What are these settings on my camera used for?

Question

ISO SPEED: AUTO, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1250

EXPOSURE METERING: MULTI-PATTERN, CENTER-WEIGHT, CENTER-SPOT

What do these do and when should I use them? Thanks so much for any info!

PS-I bought this camera used so I don't have the manual.

Answer 1

I'll second the idea to download the manual, you'll find it very useful.

In the meantime:

High ISO numbers give you a better chance in low light, but will introduce noise/grain. Low ISO numbers give the better quality, but are limited to good light situations.

Exposure metering: the different settings determine how much of the scene the camera takes into account to pick the best settings. Center weight is a good compromise nearly all of the time.

Answer 2

ISO(used to be ASA) is the same as film speed - and indicates sensitivitry to light

ISO 100 is the same as using 100 film.

ISO 400 is the same as 400 film and so on.

Use 80 100 200 for brightly lit conditions

       400 for medium lighting(normal)

       800 and higher for low light and you will get a grainy look with higher ISO's that is called digital noise.

Auto- the camera will pick the iso setting for you.

Exposure metering set it on center weight and thenj leave it alone.

Answer 3

iso slightly increases the shutter speed which is how fast the picture is taken which determines if the picture is blurry or clear.

but the more you increase the iso the more grain and artifacting you get which usually makes the picture look bad.

i would keep my iso at 100 and not increase it unless absolutely neccessary.

exposure metering is the meter within the camera that measure the amount of light available to be captured.

the available light determines the shutter speed and focal stop or f-stop.

the fstop is the depth of the image. if you have a very small fstop number like 2.8,3.5,etc. a very small amount of the picture will be in focus and everything else will be blurred.

the amount of light determines your ability to capture an image well.

if there is a lot of light then youll have a high shutter speed like 1/400 to

1/4000 and thats good. youll also have a high fstop which is usually good for any situation unless your trying to emphasize the location or the isolation of a certain object through blur.

if your fstop is 16-32 then pretty much everything is gonna be in focus.

if its night time then your gonna have little light and your shutter speed will be low as well as your fstop.

i dont know what multi pattern means.

im guessing it could only mean either bracketing or the ability to take multiple pictures a second, like 4 per second.

center weight is where everything in the center of the picture will be in focus.

center spot is a smaller area of the center of the picture will be in focus.

its alot to learn i know.

Answer 4

You can go download the manual.

I don't know what kind of camera you have so you'll have to go look for it.