Sony Alpha 3000 review – Metering
Multi, centreweighted and spot metering are all offered by the Alpha 3000 and all can be relied upon to achieve reasonable results. Pressing down on the D-pad allows the exposure value to be changed should the metering be thrown by a high-contrast scene or other challenging conditions. However, this is only available in the PASM exposure modes.
Images previewed on the back of the camera looked fine, but turning on the highlight/shadow clipping warning showed that many highlight areas were blown. This happens because the camera has a tendency to prioritise midtones, which gives the appearance of a well-exposed image on the LCD. Rarely did I find that shadow details were clipped, so by shooting at between -0.5EV and -1EV, better results could be achieved straight out of the camera.
By slightly brightening the shadow areas using software, a better image can be achieved. Alternatively, for some scenes, particularly high-contrast landscapes and when shooting at -1EV, I found that the DRO (dynamic range optimisation) setting helped bring out detail in shadow areas.
Image: Reviewing the histogram shows that blown highlights are quite common in high-contrast scenes. Nudging the EV to -1 usually achieves a better exposure
