Photography: Do you spot meter or matrix meter on your DSLR?

Why?

I'm quite happy that so many top contributers have chosen to answer my question. Thank you and keep answering.

With a DSLR I spot meter on the brightest area where I want to maintain detail. Digital has a low dynamic range and the highlights will easily blow out. I then make an exposure compensation of +1 or +2 stops depending on my guesstimate of where the highlight lands between middle gray and pure white.

With film I spot meter on the darkest area in which I want to keep detail. I then decrease exposure one or two stops depending on where the metered area falls between middle grey and pure black. (Negative film has more dynamic range than digital and will not blow out the highlights as easily).

The above methods are a simplified version of the Ansel Adams zone system for proper exposure, and I find it works very well indeed.

Now there are times when things are happening too fast to do this kind of thing, then I will use Matrix and hope for the best, though it will usually do pretty well.

Ideally I will use an ambient light meter or meter with the camera off a grey card.

steve

I choose according to the situation. I probably use center-weighted most of the time, as this is the way I was brought up on the Spotmatic. In spite of the name, the Spotmatic was really a center-weighted averaging meter.

In tricky lighting, as others have said, I choose spotmetering. You can look at these shots and see why.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...
Some of them certainly didn't need spot metering and I probably used it just because I had selected the spot for some other shot prior to the one uploaded to Flickr. Some of them would have been a total crapshoot without the spotmeter. You will see that in the "White Peacock," "Buzzard No.1," "Flag Near Sunset," "Cape May Lighthouse 003," the moon shots, the osprey shots, "Parents of the Groom," and "Swan Iris 1," the main subject is very much in contrast to the rest of the scene. These are just some examples of when I choose spot metering. This is also the reason I was never a fan of the Rebels, because (until the XSi), that lacked a spot meter.

Matrix metering is for when the scene is fairly evenly lit or you just don't care so much, as long as you get "something" on the sensor. I also use matrix metering if I want to use my D300's Active D-Lighting feature, because it will only operate in the matrix metering mode.

Center-weighted allows you to pretty much zero in on the main subject without losing too much time. It works pretty well for almost all subjects and composition, as long as you choose the right place to take your reading and recompose if necessary. I guess this is why Canon was able to sell so many thousands of digital Rebels without spot meters. It works most of the time.

Usually matrix, and only spot meter once, when there was a very strong backlight.

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I thought about switching to spot metering, for example, for this shot, but it came out okay, so I didn't.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pook...

In strong contrast situations I always use a spot meter.

In even lighting I use my Sekonic Handheld or my Matrix meter depending on the camera.

Usually spot meter or center weight, occasionally matrix. The D80's matrix meter is flaky sometimes :-)

Varies, but I was told many times center weight is most accurate.