightness close to each other). I tend to only use it about 5% of the time on my 40D, since most of the time I get difficult situations I use manual mode instead of Av mode.

 

[ElFenix]

the XS has a spot meter ("partial"), they just don't call it that. and it's a bit larger than the usual spot. look here for the difference

 

[fbrdphreak]

the XS has a spot meter ("partial"), they just don't call it that. and it's a bit larger than the usual spot. look here for the difference

Thanks for that link, it helped clarify things greatly.

Thanks for the info all. I'm leaning heavily towards the D5000 refurb, which with Bing cashback is under $500 with the kit lens.

 

[angry hampster]

I've never owned a camera with true spot metering nor highlight tone control and I've never felt that I was at a shortcoming. Learn how to meter and get used to how light works and you won't need either.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I've never owned a camera with true spot metering nor highlight tone control and I've never felt that I was at a shortcoming. Learn how to meter and get used to how light works and you won't need either.

True, but spot metering can keep a rapidly-moving subject properly exposed when the background changes.

 

[angry hampster]

True, but spot metering can keep a rapidly-moving subject properly exposed when the background changes.

I can do the same thing by keeping an eye on shadows and highlights in the viewfinder.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I can do the same thing by keeping an eye on shadows and highlights in the viewfinder.

Yeah, but when you're tracking a moving critter, you're not really in position to adjust any camera settings at that point, particularly is you are using a one-dial camera body.

As I stated in a previous post, spot metering is not something that needs to be done often, but it sure comes in handy in certain situations.

 

[angry hampster]

Yeah, but when you're tracking a moving critter, you're not really in position to adjust any camera settings at that point, particularly is you are using a one-dial camera body.

As I stated in a previous post, spot metering is not something that needs to be done often, but it sure comes in handy in certain situations.

I've professionally shot sports without using spot metering and in manual mode. Once you know how to expose a scene properly, you will instinctively react to changes in light. Some people like it, but it certainly isn't necessary.