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Erratic matrix metering problem

matrix

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#1
DocPit

DocPit

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I'm attaching a .pdf that shows 12 shots of a golden tamarin monkey.  All pics were shot in manual mode, matrix metering +0.33EV, at f/5.6, 1/200, auto ISO.  The ISO varies not just widely but wildly, from 140 to 10000. 

 

In the first pic, the little guy is out of direct sunlight, and an ISO of 2500 seems about right.  Looking at a few other ballpark exposures, it seems like something between 1500 and 2500 is what I would expect to see.  I'm at a total loss how the matrix meter drops the auto ISO from 2500 (pic1) to 140 (pic2 ); jumps from 1100 to 10000; or drops from 8000 to 360 (last two pics).  I'm also unable to explain how at ISO 10000, that string of 5 pics are totally blown out, but the next to last pic, at 8000 (a difference of 1/3 stop) is not too radically messed up.

 

My understanding is that Matrix is complicated by the camera's attempt to weight the exposure at the point of focus and to somehow "read the scene" and figure out what it's exposing for (e.g., I may experiment with an average center-weighted metering (supposedly just averages the entire frame) tweaked with exposure compensation.  Perhaps, more simplicity and less "intelligence" might be a virtue in these contrasty situations.

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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