Metering Modes

What metering modes do you shoot in? What mode do you use for different things you shoot? I don't know much about modes so talk my ear off. My XTi was set to Centered and I never played with the other modes. I did a test with all the modes with the 40D but haven't loaded them to the computer yet to view them.

I leave mine to matrix, or evaluative, whatever you want to call it. I don't think it matters too much what you choose, because no matter what you choose the metering is probably going to be off. It isn't very common that the area you meter is 18% reflective, which is what your camera tries to achieve, so you are most likely going to be off. Some cameras, for the center spot metering, actually meter based off where your focus point is. If my camera did that, that is the method I would use. With mine, the matrix metering has the option to put more weight on the spot where the focus point is, so that is what I use. Really no matter what you end up using, you will still need to learn how to adjust your metering based on that, because it won't be right on most of the time.

Thanks Travis! That makes sense.