Get the perfect exposures - Light meters are built into every DSLR
these days and they are all very
sophisticated pieces of equipment.
Types of metering
Multi-zone
Manufactures use various terms for their multi-zone metering patterns, Canon -
Evaluative, Nikon - Matrix, Sony - Honeycomb, each performs the same job, taking
readings from across all the zones across the scene then using the results deliver
the correct exposure.
Spot or Partial
If you want to take a reading from a very specific part of a scene then use spot or
partial metering, they take a reading from just one part of the frame disregarding
everything else.
The only difference between spot and partial is that partial takes a reading from a
slightly larger area of the frame.
Center-weighted
In the early days of SLR's center weighted was the only pattern available, it does
exactly what it says, biasing the metering in the center of the frame but still taking
the rest of the frame into account as well. The split is typically 75/25 but some allow
to to define the size of the central area. It can be used for general picture-taking.